AtmoCam for Iray [Commercial]

Marshian

Hi Olderkat- First palce to start is to make sure you chose the Iray engine in Render Settings and that you are rendering through the AtmoCam. If it still doesn't work come back here and we'll troubleshoot some more.

Connatic

 

Olderkat said:

Can someone throw some light on what I'm doing wrong.

Thank you

You have to use the actual atmocam as the camera for rendering. 

Oso3D

I was intending a much simpler image, but as usual one thing lead to another, and...

 

Olderkat

Marshian said:

Hi Olderkat- First palce to start is to make sure you chose the Iray engine in Render Settings and that you are rendering through the AtmoCam. If it still doesn't work come back here and we'll troubleshoot some more.

thanks for replying promptly, I only use the Iray renderer, I setup my scene then add the Atmocam then choose the colour and then the fog density but all I get is a render that's just a basic light colour and no fog. I've repeated this many times with different scenes and get the same results no colour or fog.

I just can't work out what's going on, getting frustrated now when I see what others achieve.

Peter Wade

Make sure you are looking through the AtmoCam. You have to select from the dropdown list of cameras. Adding the AtomCam to the scene doesn't make it the active camera.

 

 

Lindsey

Olderkat said:

Marshian said:

Hi Olderkat- First palce to start is to make sure you chose the Iray engine in Render Settings and that you are rendering through the AtmoCam. If it still doesn't work come back here and we'll troubleshoot some more.

thanks for replying promptly, I only use the Iray renderer, I setup my scene then add the Atmocam then choose the colour and then the fog density but all I get is a render that's just a basic light colour and no fog. I've repeated this many times with different scenes and get the same results no colour or fog.

I just can't work out what's going on, getting frustrated now when I see what others achieve 

I initially was confused how to apply the material presets.  On the Scene tab, expand the  MAR Iray AtmoCam and select the MAR Atmo Volume, then apply the material presets.

Olderkat

Lindsey said:

Olderkat said:

Marshian said:

Hi Olderkat- First palce to start is to make sure you chose the Iray engine in Render Settings and that you are rendering through the AtmoCam. If it still doesn't work come back here and we'll troubleshoot some more.

thanks for replying promptly, I only use the Iray renderer, I setup my scene then add the Atmocam then choose the colour and then the fog density but all I get is a render that's just a basic light colour and no fog. I've repeated this many times with different scenes and get the same results no colour or fog.

I just can't work out what's going on, getting frustrated now when I see what others achieve 

I initially was confused how to apply the material presets.  On the Scene tab, expand the  MAR Iray AtmoCam and select the MAR Atmo Volume, then apply the material presets.

Yeah! done that at the beginning , looking thru the atmocam and applying the materials to the volume, tried it all ways still don't work. :(

Olderkat

Olderkat said:

Lindsey said:

Olderkat said:

Marshian said:

THi Olderkat- First palce to start is to make sure you chose the Iray engine in Render Settings and that you are rendering through the AtmoCam. If it still doesn't work come back here and we'll troubleshoot some more.

thanks for replying promptly, I only use the Iray renderer, I setup my scene then add the Atmocam then choose the colour and then the fog density but all I get is a render that's just a basic light colour and no fog. I've repeated this many times with different scenes and get the same results no colour or fog.

I just can't work out what's going on, getting frustrated now when I see what others achieve 

I initially was confused how to apply the material presets.  On the Scene tab, expand the  MAR Iray AtmoCam and select the MAR Atmo Volume, then apply the material presets.

Yeah! done that at the beginning , looking thru the atmocam and applying the materials to the volume, tried it all ways still don't work. :(

Morning all, well! Would you credit it,  re-loaded the Atmocam program and now it's working yay!

many thanks you guy for taking the time to help..must've been a glitch in my original loading

Olderkat

Olderkat said:

Lindsey said:

Olderkat said:

Marshian said:

Hi Olderkat- First palce to start is to make sure you chose the Iray engine in Render Settings and that you are rendering through the AtmoCam. If it still doesn't work come back here and we'll troubleshoot some more.

thanks for replying promptly, I only use the Iray renderer, I setup my scene then add the Atmocam then choose the colour and then the fog density but all I get is a render that's just a basic light colour and no fog. I've repeated this many times with different scenes and get the same results no colour or fog.

