Cumulus S3D Puffy Cloud Plugin

Sparrowhawke3DSparrowhawke3D Posts: 102
edited June 2019 in Carrara Discussion

You can now download the Cumulus S3D volumetric cloud shape plugin from my website.  This adds a new shape to the list of the volumetric cloud primitive.

There are a lot of parameters in tabs to control various aspects of the cloud.  Most of these are explained in the user manual.  I've created some presets which you can copy into your objects browser to help get going.

The plugin creates up to 9 cumulus clouds within the one volume.  Settings can be used to change how regularly they line up in rows and random size ranges for width and height.  When the sizes are increased toward the maximum the clouds will fuse into a larger cloud.

These clouds are more complex than the existing shapes and therefore slower to render.  If you have a large number of clouds or a maximum detail cloud in a scene there will be pause before they are rendered as Carrara builds the lighting cache.  Don't be afraid to turn up the quality settings though but using Global Illumination with the clouds won't see much improvement.

I'm not sure if the Cumulus S3D will work with any 3rd party rendering plugins.

When the clouds are animated the puffs move in fairly realistic cyclic rolling patterns.  This means the plugin doesn't need to run a simulation and you can change the animation time freely.  There is an Evolution slider to have the clouds start out as wisps and then take shape.  At the end of their evolution they dissipate.  

 

This example video shows an animated cloud.

 

Post edited by Sparrowhawke3D on

Comments

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,523

    Thanks once again, made a donation via PP earler.

  • Persona Non GrataPersona Non Grata Posts: 1,365
    edited March 2021

    .

    Post edited by Persona Non Grata on
  • Thanks for your support Bunyip, appreciated.

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,523

    Thanks for your support Bunyip, appreciated.

    Thanks for your continuing support of Carrara !!!!

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711

    will try to test in Octane 4

    TY heart

  • Carrara's volumetric clouds do all the lighting and shading.  The plugin only has to return the density of the cloud at any given sampling point so if other rendering software asks for the same it should work.  If the existing cloud shapes render consistently then my plugin should work.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,024

    Thank you!

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711

    Yes it works with Octane yes

  • GreymomGreymom Posts: 1,104

    Excellent - thanks!

     

  • Persona Non GrataPersona Non Grata Posts: 1,365
    edited March 2021

    .

    Post edited by Persona Non Grata on
  • 0oseven0oseven Posts: 626

    Another Gem for Carrara ! We are extremely grateful Sparrowhawke3D ! Thankyou

     

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,921
    0oseven said:

    Another Gem for Carrara ! We are extremely grateful Sparrowhawke3D ! Thankyou

     

    times 10 - thank you again!

    0oseven said:

     

     

  • 3drendero3drendero Posts: 2,017
    News post at CarraraCafe by Jetbird: https://carraracafe.com/8853-2/
  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945

    Wow! again a new nice plugin, thank you S3D!

    I watched the post on carraracafé, thank you 3drendero (impossible to login for a long time on this site...)

    Q: is it possible to write a word (letters) in the sky?

  • SileneUKSileneUK Posts: 1,969

    Oooooh.... nice!  Cheers, SIlene heart

  • DUDU said:

    Wow! again a new nice plugin, thank you S3D!

    I watched the post on carraracafé, thank you 3drendero (impossible to login for a long time on this site...)

    Q: is it possible to write a word (letters) in the sky?

    In the Advanced dialog of the Cumulus S3D shape you can use the Position Override option to place the clouds.  Increase the Regularity option to make them neater.  Doing letters of the alphabet really needs a minimum grid of 5x5 so multiple cloud primitives would be needed to do some skywriting.  If you had the Inagoni Primivol plugin that can contain its volume within a 3D mesh and then you would be able to use the Text Primitive.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    heart volumetrics

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