PDA

View Full Version : clouds

seagoat
08-24-2008, 09:12 AM
I'm working on a shot for my film in which a character is falling from a plane down to earth, and I'd like to comp in a render layer of some wispy clouds shooting up past him as he falls. It's quick motion, so I don't need anything too fancy. But I've never done this kind of effect before. Would rather not open up the particles can of worms if I can help it, and my experiences with the Pfx cloud brushes have been disappointing and so far I can't even get the Fluids clouds to work.

How would you guys suggest accomplishing this? I'd like to render my character with a black surface shader so there's a holdout for him as he goes through the clouds. Really, I just need a wisp passing by every couple seconds and only for a few frames. It's almost something I should just fake in the comp, but I'd love to learn any expert techniques you guys can suggest.

Thanks!
-Ben

(render of the shot as is is attached)
anevsky
08-24-2008, 01:11 PM
try from the visor some of the fluid effect examples - clouds. when you import it you will get a number of things such as lights and fog - look through the outliner and delete whatever you dont need - I usually only use the actual clouds (its a fluid container). Also - try rendering it in both mentalray and maya software - often times maya software will render the clouds cleaner out of the box - but play with it.

for your situation you can find a cloud container that you like - and duplicate it (if doesn't work you can use the different duplicate special options to get it working). You can tweek the settings in the fluid node as you like also.
seagoat
08-24-2008, 11:04 PM
Thanks for the suggestion, I'm actually finding that the fluids example "Faster Clouds" is pretty effective for what I needed. I wish they were a little crisper, but what can you expect from a simple 3d noise texture?

I'd be interested to know how people have done higher-end clouds that are decent for flying through and/or controlling the shape of. A couple months ago someone offered me a freelance gig making some clouds that were shaped like people and I was like, uh, that sounds like a month of headaches.
CGTalk Moderation
08-24-2008, 11:04 PM
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.