I am working on a scene which requires a very large scale field of cumulus clouds, seen from above looking into the distance, as if you were looking out the window of a plane above solid cloud cover. I have tried using the cloud generator, but I cannot seem to capture the scale of the scene. Since having a cloud simulation extending several miles in blender is not exactly possible, how could I achieve an effect of clouds extending as far as you can see? Should I somehow fake the effect by gimping it? My plans for the final scene would include a mountain peak coming through a dense layer of clouds. Thanks in advance for the help.
>final scene would include a mountain peak coming through a dense layer of clouds.
So you are animating this scene where you are coming in from faraway to more narrow detailed view. I suppose its best to layer those clouds. So the far away clouds can be an image since you never going to get close to them throughout the sequence. Mid distance layer can be number of Alpha clouds that can simulate altitude change by moving. And final particle clouds that you fly thorough.
This will be a still wide angle scene, not an animation. I don’t need to fly through any clouds. I was going to use a image from terragen for the sky and cirrus clouds. I could use an image for the cumulous clouds in the distance, but i’m not sure how to make it look seamless, and how to make it look like the mountain is coming through them. It might be better if i just show you:
Unless you’re trying to replicate a well-known movie studio’s “fishing boy” logo, you might be able to cheat a whole lot and get away with it just fine. Basically, billboards with pictures of clouds on them, floating in space high above and moving slowly. The cloud images are surrounded by Alpa=0.0 space and their edges quickly blend from Alpha=1.0 solidity to Alpha=0.0 transparency. The cloud images might be photographic images of clouds … why not?
I mean… for your purposes… if you did it this way, would it “do?” If it would “do,” then “you’re done.”
The billboarding does seem like a good idea that I will try. Now i just need to get it dense enough so that it looks realistic and stretches out to the horizon. Thanks for the help ridix and sundialsvc4.