I just can't work out what's going on, getting frustrated now when I see what others achieve 

I initially was confused how to apply the material presets.  On the Scene tab, expand the  MAR Iray AtmoCam and select the MAR Atmo Volume, then apply the material presets.

Working now thank you all.

Olderkat

All working now thank you all.

Oso3D

Two scenes with AtmoCam...

 

Marshian

Thank you timmins.william! In so many ways. Really nice composition too.

Connatic

I like experimenting with AtmoCam to see what sorts of rays it can make.  The GIS series of structures can yield some interesting results.

Oso3D

One key I figured out is that distance from figures to camera matters, particularly for heavy effects and rays. If your camera is close to a figure, there us less 'stuff' between them. More distance, more stuff. So you need to balance camera position and frame width to get the composition you want with the effect you want.

Marshian

Thats a good point to bring up and it makes sense- I parented the Atmo Prop to the camera but a few feet away from it so that objects very close to the camera would be crystal clear (fog-free). Which I think is more realistic unless you're in that movie "The Mist". The Atmo Prop could be transitioned right up to the camera for full fog, everywhere, all day long.

There's a chance for more rays if the main light source is hidden behind a support, column, post, etc. If the light has a clean clear view of the camera there could be a lot of burnout that would wipe out some of the rays.

Oso3D

Rays in action:

 

(I'm REALLY happy with how the lighting worked out here; diffuse bluish lighting for the environment, then the fiery glow.

Marshian

timmins.william said:

Rays in action:

 

(I'm REALLY happy with how the lighting worked out here; diffuse bluish lighting for the environment, then the fiery glow.

My wife said "Oh wow, nice! Good job."

That is an excellent use! I didn't think of that. Thanks for posting.

SpottedKitty

timmins.william said:

Rays in action:

(I'm REALLY happy with how the lighting worked out here; diffuse bluish lighting for the environment, then the fiery glow.

Impressive! Did you make the inner mouth emissive, or is there a little mesh light somewhere south of his tonsils?

Oso3D

I think I put a point or spotlight, away from the computer. Also made the dragon's skin translucent a bit to really sell the heat. I actually first did this in 3 Delight without the ray effect, then with AoA's atmospheric camera. This version is my fave. (Also LAMH on the dragon. It looks cool in low light but it's a bit clumsy)

DoctorJellybean

How would one go about achieving the following: the camera inside a house looking out through a window where it is foggy outside?

Oso3D

I would set refraction of the fog volume to zero so you can move the camera (or the volume itself) to be outside the wall. Once you get things placed right, can adjust camera frame and set refraction weight back to 1. It's not necessary for the fog to be super precise.

Khory

I'd actually suggest that you follow the product instructions myself. If you change the view to hidden line you can see what is "showing" outside the fog bank. as you move it or the camera that goes with it. It is really cool to see things come into view as they move out of the fog.

Marshian

Thanks Khory! I found this to be a fun part of the process too.

Evenios

Marshian said:

CPU

ah theres the rub......CPU only will be much slower ;-) but it looks great def something id have to try out not a bad price too!

 

Marshian

Here are some additional instructions for a basic set up:

• Load the camera first and it will have the AtmoVolume prop parented to it.
• Settings like color and density are applied to the prop and not the camera.
• If you already have a camera loaded in the scene you can copy it and paste the AtmoCam camera to it's location and (other settings will copy as well). This will put the AtmoVolume prop in a good starting place, or it may be exactly right. Use AuxViewport to test it.

From there….

