How to handle transitioning from space to planet side

Questions & Answers
1

I’m trying to implement a way to transfer from space to the surface of a planetary body. Right now, all orbiting bodies are in one scene, a star with two planets as children object orbiting it.

I’ve tried changing the scale of the system in an attempt to make a physics-based model where gravity pulls the player/camera towards the body, but it ends up just looking like it’s super-zoomed into a low poly mesh (rightfully so).

Is there a straight-forward way to transition to a planet-side scene or change the layout of the current scene I’m working with such that I can add details and make it feel like you’ve come from space to the surface of a planet?

2

Look up Kerbal Space Program - actually, you probably already know about it, but if you don’t, go out and get it immediately, it is a great game. It, too, uses Unity, and it involves space travel and seamless transition from orbit to surface. The way they did it was, I believe, keeping the player stationary and instead moving planets towards it. There was a video on YouTube describing it.