Above the Fog for Iray and 3Delight [Now Available] [Commercial]
Marshian
Posts: 1,460
Above the Fog for Iray and 3Delight
It’s so quiet here above the fog, maybe too quiet. What secret is obscured? Will this misty silence confirm a place of peace or will my imagination conjure some dark reality?
This prop for Iray and 3Delight has many material presets that control color, density, as well as the puff scale and contrast. It’s easy to change the mood, go from smooth, undulating, and heavy to light, airy and patchy. It’s versatile to fit your story, this prop can be tilted to create a wall of fog or flipped to create smoke collecting on the ceiling. Change the shape using the included D-Former to lift the fog into a swell, which can be scaled small to fit a cauldron or large to encompass a cemetery on a hill.
Instructions for D-Formers can be found here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/65332/above-the-fog#latest
The 3Delight prop has many more presets than the Iray version and can be adjusted to create volumetric effects (God rays) with the flip of a switch. This will increase render times. Both versions are sensitive to light, as both catch and scatter light for more realism to real fog. For Ambient Occlusion in 3Delight, you will experience faster renders using Age Of Armour's Advanced Ambient Light, with it’s ability to exclude surfaces, rather than using UberEnvironment2. The Iray prop works best with ambient light, especially HDR based lights.
Review the promos for which render engine was used as they have different presets/effects. Also look for ideas on lighting and camera angles. Your camera needs to be outside the prop for the fog to render correctly.
To see the prop in working view switch to drawing style: Wire Frame Shaded.
Instructions are included with a link on how to customize surfaces beyond the presets, see the ReadMe.
I would love to see your renders and answer questions here, I will be watching this thread closely over the next week or so. I don't always receive notices when a new post goes up so if you don't get a response in a day or so please send a PM.
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Comments
Other than the geometry the props for 3DL and Iray are completely different. The 3DL version uses ubervolume which has a ton of control http://www.omnifreaker.com/index.php?title=UberVolume and many qualities and options similar to smoke. The Iray version uses a surface similar to my AtmoCam which is a highly modified version of "water dispersive" so it's qualities are closer to a thick dense soupy fog.
The Iray version does look great, there are some suggestions for camera placement and lighting to follow in the ReadMe. Take note of the placement of lights and camera in the render below.
I'm very proud of this one, it has been in the works for over a year (off and on). And I have been working with ubervolume since 2012.
Here is a 3DL render with Arabella
Looks great, but my buying is on hold at the moment.
Few more Iray renders please as the Iray version seems to have allot less in the way of options if I understand this correctly. I'd like to see more of what can be done in Iray as that's all I use now. Thank you.
Hi Strixowl,
Thanks for asking to see more. It was tough to pair down all of my illustrations to what you see in the promos. Here are some other Iray renders not shown in the promos. As far as options and variety for Iray what you see is it...for now. I worked very hard to bring in some other options but the surface settings are very fragile. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Instantly into the cart!! :)
Thank you SimonJM!
Nice. I always appreciate seeing your render examples, as you use so much of the catalog; the great, older models I don't often think to dust off and use. It' inspiring to see them worked so creatively.
I have, and use often, most of your products. This looks like quite a winner, as well.
My only question: is Above the Fog compatible with earlier Studio versions, like 4.6 & 4.7, or is 4.8 not just compatible, but required?
Hi nowefg,
I have a pretty solid answer. I started using D|S in 2012 and I believe that was 4.6. This is when I started experimenting with UberVolume, which is what the 3DL version is made from. Omnifreakers UberVolume page was last updated in 2010 so it has been around for sometime now.
My exploration into this surface material began from wanting a fog prop that could be lit from behind and would scatter light. So glad to have the aux viewport now for adjusting and testing!
Edit: Thanks for commenting on my promos, I love doing those, especially with older sets like you mentioned. It's like the TV show "This Old House", I go in and fix 'em up and put them back out in view with something new.
Usually what shows up on the store page is about 2/3 or half the amount of the promos I've created. I use the promos to test the product in a variety of lighting and situations.
Thanks, Marshian. Great news.
I've been waiting for this with much anticipation and the previews haven't disappointed! Purchased, the moment I saw it! Being able to control the dispersal/thickness of the particles and use it equally in 3Delight and Iray, is unbelievably useful. Especially with different colours.
This is going to be ideal for everything, from horror to romance and even just ambient effects, like over swamps and aircraft carrier decks.
Now, off to make my own version of this... :)
Hi Xenomorphine- I was hoping to hear from you here. You offered some great ideas for functionality and promo scenes that I included in this set! Thank you! All of the examples you sent were great to work from.
Have fun.
In line with the DeLorean- here is a car render that didn't make it to the store page.
Well I've decided to stip whining about 4.9 and try it out - as soon as it finishes doing what it's doing, I'll purchase it and test the new cloud crap from 4.9; I hope it is more cloud than fog /nod Only fog should be your product. :)
I really hope at some point we get Iray tech to 'bunch up' fog and otherwise give it texture.
