Day and Night System to the project only using
Unity’s native Lighting system.
Editor window to provide an easy implementation in your projectCelestial Time of DayCelestial Time of Day is a lightweight, procedural day-night system for Unity. It helps you build dynamic skies, lighting, fog, clouds, sun, moon, stars, and time-of-day transitions with a simple setup workflow and a customizable Shader Graph skybox.This tool is being shared openly as part of the larger Celestial Cycles vision: a modular world automation framework for Unity. Thank you to all previous buyers; your support and feedback helped shape the system into a stronger foundation for dynamic environments.Product OverviewCelestial Time of Day brings life and atmosphere into Unity scenes by smoothly transitioning through morning, noon, evening, night, sunrise, and sunset.The system directly controls:Directional LightSkybox materialEnvironment lightingReflection intensityFog settingsSun, moon, star, and cloud shader valuesIt is designed to be easy to integrate into existing projects while staying lightweight and compatible with other Unity tools.Key FeaturesFast SetupUse the included setup tools to quickly assign or create the required scene references, including the Time Profile, Directional Light, and procedural skybox material. You can get a working time-of-day setup running quickly, then fine-tune the look from the inspector.Procedural Shader Graph SkyboxThe included procedural skybox supports:Dynamic sun renderingDynamic moon renderingMoon phase controlStarsCloudsAtmospheric sky colorHorizon blendingGround color blendingFog-friendly sky transitionsThe skybox is editable through Shader Graph, giving artists and developers room to customize the visual style.Dynamic Day-Night TransitionsCreate smooth transitions from dawn to day, day to dusk, and night back to morning. The Time Manager blends profile settings automatically based on the current time of day.Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night ProfilesCreate and edit separate profiles for different parts of the day. Each profile can control:Sky tint, exposure, and contrastSky color and blendHorizon and ground colorSun disk color and sizeDirectional Light colorAmbient intensityReflection intensityFog color, density, start, and end distanceArtist-Friendly Time ManagerThe Time Manager inspector is organized into clear workflow sections, making it easier to understand and tune without constantly checking documentation.Sections include:Scene SetupTime ModeRealtime LocationSun and MoonLighting and FogCloudsWindPerformanceTime Profile DetailsThe inspector includes tooltips, status readouts, setup warnings, and helpful guidance for common settings.Sun, Moon, Stars, and Moon PhaseThe skybox includes sun, moon, and star rendering. The Time Manager controls sun and moon movement, moon brightness, and moon phase using the existing skybox shader properties.The system supports both automatic and manual moon phase control.Realtime Location OptionFor projects that want more location-based behavior, the Time Manager can calculate sun direction, sunrise, sunset, and moon phase from a game date and location.You can use city presets or enter manual values for:LatitudeLongitudeElevationUTC offsetYear, month, and dayCloud ControlsClouds are controlled through simple artist-facing values such as:ColorCoverageThicknessBrightnessSoftnessMovement SpeedStorm DarknessThe system safely maps these values to the procedural skybox shader to help avoid extreme settings that can break the sky appearance.Skybox Fog BlendingThe skybox includes fog-friendly controls designed to reduce harsh seams between scene fog and the sky. This helps terrain, oceans, distant objects, and the horizon blend more naturally into the atmosphere.Lighting and Environment ControlControl scene lighting, skybox intensity, ambient lighting, reflection intensity, and fog through the Time Manager and time profiles. Changes are applied in real time as the day progresses.Celestial Night ObjectUse CelestialNightObject to control lights, particles, and emissive materials based on day and night. This is useful for lamps, fire, windows, signs, and other nighttime effects.Celestial Cycle TriggerUse trigger volumes to smoothly transition the time of day in different parts of your scene.Dynamic Nature IntegrationCelestial Time of Day is designed to work with Dynamic Nature. When weather controls clouds, the Time Manager can hand cloud ownership to the Weather Manager so both systems work together cleanly.Important Upgrade NotesThe system uses a procedural Shader Graph skybox.Sky and fog behavior may look different from older cubemap-based setups.Existing scenes should be checked after upgrading, especially skybox assignment, Directional Light assignment, and Time Profile references.Always back up your project before upgrading major versions.SupportIf you have questions, issues, or feedback, join the Discord:https://discord.gg/nRu4e2zrCelestial Time of Day gives you a fast, flexible foundation for dynamic skies, lighting, fog, and atmosphere in Unity.• Render Pipeline Support: Built-in, URP, HDRP (Shader Graph-based, easy to extend)• Unity Versions: Tested on Unity 2022.3 LTS and up (recommended: 2022+)• Platforms:• ✔️ Windows, Mac• ✔️ Android (Mobile Optimized)• ✔️ VR (Meta Quest, PC VR)• Code Optimization & ReviewLeveraged AI-based analysis to identify performance bottlenecks, eliminate redundancy, and streamline core update loops.• Custom Editor ScriptingDesigned complex custom inspectors with context-aware UI, conditional property drawers, and runtime-safe logic — with feedback from AI recommendations for best UX.
