Here I will be collecting information on Particle and Volumetric rendering, for other advanced type of rendering I have another post to track that, here I will specialize in the volumetric end.
-- Examples --
Realworld example, This looks like what I've been trying to create with particles, someone beat me to it with real glass!
Link: www.flickr.com --- set-72057594061844447
I've done a bunch of work on volumetric/particle rendering.
Link: helios.mine.nu --- Painting with Light
-- Tools --
Link: www.indigorenderer.com
PC only, FREE, similar to Maxwell in It's goals.. It's also slow
Volumetric/SSS
Here It's rendering what appears like volumetric effect using SSS, which is an interesting idea as they are essentially the same thing when your computing it accurately:
Vray and Vray4C4D
Link: www.chaosgroup.com
Link: www.vrayforc4d.com
Vray is brilliant and my rendering engine of choice right now, but It can't yet do accurate dispersion, aberration or volumetrics
I think It's DOF and motion blur are fairly accurate (some things missing for C4D right now), and it can simulate bokeh
Volumetric rendering isn't added yet, but It's coming eventually if these examples are anything to go by:
Link: www.trapcode.com
Fast/realtime particle gizmo for AfterEffects
I knocked up the above image in a few minutes playing with it, very nice, but I have a feeling it will produce images that were obviously done using the plugin, you'll soon have a trapcode form look.
Link: www.sidefx.com
Highly regarded program for all kinds of effects, full fledged software suite for Mac and PC
Link: usa.autodesk.com
Maya fluids, a quick test of mine, It's a 2D slice but it can (if your patient) to full volumetric 3D fluids too:
Link: www.cantarcan.com
Voxel engine for Lightwave, Windows only right now but he says a mac version is coming.
Overburn
Some effects guy who has made a setup for Maya to render particle effects using Maya fluids / voxel dealy
Link: petershipkov.com
Krakatoa : Optimized Particle renderer for 3DS Max
Link: www.franticfilms.com --- work_in_progress_gallery
Lightwave has a built in voxel renderer or some sort called hypervoxels. Though finding any information or examples on it isn't as easy as it should be.
Been waiting for this, Trapcode Form plugin for AfterEffects
I knocked up the above image in a few minutes playing with it, very nice, but I have a feeling it will produce images that were obviously done using the plugin, you'll soon have a trapcode form look.
And some more of my quick tests:
Very fire like.. yet not fire
Just wondering if I can achieve similar things within Cinema 4D, which would then have much more power, but be slower to render
Done with Trapcode Form
The following are all from Cinema4D:
The same principles apply for the accumulation of HUE, shifting from red thru orange to yellow depending on the density
A bit coarse. Done with lots of transparent cubes. Deformed by a noise shader.
Same as above but further deformed by a spherical deformer.
Problem is, that seems to be the hard coded maximum number of objects you can clone.... shit!
Max matrix size is 50,000...... lame! I need millions!
So uhm.. that essentially makes it useless
I tried using plane to place objects on and sure enough I can place more than 50,000 clones but it crashed
:-P
also that's then limited to only polygonal objects and cannot generate thinking particles (for no good reason)
So some kind of internal problem going on there, 50,000 polygons easy peasy, 50,000 1 polygon objects.... forget it
Had an epiphany! use visiible lights instead should be super fast...
You can make a light emit no light and cast no shadow, yet still be made visible. Which basically just draws a circular gradient around each light:
Loooks ace, sadly took 13 minutes to render :-S so much for being fast, I guess It's calculating it volumetrically
which seems very expensive way of basically putting a gradient round a light.
So the only way I can go above 50,000 involves using lights and they happen to be by far the slowest method,
which is not better if the render never actually finishes.
I've tried using Hair on splines, but you can't effect the color via mograph effectors.. why not maxon!?
I've tried cellrendering/sketch and toon
Less lights = 33 seconds
2 Minutes 24
18 Minutes
2 Minutes! that's faster!
2 Minutes
1 Minute using
cluster.. not bad
:-D
Sadly this method doesn't seem to work with deformers because it uses thinking particles
and there no way to change the color with a mograph effector... why not Maxon!!
download my example file from:
Link: helios.mine.nu --- PryoFrax.zip
This uses pyrocluster so It's nice and fast and smooth.
25 Minute Render, no idea WHY it took that long and after all that it was incorrect, It's not meant to be stripey
So frustrating, this could be such a powerful technique if it wasn't so slow.
You could use this for all sorts, generating volumetric trails from moving objects for example.
The future is volumetric baby! voxels rule! polygons suck! sub-poly-displacement can only take you so far.
36 Minutes 90,000 particles rendered with pyrocluster
I wrote my own Xpresso in order to get past the 50,000 limit of mographs matrix object.
Trying to render this many items using visible lights well... It's painfull, it just runs out of RAM almost immediately. And I\'m not short on RAM either.
8 Minutes 44,000 Particles, fairly uninteresting result. *thinks*
funny.. high school biology, how was it several years later till I found about a whole new organ I did'nt even know we had..
makes me wonder what other organs they forgot to mention in the curriculm
jeez you leave school thinking people have a heart a brain and lungs
and some miscelanous blobs
--
lol to computers that advertise dual core so you can virus check and work at same time
woo! faster computer, more virus checking, who wouldn't buy for that reason!
surely.. faster cpu = more viruses
buy a dual core! 1 core for your viruses/adware/trojans the other for your apps
perfect, what a way to sell a computer
huh... It's alright for some... £1000 for 8 hours...
Link: www.simondanaher.com
He is good though, not that there's much of his work on his site
Funny what difference a bit of makeup can make:
Now that's just silly
Tech: General
Went go-karting this week, was great!
We had planned to go on the slower carts but when we arrived they were running late and instead of waiting we joined with 2 other people on the high speed karts, we warned them that we would both die, but they said 'no no it will be fine'
well fortunately the high speed carts were capped from the top 85mph to probably around 65mph, which is probably why I\'m still here today.
My girlfriend went off on the first lap straight into a wall of tyres *shakes head* so much for training her up on Forza!
i didn't crash I did however get warned for going too fast round the hairpin (even though I was doing it just fine till he warned me thus distracting me causing me to spin)
I then found out why I was going too fast as I had cooked my breaks after 13 laps so I had to roll in and get a replacement kart, then I cooked them again pretty much after another 13 laps when time ran out.
Had a good lil battle with one of the other drivers, over taking then being overtaken, then getting too carried away and spinning off, I decided to calm it down to save my breaks and for fear I would be called off the track for being too awesome/dangerous
Next time I go I plan on learning how to drift/trail break/lock breaks/etc which could be interesting :-S
Ill make sure everyone is warned beforehand
Afterwards I had pretty much no use of my arms, they were dead, lack of power steering and any kind of forearm muscle meant both of us were rather broken afterward, then my bum really started hurting possibly deep bruising from all the vibrations
:-D