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Atmospheric scattering effects
Atmospheric scattering is the process by which particles in the atmosphere disperse light. It is the phenomenon that gives the sky it's blue color (and the sunsets their reddish color), and gives distant mountains a blue tint. This effect gives a sense of scale and is critical to our evaluation of distances.
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Water rendering
Realistic water rendering is crucial for creating believable scenes. The water rendering method used here is based on the projected grid method, which is efficient and very scalable.
Sky and sunlight reflections on the water are also handled realistically.
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Rendering other worlds
Kerbal Space Program is based on space travel and the exploration of different planets.
The atmospheric scattering implementation is flexible, and by changing the scattering parameters, different atmospheres can be simulated and realistic rendering of extraterrestrial worlds is possible.