I'm finally on a project that has me literally up in the clouds. The shot is a fighter jet flying between the clouds. I've spent the past week experimenting with the various cloud types and settings. I like the look I'm getting from the Cumulus cloud type, but I have one issue I hope someone out there can help me with. Is there a way to break up or reduce the flat bottom of the Cumulus cloud model? It feels like I've made a thousand adjustments to the Coverage, Variation, Edge sharpness, and Cloud density settings, but nothing seems to work. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Niel
Uncheck Taper top and base under Tweaks
Now you can set up your own fade with something like a surface layer/distribution layer in the final density input (Using Minimum Height / Fuzzy zone).
And if you have that lower part fuzzily masked, use a PF in the breakup input to make the gradient not smooth, but broken up in cloud whisps.
Some time ago someone had an image with clouds that had a nice bumpy underside, and I asked, how he did that. I copied the answer, but unfortunately I forgot, who it was.
So here is the quote, and thank you, whoever you are...: :)
"1 : I lowered the coverage gamma setting at about 0.5 to get more diversity inside the clouds.
2 : In order to get some parts of the clouds base to be illuminated by the sun, I lowered the buoyancy from variation up to 0.2, this gives the base more bumpy."
Hi Niel,
If you're using 'Easy Cloud', some of the settings that were suggested above don't apply.
To get more control over the shape and texture of Easy Clouds you can use the "Mask shader" input. For example, a Cloud Fractal Shader can be plugged directly into the mask input. (Cloud Fractal Shader is a simplified version of Power Fractal Shader with better defaults for clouds).
The keys to getting a more broken-up look are:
- Increase the Contrast on the mask fractal. Try 2 or more.
- Increase the Roughness parameter on the mask fractal. Try about 5.
- Make the mask fractal more predictable by setting its "Lead-in scale" and "Feature scale" to be less than the average cloud size. In my tests as I'm writing this I've got Lead-in scale at 1000 and Feature scale at 500 with the "Cumulus Large" preset. After you've got the breakup effect to work you can experiment with larger lead-in scales.
To restrict the effect to the lower parts of the cloud you need more nodes. I've attached an example Clip File.
Here are some more ideas. TGD attached.
Thanks for all your input guys!
Matt, your suggestions worked perfectly. Thanks!
Niel