• Viewing the AtmoCam and the AtmoVolume prop from a distance using DrawStyle “Hidden Line” is the ideal way to set the atmosphere so it starts where you want it in the scene. You can control where the effect starts and stops by transitioning the prop and/or by scaling it’s node (the gizmo with the three arrows). The gray scale slider in Parameters tab will also scale the prop. I have adjusted the center node so that the prop scales away from the camera instead of from the center of the sphere.
• Using the camera that loads with the prop is not required for the effect to work but whichever camera or perspective view you use - it needs to be outside the AtmoVolume sphere to see the fog, haze, etc..

In the AtmoCam for Iray folder/smart tab you’ll find and an HDR environment and a photometric light. These are not needed for the camera to work. They provide a quick set up by applying a gray background render setting and a light that can be used to create “God Rays”.

You may find it helpful to simply use a collection of primitives in a test scene to get a feel for how the camera works. Place the primitives at different distances from the camera to play with depth.

Marshian

Here is an example of volumetric lighting which at its basic definition is being able to see the beam of light. It gets much more dramatic when you put objects in its path. This render was was converted from a 3DL scene in about 20 minutes. Most of this time was getting the brightness of the spotlights correct. Each headlight has a spotlight at 33 spread angle/10 beam exponent, a spotlight set to specular at 12 spread angle/45 beam exponent and a pointlight (with a slight blue tint). I'm giving details for these lights because when you can see the beam the light needs more attention, it becomes a prop or character in a way because it occupies 3D space.

Alternatively if I was building the scene from new I would have used lights with IES profiles from the product my brother and I just released: Architectural Lighting Rig for Iray. A couple of these lights that show beam profiles calculated from actual lighting may have given a more accurate shape to the lights.

The AtmoCam used in this scene is all at its default settings other than location. Since I had a camera in the scene already all I had to do was copy the old camera and paste the AtmoCam to it, very easy. The tough part was waiting for it to render, which I did hasten using downsampling. This render is a bit grainy because of it but I hope you all can see past that. The volumetric effect is clearly shown and looks great!

 

 

isidorn

I must give my thanks for this wonderful product. I used it in my entry in the October New User Contest here on the forum and I was picked as nr 1 winner! I wasn't really knowing what I was doing but it might has been for the better  I've got a better understanding of how to use it now though. Best way to learn is to use it.

 

Marshian

Great job isidorn and thank you!

Your suggestion "Best way to learn is to use it" is truly golden to me. So much of this 3D world is experimentation- Unlike other creative disciplines you're not going to hurt yourself, ruin any art materials, or damage tools with this kind of work if you just dive and and start rendering. This camera is a good example of that and your winning render is proof.

In creating my promos I'm also testing new products in a wide variety of situations. All along I'm adjusting properties and making notes about the main items to include in the ReadMe.

 

It's great to get feedback like this

On with the show.

EmotionalOutlet3D

I am trying to render a scene using Atmocam with the prop behind the main figure.  Is there any way to get a less abrupt transition on the ground where the haze starts?  I have tried scaling the prop, moving it, etc but maybe I'm missing a trick?   I've attached an example using primitives.  Any suggestions would be appreciated though I suspect this is going to be postwork.

Marshian

Hi EmotionalOutlet-

The atmosphere with color has less freedom than the gray default. So scaling and moving the prop to create a smoother transition would work with the default material setting. I added the color options because I still felt they were useful— The promo below (no post-work) shows how well they work, how the colored atmosphere builds up in perspective, but they do rely on the volume prop being close to the camera where you cant see the edge.

Thanks for posting the example. It really helps to give me an idea about how to move forward with your idea. Ultimately it might come down to postwork but you could try using depth of field to soften the area behind your figure and using landscape elevation (hills or ridges) and/or props to hide the transition. Using DOF might add a nice effect softening the background objects in the fog. If these dont work or limit your composition I'd probably do a render in yellow, a render in the default color, and overlay/edit the two layers in photoshop (or similar). Or do the whole render in the deafult gray setting and apply a yellow gradient in photoshop. This idea might not give you the color depth you see below.

Let me know if you have anymore questions, I should be able to answer quickly.