Speaker A
As 3D artists, we've all seen mind-blowing weather simulations in movies and wondered, can I actually do this in Blender? Well, the answer is yes. In this video, we focus on achieving high-quality results by working with proper lighting, deep volumetrics, and realistic caustics to get renders that feel as close to real life as possible. I'll start by positioning the camera so we can clearly see our main object. Then I'll add the plane. And in the modifier tab, apply motion modifier. I'll set the repeat X and Y value to two. Change this particle size to 86. Increase the scale to 8.6 and reduce the choppiness to 22. For quality, I'll raise the render value to 24. And also increase the viewport resolution. Next, I'll add the cube. Apply a subdivision modifier. Set the snap to inside and subdivide the field time. This ensures the cube conforms properly to the ocean surface and doesn't stick out above the wave. For the caustics, I'll start by adding the spotlight and I'll switch to the render viewport and make sure that the render engine is set to Cycles with the device set to GPU. In the object data properties, increase the light power. Then open shader editor to begin building the caustic set. Add a mix node with blend mode set to difference. Add a voronoi texture. Change its dimension to 40 and set the feature output to smooth F1. Duplicate the voronoi texture and connect them to the mix node. Add a mapping node and a value node. Duplicate the value node a few times and add the math node. The math node connects to the smoothness input of the first voronoi texture while the value connects to the smoothness input of the second voronoi texture. It's a good thing to rename the value node based on the connecting voronoi texture. I'll connect the scale value node to both voronoi textures and the other value node to the voronoi texture. Make sure the mix factor is set to one. Adjust the scale till you are satisfied. For better light controls, I'll add the color ramp and make final adjustments to the overall look. Use the W value node to animate the caustics. Add a sunlight. Increase the strength to 15. Adding an HDR to enhance your bar lighting. You can get one from Poly Haven. With the ocean plane selected, go to the shader and add in a refraction BSDF. This controls our light passing through a transparent surface. For the cube, assign a principled volume shader and connect it to the volume input of the material output. Adjust the color to match an undertone. Reduce the density and increase the anisotropy. Something around 7 should work. Hide the objects blocking the lights and properly fine-tune the caustics. Adjust as necessary and satisfied and hide all objects in the scene. In underwater footage, you often see small particles floating around in the water. To recreate this effect in Blender, use the particle system. Add an icosphere and slightly distort its shape. Duplicate the cube and delete the top faces. In the shader editor, set base color to black. In object data properties, change the viewport to bounding box. This should stop the HDR from getting into our final renders from below. Add the particle system. Set the end frame to one and the lifetime of 50 or match it to your total animation length. Change the source to volume. Under velocity, set normal to zero. Enable rotation and add some randomization. In the render settings, switch to objects and use the eyedropper to select the icosphere. Under field weight, reduce gravity to zero. Adjust the scale. Add some random scale variation and increase it slightly until it feels good. For the particle, add the translucent BSDF and give it any color of your choice. Tweak any additional settings as needed until you are satisfied. Then render your final animation. If you'd love to see more videos like this, hit that subscribe button. Thanks for watching.
