Render Studio: how to create atmospheric effects (such as rain, fog, smoke, haze)

mike_stanley

I'm modeling street lighting and trying to "see" the cone of light as if the light was passing through a light fog where the light is scattered by the fog.
I didn't see any options for changing the atmosphere. I created a big solid "glass with smoke" that represented the air, but couldn't get anything to work.
Any ideas?  Knowing that it isn't possible right now would also be helpful.

EvanReese

I've not dug into Render Studio enough to know if it's capable of it, but "VDB" is your search term (Perhaps also "Scattering Medium"). Here's how it's done in Keyshot. Let me know if you figure it out!
https://manual.keyshot.com/manual/materials/material-types/advanced-material/scattering-medium/

S1mon

Another clue is that RenderStudio is based on Nvidia's Iray. I haven't tried any of this, but here's a tutorial from 2015 which may be relevant: https://www.deviantart.com/sickleyield/journal/Tutorial-Creating-Dust-And-Atmosphere-in-Iray-522291773

This was linked off of the developer blog for Iray: https://blog.irayrender.com/archive

eric_pesty

I don't remember if that is specifically discussed in there but I found these "migenius" tutorials helpful. The interface looks a bit different now but the functionality is mostly identical so these are still relevant:
https://www.youtube.com/user/migeniusMEDIA/videos

IgnacioMartos

@mike_stanley while this does not cover the topic fully, it should help you start the process towards generating some fog and a nice cone of light being emitted from your lamp. https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/render-studio-interface.htm#add-volume 

The best way to create that "atmosphere" is to generate a volume encapsulating your object, then you can define the environment in that volume! 

mike_stanley

Thanks for all your help. It was a challenge to get things setup. I've tried to capture what worked for me.  Here's the end result:


The Part Studio:

Important aspects:
1. Need a ground because light can't fall on an environment.
2. The ground needs to overlap/intersect with the air to prevent issues at the boundary.
3. The actual light element is small, so very helpful to put on a fixture that can be easily seen (and can be hidden)
4. Uses a sphere for a uniform source of light.   
5. May be helpful to put the light element within a cone "shade"
6. Need a large block of "Air" that is translucent.

Making a light source:
Use "Spot Light" and change intensity to at least 10,000.  Change Spot Light Spread to 0.5 to start with so you can see it.

At this point, you should be able to see your light on the "Ground", but not in the "Air".  To see light in a fog/mist, you need to copy "Add Volume" in appearances and paste on your "Air" appearance.  Change Scattering Coefficient using a dialog box to be a low (0.007) number so not too heavy.


There are many, many options, but these were the key ones that helped me.  If you have any suggestions for improving this post, please submit a comment and I'll update the post.  

Hopefully this helps others!

EvanReese

@mike_stanley
Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and write this up!

shawn_crocker

@mike_stanley
Thanks for that info!