November 2015

Sol is a realtime interactive simulation of our sun.

This solar simulation is a combination of fluid effects, dynamic particle-based sunspots, and custom 3D flare events. There is even an occasional transit by the planet Mercury.

There were two sources of inspiration for this project: the sun observation room in the movie Sunshine (shown below), and the 30 minute 4k video of the sun shot by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. 

Image from the 2007 movie Sunshine directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland.

The main geometry is a simple sphere with uvs. In a GLSL shader, I add layers of noise to achieve the base patterns. The positions of the sunspots and solar flares are dictated by a layer of unseen particles that travel around the equatorial belt of the sun. If any two particles gets close enough together they are joined by flare geometry which extends outward until it becomes too long at which point it will dissipate. 

An R&D version of this project was made to run on a 60" touchscreen. Upon touching the surface, a sunspot is created. Touch and drag rotates the sun, and touching with two fingers simultaneously created a solar flare arc between your fingers.