i know some people have asked about underwater lighting techniques, and i appreciate enrico valenzas bongo environment tutorial, however, im wondering if anybody has animated an underwater scene with relatistic lighting ( refracted lighting bouncing off surfaces and such ) , particles, etc. The reason I ask is i was watching the making of finding nemo ( i know, i hear the collective <sigh> from here ) , and they animated with a couple different layers… one for the lighting of underwater, another for the dust and particles for floating around in the water, and some other adjustment layers. does anybody have any tried and true techniques for underwater simulations?
for this you need a agood gi caustics and volumetrics which you dont have in blender. so it is hard to do a real realistic underwater shot.
you can fake the effetc but it never looks perfect or natural.
claas
damn…well, can i borrow a couple grand to buy maya? 
heheh sure