It looks good :)
Personally I feel that an in-depth tutorial PDF would make it easier to use. It's more complicated then AtmoCam :)
I just had a thought .... this is geometry? It should work in LuxRender (and Octane), yes (with suitable settings)?
Hi DoctorJellybean,
I'd like to help. A little bit about my process: I usually rely on two sources to show me the need for a tutorial- My own perspective from imagining that I'm unfamiliar (which is tough) and the DAZ testers. This time I added a third level which is to let someone else experiment with it. The prop was all clear with the testers but the pre-release testing from a friend told me that there were longer render times than usual when using UE2 lights. So I provided direction to use AoA advanced ambient light to speed things up. I take great care in imagining all the features & concerns and developing useful information from that, still it's quite possible I missed some area of explanation.
Have you reviewed the ReadMe? (see the link above) If you have specific questions beyond that I'd be happy to answer, and I can answer quickly.
I'm not sure about this SimonJM. I'm almost certain Ubervolume only works in D|S and I dont know if Iray surfaces translate to those plugins. ....A little searching and I can't seem to find an answer about this. It's seems like a general compatibility question between Iray and Luxrender/Octane- maybe someone in those threads can help?
WONDERFUL product Marshian... Thank you for thinking of it... Here are my sample renders for everyone to enjoy!
Thanks for posting Llola Lane! The light fog version is interesting as it's diffusing the green. Is that whole background an HDR image or is it more like a cyclorama?
What are render times like with both the 3DL version and the Iray version please?
Hi scorpio, There's so many factors involved with render times but in general:
For 3DL- If you use AoA Advanced Ambient Light (and flag the fog prop) instead of UE2 for occlusion and you leave "Accept Shadows" turned off for the fog prop- a render that would normally take 1 hr might be 1.5 hrs. Most of my 3DL promos were created this way.
For Iray- A render that would normally be at default settings (2hrs) might take double that time to keep the grain and noise down but this really depends on what is in your scene and your computer build. I'm on a MAC and use CPU only- no extra drivers, video cards, etc. I found that an outdoor scene using HDR or Sun-Sky for lighting didn't increase render times significantly beyond the two hour default (see render below).
For most uses and in most situations (scene objects and computer build) it's not a significant increase. I would compare it to a 3DL scene that has a bunch of transparency masks and an interior Iray scene that has a lot of bounce light. Does all this make sense? Let me know if you have more questions.
An update on render time: The 3DL scene below is 1300x731, has a ton of transmaps, lots of geometry (almost the whole "Curious" series), and uses AoA for occlusion. It rendered in only 51 minutes which surprised me. I can clearly see this is going to be one of my favorite atmospheric props.
Funny Edit: Just noticed I put the school house right next to the pub but I guess in a small town like this everything is actually next to everything.
This looks impressive, I can't get light bouncing of fog on C4D, so this is a step up!
Well, I have to admit, the promos sold me - and the initial price was under my $20.00 limit.. (sadly, the exchange rate bumped it to near $24, but this looked too good to pass up.
The readme is OK as a starting pomnt, and it does give you the necessary info to get started, but what I'd love to see, is not necessarily a full tutorial, but a "Tips 'n Tricks" doc, or even a thread in the forums for that.
Attached is my first render with it, stock fog settings, no tweaking.. Got another version rendering, with some tweaking and higher quality, hopefully..
So Marshian.. Good on ye! this one is very useful...
Hi hacsart, thanks so much!
I am breaking new ground with this product and it was in the works (off and on) for over a year. When I get so familiar with a product it is challenging to anticipate how much instruction to give. But that familiarity means to you have purchased a very refined product.
When I started out I realized how much of this 3D world is experimentation. You have to love it and that was my threshold to keep pushing, to learn more. Great thing is: if the experiment doesn't work out there is no film being wasted, there is no clay that is going to blow up in the kiln, there is no canvas to ruin, no smashed fingers.
I think your experiment went well and it does appear you used my instruction as a good starting point. There are some really cool things happening here!
What I can do is answer any of your questions thoroughly- if there is some effect you're trying to achieve and/or an area you're having trouble with. Since you mentioned my promos (thanks!) I could even break down one of those for how it was built, ideas on cameras, surfaces, and lighting... Show you screencaps with behind the scenes information. This is the time and place to start the tips and tricks thread, if you will work with me on what is useful to extract.
Here is one of the promos I didn't use, it shows how the fog can be scaled and used with a specific prop.
Hi Marshian..
Would love to see some "behind the scenes" info on the promos, have to admit, it was them that sold me.. The one that really caught my eye was the one used as the lead image, the one with the auto headlights illuminating the fog..
I'll keep on experimenting, have a few ideas that may work, will post them here as they go..
Thanks again for this product - its a keeper!
Cheers
Harold
I like the 3DL effect better than the Iray- it seems a bit wispier, whereas as you mentioned, the Iray one is slightly different. Loved the promos!
Here is my breakdown of the main promo. If this stirs up any more questions I'm open. Mainly I wanted to show the placement and scale of the fog prop but I explained some of the lighting and overlapping of light and dark areas for drama.