The video shows my attempt at creating a star in Unity using the VFX Graph as well as some shaders. This project started as a fun idea and learning excersise to try to create a graphically realistic solar system in Unity using the HDRP pipepline.

Sidenote: I started working on creating planets with physically accurate atmospheric scattering, but due to the way Unity’s lighting system works I would have to implement my own shader lighting system so that has been put on the backburner.

Stars are essential in creating an immersive space system, yet, when looked at with the naked eye do not resemble there typical artistic features in reality due to there immense light intensity. I used a stylised rendition of a star with the some of the physical features:

• Plasma Blast
• Solar Flare
• Coronal Loops

Reference images were vital in understanding the look and behaviour of these different features.

A useful creative reference was a video by NASA of the Sun showing a decade worth of photos, compressed into 1-hour, using an extreme ultraviolet filter. Without the filter the Sun would just look like a bright sphere, just like how it looks in the sky.

How was this achieved?

Almost all of the star was created using Unity’s VFX Graph using the same smoke texture. As well as VFX Graph, I used a simple sphere mesh with a simple unlit emissive shader to act as the core of the star.