volumetric lights

[gordonrobb]

I really need to try this. It looks great.

[Dmi3ryd]

another render

[p3taoctane]

Thanks man. I am a maya user so I will try and duplicate the scene in Maya.

Will show you and credit you if I use it aye.

Peter

[profbetis]

Awesome, glad I could help

Dmi3ryd, try adjusting your gamma, it looks fairly washed out. Lowering you gamma will strengthen the shafts and keep the shadows dark. It may also help to turn down the amount of ray bounces in the scene so there's not a bunch of reflected light. Looks good though!

[Jorgensen]

hi profbetis

i have playing a bit with the scene and have been able to recreate the effect in a new scene, not as good but....

but i don't really know what i do can you please explane what does the scatter node in the fog material actually do?

thanks

[profbetis]

The Scatter material affects light that hits it and bounces it through the medium. Fog/dust is made out of very fine particles that light hits and then bounces off of in all directions. The scatter node simulates this. The higher the scale, the denser the fog, making more light hit inside the volume. However, this will also mean visibility is diminished because these same particles are also blocking light from reaching the camera.

To maximize the effect of the volume/light shafts, you need a very bright light source, which is why the sun is the best way to make these. If your light source is dim or low contrast compared to ambient light also being scattered, the shafts will be weak.

For strong light shafts, use a dark environment and a bright small light source. This creates maximum contrast to bring out the volumetric properties. If using Octane Daylight, low turbidity is best to bring out the brightness of the sun.