Above the Fog for Iray and 3Delight looks pretty cool ...
WillowRaven
Posts: 3,787
in The Commons
Anybody try this, yet? I think the 3Delight renders look better than the iray renders in the promo images, which suits me fine since I haven't made the switch.
I'd love to see more renders with the product if ya'll have any: http://www.daz3d.com/above-the-fog-for-iray-and-3delight
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Comments
I bought it. I love fog products. Glad to see a nice product for 3delight.
3DL fog products will continue to look better than Iray fog until someone creates something ... particle based or SOMETHING for Iray.
The product is about as good as you can get until then.
Here's 3 I did today. I talk about my experinece on Novica's thread in Art Studio.
Is it a bumpy plane, or an object with volume? It seems to have been described with thickness, however the dformer example makes it look as though it has no thickness.
Those rendered in iray or 3delight?
Looks like there's also a commercial thread here with more info: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/65141/above-the-fog-for-iray-and-3delight-now-available-commercial#latest
I think I can answer my own question, it's a volume (it uses the UberVolume shader for the 3DL version) and the dformer example screenshot I now see the Dformer had just highlighted a portion of the top of the object, which actually extends beyond the highlighted area which I missed at first glance.
Oh sorry, I should have mentioned that - 3DL.
Awesome. How easy is it to work with?
I had trouble at first but it seems to work best when you use Advanced Ambient Light, are looking down on the fog, and have a bright light in the scene. Using the light is mentioned in the product details and many of the promo images use the the latter two. Since you can't really see the effect until you render, I did a lot of small test renders to get the feel for the different material choices (density, puff size, puff contras). I'm trying an iray render now,
Hi People- Just found this thread! RGcincy- great renders! This is exactly what I was hoping to see, especially since you showcased the light catching and scattering feature. Thanks for posting.
The AuxViewport works very well to quickly get a feel for all the options (puff, contrast, color, etc.). And remember to use DrawStyle: Wire texture Shaded to see the prop in working view. These two tips will make the fog prop much easier to work with.
A different use for Above the Fog. Instead of fog, I used the prop to make sand. There's two copies of the prop: a lower one with a sand shader and an upper one with a medium density brown fog from Above the Fog. Both were moved mostly underground so only the tips of the fog appear above ground.
Yes that's it, so good to see experimentation. If you wanted to give it a grainy feel you could increase the Step Size (in surfaces tab) to about 100.
Applying a sand shader to the second prop- great idea too. I spent a good amont of time sculpting the organic top on the fog prop which is hard to sse when it is fog- you can see some of that work with this one converted to sand.
Here is a render I did today using the recently acquired Western Town with Above The Fog (for 3DL). I usually lean towards sci-fi and fantasy but buying a whole town was hard to resist. I dont have to many western props so this purchase filled a big hole in my library.
The Stagecoach was purchased during the vehicle sale. Whoever built it took some time with the texturing which was really good to see.
Great tip - upping the step size really makes it grainier. I tried 100 but backed it off to 50.
I like your western scene. I have that set on my wishlist. That's another one where blowing sand or dust would be a good fit.
I finally had an opportunity to play with this AWESOME product and it's the easiest tool I've ever used for just the effect I needed. Saved me so much time in postwork because the fog was already done for me.
I really like how it billows as it goes back but just added a hint of surface fog in the foreground.
My first time (using 3DL) ... (Hope this doesn't violate any nudity rules since all naughty bits are hidden).
Great renders everyone...I was broke when this first came out but as soon as I can I will be picking it up.
I agree - and I'm quite sure you wouldn't regret the purchase. 'Above the Fog' is great, imo.
Thanks for posting a render WillowRaven! I really like how you used the fog to layer your scene elements. That light over dark, dark over light- the silouetting.
Thank you caravelle, for the boost.
Pendraia- If you have any questions after picking this up you can post here, the commcercial thread Above The Fog, or send a PM.
I found another render to post that didn't make it into the promos- Level 19. In this scene I turned "Accept Shadows" on (the fog prop in surface editor) so that the shadow from the doors is casted onto the fog. The render took a littlle longer but The effect is well worth it!
Thanks, Marshian. I don't get excited about many tools but this one I can see me using and promoting a lot.
Another Above the Fog scene, this time using it give a wind-blown sand effect to the planet surface and to add depth to my Easy Environment Eternal Sands desert, which is hard with no scaling markers like trees or people in the distance.
I used the lightest settings and matching my sand color, then lowered the transparency even further, so ya'll probably can't even see it ... lol ... but trust me, it's giving the sand a better expression of distance and it creates a nice 'sand-dust' effect over the distant city. REALLY enjoying this tool.
Thanks WillowRaven. You gave me an idea here that would be an interesting way to have particles (dust, snow, sand) blowing/flowing over the landscape. If two Above the Fog props were loaded and one was raised about a foot over the other- The one below was converted to a solid material (snow or sand for example) and the one above was left as fog but the color was changed. Maybe thats what you did here but you are right it is hard to see.
Kind of like what RGcincy did above but where the two are more or less in the same X and Z location.
The actual ground is the sand terrain that comes with the EE Eternal Sands environment. A neat color effect occurs adding the fog tool right above the surface. It slightly altered the sand colors as it went further back into the scene. I angled it up in the back a touch to sort of diffuse the city in the distance. I'm not real keen on using DoF cameras because I don't necessarily like the blurred efect, but using the fog does diffuse the background, also creating a DoF effect. Notice the grainy look at the base of the city? That's the fog. Also how the dunes get 'softer' as they go further back? That's also because of the fog tool.
Any more ideas for more handy tools like this? If so, I'm first in line!
..I really like this. Gives it a true "ghost town" feel.
...any chance to see how this performs in Iray?
Sure kyoto kid. Here you go-
Let me know if you have any other questions.
...indeed, I feel the 3DL scenes look much better than the Iray ones as one can achieve more definition to the fog layer. The appearance of the Iray version is too "smooth" and solid, and it appears one cannot get the same puffiness or wispiness.
I don't use UE very much as I find it to be an incredible resource hog. One scene I created which only involved a few frames of motion blur (no atmospheric effects) took sixteen and a half hours to render using UE lighting (almost as glacial as LuxRender) and it was done with an HDRI so the only meshes were the character and a motorcycle. I'm also not very fond of working with UE mesh lights as they just do not handle as elegantly as using the Emissive shader in Iray.
My longest Iray render so far is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 6.5 hours.
On the other hand, loving the AtmoCam. Missed using atmospherics since I want to Iray (have AoA's Atmospheric Cameras) and creating them from scratch (and making them look good) can be a rather involved process.
timmins.william has a process here for combining a 3DL render with Iray: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/947349/#Comment_947349
This way you have the best of both (an Iray render with the variety of the 3DL fog). Hope this helps.
...but how will that affect light from Iray mesh lights if the fog layer is rendered in 3DL and then composited with the Iray render (without resorting to using UE Uberlights in the 3DL pass)?
If I did more work in 3DL I would definitely be on this as it is a major improvement over the old Fog Tool Deluxe.
I don't use uber lights or environments and it works great for me.