bevy/crates
Patrick Walton 19bfa41768
Implement volumetric fog and volumetric lighting, also known as light shafts or god rays. (#13057)
This commit implements a more physically-accurate, but slower, form of
fog than the `bevy_pbr::fog` module does. Notably, this *volumetric fog*
allows for light beams from directional lights to shine through,
creating what is known as *light shafts* or *god rays*.

To add volumetric fog to a scene, add `VolumetricFogSettings` to the
camera, and add `VolumetricLight` to directional lights that you wish to
be volumetric. `VolumetricFogSettings` has numerous settings that allow
you to define the accuracy of the simulation, as well as the look of the
fog. Currently, only interaction with directional lights that have
shadow maps is supported. Note that the overhead of the effect scales
directly with the number of directional lights in use, so apply
`VolumetricLight` sparingly for the best results.

The overall algorithm, which is implemented as a postprocessing effect,
is a combination of the techniques described in [Scratchapixel] and
[this blog post]. It uses raymarching in screen space, transformed into
shadow map space for sampling and combined with physically-based
modeling of absorption and scattering. Bevy employs the widely-used
[Henyey-Greenstein phase function] to model asymmetry; this essentially
allows light shafts to fade into and out of existence as the user views
them.

Volumetric rendering is a huge subject, and I deliberately kept the
scope of this commit small. Possible follow-ups include:

1. Raymarching at a lower resolution.

2. A post-processing blur (especially useful when combined with (1)).

3. Supporting point lights and spot lights.

4. Supporting lights with no shadow maps.

5. Supporting irradiance volumes and reflection probes.

6. Voxel components that reuse the volumetric fog code to create voxel
shapes.

7. *Horizon: Zero Dawn*-style clouds.

These are all useful, but out of scope of this patch for now, to keep
things tidy and easy to review.

A new example, `volumetric_fog`, has been added to demonstrate the
effect.

## Changelog

### Added

* A new component, `VolumetricFog`, is available, to allow for a more
physically-accurate, but more resource-intensive, form of fog.

* A new component, `VolumetricLight`, can be placed on directional
lights to make them interact with `VolumetricFog`. Notably, this allows
such lights to emit light shafts/god rays.

![Screenshot 2024-04-21
162808](https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/assets/157897/7a1fc81d-eed5-4735-9419-286c496391a9)

![Screenshot 2024-04-21
132005](https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/assets/157897/e6d3b5ca-8f59-488d-a3de-15e95aaf4995)

[Scratchapixel]:
https://www.scratchapixel.com/lessons/3d-basic-rendering/volume-rendering-for-developers/intro-volume-rendering.html

[this blog post]: https://www.alexandre-pestana.com/volumetric-lights/

[Henyey-Greenstein phase function]:
https://www.pbr-book.org/4ed/Volume_Scattering/Phase_Functions#TheHenyeyndashGreensteinPhaseFunction
2024-05-16 17:13:18 +00:00
..
bevy_a11y Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_animation Remove ClampColor (#13307) 2024-05-10 13:15:56 +00:00
bevy_app Separate state crate (#13216) 2024-05-09 18:06:05 +00:00
bevy_asset Misc asset code quality and docs (#13382) 2024-05-15 18:49:04 +00:00
bevy_audio Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_color Implement Color Operations for Color (#13285) 2024-05-14 10:15:47 +00:00
bevy_core Determine msrv for every standalone bevy_* crate. (#13211) 2024-05-13 18:26:41 +00:00
bevy_core_pipeline Implement volumetric fog and volumetric lighting, also known as light shafts or god rays. (#13057) 2024-05-16 17:13:18 +00:00
bevy_derive Update compile test to use ui_test 0.23 (#13245) 2024-05-05 22:17:56 +00:00
bevy_dev_tools #12502 Remove limit on RenderLayers. (#13317) 2024-05-16 16:15:47 +00:00
bevy_diagnostic Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_dylib Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_dynamic_plugin Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_ecs Implement WorldQuery and QueryData on Mut. (#13338) 2024-05-14 12:38:31 +00:00
bevy_encase_derive Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_gilrs Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_gizmos Implement volumetric fog and volumetric lighting, also known as light shafts or god rays. (#13057) 2024-05-16 17:13:18 +00:00
bevy_gltf Add UV channel selection to StandardMaterial (#13200) 2024-05-13 18:23:09 +00:00
bevy_hierarchy Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_input Separate state crate (#13216) 2024-05-09 18:06:05 +00:00
bevy_internal Separate state crate (#13216) 2024-05-09 18:06:05 +00:00
bevy_log Improve tracing layer customization (#13159) 2024-05-12 21:16:56 +00:00
bevy_macro_utils Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_math Allow shapes to be constructed with zero values (#13365) 2024-05-16 02:22:50 +00:00
bevy_mikktspace Determine msrv for every standalone bevy_* crate. (#13211) 2024-05-13 18:26:41 +00:00
bevy_pbr Implement volumetric fog and volumetric lighting, also known as light shafts or god rays. (#13057) 2024-05-16 17:13:18 +00:00
bevy_ptr Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_reflect Determine msrv for every standalone bevy_* crate. (#13211) 2024-05-13 18:26:41 +00:00
bevy_render #12502 Remove limit on RenderLayers. (#13317) 2024-05-16 16:15:47 +00:00
bevy_scene Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_sprite Clean up 2d render phases (#12982) 2024-05-08 08:13:39 +00:00
bevy_state State example (#13322) 2024-05-13 13:03:42 +00:00
bevy_tasks multi_threaded feature rename (#12997) 2024-05-06 20:49:32 +00:00
bevy_text Add doc comments explaining the different behaviours of alignment and Anchor with text_2d (#8022) 2024-05-12 21:42:04 +00:00
bevy_time Make bevy_time optionally depend on bevy_reflect (#13263) 2024-05-12 23:19:07 +00:00
bevy_transform Use Dir3 for local axis methods in GlobalTransform (#13264) 2024-05-06 20:52:05 +00:00
bevy_ui Fix UI border artifacts caused by incorrect blending (#12725) 2024-05-15 18:50:30 +00:00
bevy_utils Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_window Ensure clean exit (#13236) 2024-05-12 15:56:01 +00:00
bevy_winit Ensure clean exit (#13236) 2024-05-12 15:56:01 +00:00