Getting Started with WCS 6 Part 8A. Sky & Clouds


1. Open the YNP7 project. As long as we have the Cabin High view here, let's add a morning fog to the valley.

2. Go to the Light Task Mode, expand the Lights, and open the YNP Sun Light Editor. Go to the Position & Orientation page and Set Position by Time.

3. Change the time to 9 AM.

4. Change to the Sky Task Mode and expand Atmospheres. Add a default type.

5. Name it Fog.

6. Go to the Haze & Fog page, disable the Haze, and enable the Fog. You may remember that the Lake elevation was a little less than 2100 meters and the cabins were at about 2300 meters. If you're not sure, make a preview render and use the Diagnostic Data window to refresh your memory. To have the fog start just below the bluff, enter 2300 meters into the High field. Enter 2100 meters in the Low Elevation field. Leave the Low Elevation Intensity at 100% to cover the valley floor in dense fog.

7. Save the project as YNP8 and render a preview.

8. For a lighter fog showing the lake, enter a Low Elevation Intensity of 50%.

9. Render a preview.

10. Go to the General page and disable the Component to prevent the fog showing up unwanted in later renders.

11. We need a scenic view of the lake, so go to the Render Task Mode. Select the Cameras category and Add Component from Gallery.

12. Load the Lake Sky Camera.

13. Do not scale the Camera's position to the current DEM bounds.

14. Open the Camera in the upper left view. Save the project and render a preview.

15. Bring the Light Editor forward.

16. Change its position back to 2 PM.

17. Save the project and render a preview.

18. Let's create a version of the lake with smooth water for reflections of the sky. Go to the Water Task Mode and expand the Lakes category. Clone the Lake Component.

19. Name it Lake Smooth.

20. Go to the Water Material page and open the Waves tab. Reduce the Added Roughness to 0 meters.

21. Select the Deep Water Material and change its Added Roughness to 0 meters.

22. We need to attach the Lake Vector to this new lake, but if we do, it will no longer be attached to the original Lake. Expand the Lake Component in the Scene-At-A-Glance.

23. Double-click the Lake Vector to open its Editor. Select the Create Copy button.

24. Name it the copy Lake Smooth.

25. Click, drag, and drop the Lake Smooth Vector on the Lake Smooth Lake. Confirm the operation.

26. WCS will warn you that the vector is already attached to a Lake Component. A vector can only be attached to one Component in a category, so attaching it to Lake Smooth will detach it from the original Lake. That's what we want, so select Yes.

27. Expand the Lake Smooth Component and there we see our Lake Smooth Vector.

28. Disable the original Lake Component.

29. Save the project and render a preview.

30. With the water smoothed out, we don't need the extra Fractal Depth we were using to render water surface detail. Go to the lower Scene-At-A-Glance and open the Terrain Parameter Editor.

31. Decrease the Maximum Fractal Depth to 0. This will speed renders and we won't lose any noticeable detail in preview renders.

32. We're looking northeast in the Lake Sky view. Let's make the blue sky a bit bluer to bring out the clouds we're going to add. We don't need to render the terrain and water as we preview sky changes. Open the popup menu and select Render Options > Terrain > Terrain. This will disable terrain rendering.

33. Save the project and render a preview.

34. Go to the Sky Task Mode and expand the Skies category. Open the YNP Sky Component.

35. Rename it Blue.

36. Go to the Color Gradients page. The Color Gradient allows us to control color and blending from the Zenith directly overhead, through the Horizon, and down to the Nadir.

37. Open the Color Editor for the leftmost blue color. Decrease the Value or Intensity to darken the blue.

38. Render a preview.

39. Let's reduce the amount of white near the horizon. Select and drag the white color pin to the right to around a 60% position in the gradient.

40. Save the project and render a preview.


 


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