I want to make a frealistic fog layer on my lake,
such as this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhRtborfK1U
anyone got any ideas or tips, because im not too impressed with the mist world setting.
my clouds keep appearing through my object 
any cool tutorial links? please help
Try using a particle system with the “Visualization” settings set to “Billboard” and map some kind of cloud texture onto the plane generating the particles so that texture will be mapped to each billboard - which will always face the camera. Then you can set up the physics so that the particles will swirl around and behave like actual fog. If you need an example blend let me know.
havnt had the opportunity to try it yet, but sounds like what im looking for.
as in billboard, thats like a global map for the particles to show texture/materials?
hope that made sense
cheers mate, love u blender guys
“Fog” is one of those effects that actually has several visual components that work together to produce the full effect. Naturally, “there’s more than one way to do it.”
If you’re comfortable with using “nodes,” so much the better. (If not, “now would be a great time.”)
The first effect is that, the farther away an object is from the camera (z-depth…), the less you can see it. It’s more transparent (alpha…), and perhaps also it is blurred. It doesn’t participate in the foreground lamps.
The second effect is, well, “the fog itself.” Basically just a mist, maybe a particle system, maybe just a painted-on smear. If you have the first effect, then it’s a fairly simple task to “sell the fog,” since it’s basically just icing on the proverbial cake. But you’ll never be able to sell the fog unless the viewer can also clearly see what (s)he knows fog does.
Cheers, Ive only used nodes once,
Do u have any good tutorials for nodes?
Blender’s own Wiki-manual is the best place to start. Look here, and there, and also over here.
Really, it’s not a difficult concept. Once you tell Blender to “use nodes,” whether for materials or for textures or for rendering, you are presented with an interface where you can add nodes to the screen and then “wire 'em up.” Each node-type is either a “souce,” a “filter,” or a “sink” of digital information. (One of the “sink” nodes determines the final output… or outputs.) A single source can, of course, pipe its output to more than one destination at a time. Each output channel (RGB, Alpha, depth, etc.) is available separately.
So… your “fog noodle” will probably have at least two main information-paths. One will simply pipe the information through a couple of flat filters … blur, for instance. Another will apply the Z-depth channel to modulate, for example, alpha.
I’m being just-a-touch vague here 
because nodes are really one of the most important ways that you have to be “technically creative.” There are several ways to do anything, and time spent experimenting with this feature pays off hugely. You will soon see exactly what I mean. Dive in!
You are, quite literally, describing an information-processing pipeline. And it’s all very visual: “it’s right there in front of you.” You can chop minutes or hours from your render-times if you use this thing well. I mean, it’s probably obligatory that Blender has “a Big Fat Render Button ™”, but that is so-o-o-oo just the tip of the iceberg. :RocknRoll:
sundial, ur a legend