Vray Houdini - Fog and other athmosperic effects

[vla_dunev]

How exactly to build the network? Where the Fog node plugs? What geometry it expects (polygon, VDB...)

All the lengthy explanations do not make any sense without this basic premise.

And this goes for most of the non-trivial nodes.

Please, add to each node info WHERE ITS EXPECTED TO GET ITS INPUTS AND WHERE IT'S OUTPUTS GO, AND WHAT GEOMETRY IT EXPECTS.

[KristinIvanova]

Hi vla_dunev,

There's a tutorial called "How to Create God Rays Effect" here: https://docs.chaos.com/display/VRAYH...od+Rays+Effect that explains how to work with the Fog node. You can also download the scene and get a closer look.

If you are working in Solaris, there's another tutorial, "How to Use Environment Fog in Solaris" here: https://docs.chaos.com/display/VRAYH...Fog+in+Solaris .

There are some additional resources in the pipeline, and we'll post about them here as soon as they are ready.

Let me see how we can include the information about the inputs and outputs of the nodes, thanks for pointing this out.

Cheers,
Kristin

[vla_dunev]

Thanks, Kristin.

It's still not clear to me how I go about it if I want the environment fog contained in an object - like the examples on your Fog Effect page. Seems like your use cases are environment-, not object-based.
Can you provide me an explanation of that?

And my point still stands. Listing what the tool options mean without starting with where in the network it's expected to connect is a problem wtih many nodes. V-Ray UV nodes are a good example, no idea how to use them correctly.
Another case of "try to quess the network" is actually using environment-related nodes and environment overrides. I would appreciate it very much if you augment your documentation, will save a lot of time and frustration.

[vla_dunev]

And yes, the solaris-based example works nicely, but that means reworking my scene, which I'm reluctant to do right now.

[vla_dunev]

As a reminder to other lost souls:

Environment fog also works inside of material builder nodes, despite what help tells us. Volume output goes to Output Node's Volume input (obviously).
Seems happy with polygonal geo but not with VDBs.
To actually make it work you need to pack the geometry. It's the usual solution when vray stuff does not work, but too expensive to mention in the documentation.

[Gosho.Genchev]

Hey vla_dunev ,

Indeed, we've overlooked documenting this workflow. Our technical writers have been working on updating those pages with up-to-date information with your feedback in mind, so - thanks, it's much appreciated!

Best regards!