Proper Volumetric Shader (for regular geometry, not VDB or other volumes)

[kai_wheatley]

I'm rather shocked that Vray doesn't already have this! Vray is such an overall powerhouse, with so many awesome little features and nodes that other engines don't have, that I really can't believe it doesn't have a proper volumetric shader similar to what pretty much every other engine has. It seems that even Corona has a good one, so why the heck doesn't Vray?? And not, the VrayVolumeScatter material is not the same thing. It has no density control and doesn't look like fog or smoke.

I'm trying to create some cheap volumetric effects for atmosphere without doing actual simulations, but it seems that that isn't possible in Vray!! I'm shocked!

Please integrate a proper volumetric shader to emulate real volumetrics like is present in Corona, Arnold, Redshift, and pretty much every other engine!

[matanov]

Can you be more specific around those cheap volumetric effects?

[kai_wheatley]

Sure. Basically just trying to add smoky elements that have some kind of noise/density effect, rather than a uniform fog/volume. Animating a noise texture that controls the density can give an illusion of movement, rather than having to actually simulate something. As an example, some fog or mist coming off certain areas of a mountain, or low lying fog that moves across the ground. This is much easier/faster to create than simulating a moving volume.

[matanov]

So basically you want to apply this effect on a custom geometry? What about VRayEnvironmentFog + Gizmos - there is plenty of control?

[kai_wheatley]

Ah! This is quite useful! However it seems like the "fog density" map doesn't work with a noise texture? I tried both the 3ds max noise and the vray noise, but neither give the expected results. The 3ds max Smoke texture does work however, but despite it's name, this isn't always the type of noise I'd like to use. I had previously tried to control this density with a noise map and it didn't work properly, so I thought that this wasn't a viable option for what I am trying to do.

[matanov]

Works with both noise textures, maybe your size/scale is off?

[kai_wheatley]

Hm, that is strange.. I tried both very small and very large but it didn't seem to change anything. I'll continue testing it. Thank you for sharing! Very helpful!