Cloud hell

[TheBadger]

*deleted cures filled rant*

I can make clouds that look like how I want. But I cannot make them the size I want or place them where I want.
http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/~weidman/NATS_online/week_7/steamfog_1.jpg
http://footage.framepool.com/shotimg/138179888-lake-ontario-inland-navigation-sunshade-sunrise.jpg
These are really a lot taller than I am trying for. Just want it to rise no more than 3 feet above the surface. Also no distance between the surface and the bottom of the vapor cloud.

I really dont get why I cant make the cloud work the same way a radius of 12 feet as I can 100meters. OR why I cant get it to look right at 3 feet high the way I can at 150 meters tall

Diving me nuts. Also that there is not a better way to test render clouds, that I know of.

[choronr]

This type would have been nice to use in the Iceland projects.

[bigben]

Clouds aren't my strong point, but I usually start with something like this for fog. Small cloud, higher contrast/roughness for up close detail. Tricky getting a balance between detail and noise

[choronr]

Thanks Ben, just happened I've been working with some fog.

[Dune]

Those are extremely low values. I sometimes get the feeling that the smaller the cloud sizes (like also in steamtrain smoke) the more you have to do your best to get rid of the grain. 'Normal' clouds are easier in that respect.

[TheBadger]

Wow Ben, that pretty freaking close already! Since you got it to what looks like the right scale, I am sure that I can play with it to get the grain however I need. Guessing once I look at the file I will understand what I was doing wrong in terms of getting the number right too. So thats a twofer
Thank you for the zen.

[bigben]

I think the smallest scale in the PF may have gone a bit too extreme which might account for some of the noise.  It didn't have that much effect when i reduced it to that level but I forgot to change it back. Can lose at least a decimal place. 

I find it's usually a tricky balancing act between contrast, roughness and coverage of the PF and cloud density, edge sharpness...

[TheBadger]

Hey Ben,
Why is the surface shader connected through the Shader branch, and not simply part of the atmo branch? What effect can it have in the way that you put it, that it cannot have connected in the atmo branch only?

[bigben]

That was just to preview the PF used for cloud to get a sense of the scale without being affected by the cloud density settings. Should be disconnected afterwards.

[TheBadger]

ahh, K.
Thank you.