Cloud WIP

[littlecannon]

Hi... progressing with this cloud scene, inspired by Franks image, Thanks Frank I'm learning a lot from your pack. CC welcome.

[domdib]

To me, the cloud looks a bit too well defined at the front - too reminiscent of a cauliflower   I'm not an expert, so I'm not sure on the best way to fix that - perhaps decrease edge sharpness, and maybe cloud density? Also, if you dial down the sun a bit, you won't get the clipping at the top right, so more detail will come out.

[aymenk2003]

fantastic clouds ...flat base ..How did you do that ? is there a clue...

[Henry Blewer]

I have a hunch that the clouds in this pic are huge. Large scaled clouds and turning on the flatter base checkbox would do it.

[Tangled-Universe]

Cool clouds, I think you almost nailed it. Perhaps some slightly higher sampling or edge sharpness (what are the settings for these and for sampling, which quality# is it?) might give it an even better look. If you very slightly reduce the offset in your cloudfractal and also slightly increase the blackpoint of the colouradjust shader after the fractal, you might get a little bit more large scale variation and will also lose some of those small outcropping parts and other little thingies
I admit, this is really hard to master and get it exactly as you/we would like. Frank is really the expert here if you ask me, perhaps and hopefully he also has some good advice.

Martin

fantastic clouds ...flat base ..How did you do that ? is there a clue...

turn on flat base in the cloudnode, that's it

edit: njeneb just beat me

[Falcon]

If this were coming towards me in the desert, I'd be afraid. Very afraid.

Good job.

I'd also reduce the sharpness a little, as I would expect such a huge cloud to be accompanied by at least a few smaller, thinner clouds all around it.

[FrankB]

a few thoughts on this render:

the cauliflower shapes are great, the trouble is the cloud scenery as a whole. You have this huge blob of very sharp clouds hovering in the front, but cumulonimbus clouds just don't look like this, as even these beasts have a softer base and much less sharp edges in the lower third. with tg2 you can only specify the sharpness for the entire cloud, which is a problem. You need to find a way to cheat, and that lies in either hiding all the lower thrid or half behind a mountain or trees, or place a less sharp and softer cloud extacly where that sharp thing is. The leatter is going to be a lot of re-seeding and experimenting and tweaking until it looks totally integrated with the thunderhead that now sticks out of the softer clouds around it.

Last point: as the way fake scattering works has changed, the shadow sides become problematic as well. You need to work with much higher values for the envro light setting in the cloud layer, otherwise these shadow sides become way too dark - like here.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Frank

[dandelO]

Great shapes in this cloud, just, as Frank says, it's too sharp all over. The contrast is also too high in my opinion. Maybe less density would help.

Last point: as the way fake scattering works has changed, the shadow sides become problematic as well. You need to work with much higher values for the envro light setting in the cloud layer, otherwise these shadow sides become way too dark - like here.

I'm thinking: Raising light 'propagation' might help here, too. Doesn't that let more light pass through the cloud-body? So, more light shining through - less dark shadows.
I can't check this because I'm currently rendering, I'm not sure I have got the way 'light propagation' works correctly, though.

[FrankB]

here's a quick doodle on what I think you should try. This is the cumulonimbus V3 stuff from the cumulus pack, positioned over a field of softer clouds (much less sharpness).

[littlecannon]

Thanks Frank and everyone else, I'll give the suggestions a go. More dissecting and experimentation to keep me busy. At the end of this, hopefully I should have clouds nailed.

[Matt]

...as even these beasts have a softer base and much less sharp edges in the lower third. with tg2 you can only specify the sharpness for the entire cloud, which is a problem.

There's a setting called "base softness" which is designed to help with this. For big cumulonimbus I usually set this to at least 0.5, maybe even 1. It causes the "edge sharpness" to reduce towards the base of the cloud.

Matt

[littlecannon]

Great, Thanks Matt, I'll give that a go too.

[Tangled-Universe]

...as even these beasts have a softer base and much less sharp edges in the lower third. with tg2 you can only specify the sharpness for the entire cloud, which is a problem.

There's a setting called "base softness" which is designed to help with this. For big cumulonimbus I usually set this to at least 0.5, maybe even 1. It causes the "edge sharpness" to reduce towards the base of the cloud.

Matt

Thanks for the info Matt. When literally reading your post it seems you're doing some rendering now and then yourselves? Care to share/show some of your doodles sometime?

Cheers,
Martin

[Matt]

Martin,

If/when I have something that shows a new feature or is good enough to stand alongside the great images coming from the users these days

Matt

[Sp34k]

Woaw, you have done a really good job on these clouds! If I saw these in real life I would be stunned..
But now that I have the chance, may I ask what the "WIP" stands for? I see alot of these titles and I havent figured its meaning out..