8/7/09

Simple Clouds in Maya that are still pretty :D

So clouds are obviously a daunting task, no matter what use you have for them. More often than not, if it's in the background, it's just going to be an image. But if you're involving them in your story somehow, or just want them to be more in keeping with the whole look of your piece, you may want to create them in beautimus 3D. The problem with that, however, is that you'll most likely have to use some sort of volumetric shading, or even worse.... fluiiiddds 0_0. So in prepping for my thesis I've come up with a procedural shader for making clouds that are worthy of being called pretty, but won't destroy your life like a ridiculously long render will. The video explains in depth how to create the shader, as well as things to think about while making it, so that you can have a good understanding about how to customize the look of your clouds (it's rather large, 60mb). For those who aren't interested in shading tree shenanigans, you can simply download the source .ma here.