Iray Sun-Sky system --clouds?
daveso
Posts: 7,000
I bought this awhile back Iray Sun-Sky System | Daz 3D . it has a cloud dome but when it renders I'm not seeing clouds. Mostly a somewhat hazy looking sky. I think the lighting itself looks pretty good with Ultrascenery.
Anyone know how to use this sun-sky system ?
I've rendered a few with different settings but have yet to see clouds.
iray sun-sky4.png
1280 x 960 - 3M
Post edited by daveso on
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No help to offer, just wanted to comment that's a very pretty render. :)
...there are a several cloud products that work with the Iray Sun/Sky
https://www.daz3d.com/ireal-animated-clouds
These use animation to create different shapes however if you are just doing single frame renders you don't need Animate 2. They are very light on system resources.
https://www.daz3d.com/iray-clouds
These arecvloud billboards which are also light on resoruces.
https://www.daz3d.com/cloudscape-creator--hero-clouds-for-iray
These are part of the Cloudscape Creator bundle which uses HDRIs, but the cloud shapes can be used by themselves
https://www.daz3d.com/iray-sky-pro
This is a large layered prop designed to work with the Iray Sun/Sky. I've used it in a few scenes.
Here are also a few volumetric cloud props.
https://www.daz3d.com/volumetric-clouds-for-iray
https://www.daz3d.com/hd-volumetric-clouds
https://www.daz3d.com/cloudscape-creator-volumetric-clouds-bundle
The last one is a bit expensive but probably the most versatile of all They also can be used separate form the parent HDRI set.
To see better examples of how these are used, check the Gallery Entries on the product pages.
thank you for many resources, but the product I've listed has its own cloud dome. That is the question. Why I'm not seeing any and how to achieve them within that product.
thank you :)
Depending on how the clouds are done, it's possible that the changes nVidia has made to Iray, changes how they look.
...my apologies, I thought you were using the "Sun/Sky" setting that comes with the Iray engine which is cloudless.. I tend to use that the most as the "sun" intensity, colour, and shadows produced appear the most natural. I've seen where in some HDRI sets those components in can vary. There is one skydome product that I also use as is just skies with no ground scenery as I prefer to use actual meshes and 3D environments.
https://www.daz3d.com/ibl-skies-perfect-skies-bundle
Unfortunately it's another expensive bundle (but does go on sale), but you can also just get the individual sky sets you like. Instead of a rotating dome it also has different sun angles from sunrise/sunset to noon.
The one nice feature of using volumetric clouds with the built in Sun/Sky is they also cast shadows on the ground which looks great in wide panoramic scenes .
...hmm that could be a possibility though I haven't seen any thread or comments about that. I remember the issues with ghost lights after an Iray update.
I'm using Daz 4.21.0.5 and all the atmospheric environment content and HDRIs I have for Iray still work. (I don't have that particular cloud dome).
Change the Tone Mapping settings it could be that the settings are burning out the clouds. Think of a camera. If you want the sky expose for it, if you want the ground expose for it. Exposing for the sky though will make the ground darker but you will see the clouds and exposing for the ground will make the sky lighter and so burn out the clouds. You will need to try a setting that gives the clouds but doesn't darken the ground too much.
I don't have that either, but the product page gives impression that it might use opacity and emissions, which was what nVidia changed
It's one of the (very many) products that I've bought and never used.
Looking at it now, there's a specfic SS System Cloud Sphere that you have to load. You can then use poses to alter the size and position of the sphere and its clouds. I've only looked at it on its own using iray preview mode, but it seems to work.
You can find it in My Daz3D Library/Light Presets/Sun-Sky System/Cloud Sphere in Content Lbrary.
Note that for some reason the cloud sphere is stored as a scene instead of a prop or scene suset. That means you'll have to right-click and merge it to add it to an existing scene.
thanks...what I found was it was the size of the cloud sphere that is created. It's very small, so it has to be resized larger. strange that was :)
The result but much to experiment with here.
I had exactly the same question after buying the product early last year. I was hoping to have more dynamic clods by using the product. I sent the PA a private message and she explained a few things to me via text and two demo videos (without narration) and not in Iray preview and without an Iray render. What I got out of that information then and again now is that clouds are possible but they are not the main feature of the product. Lighting with the sun is the main feature. As Fishtales and Chris have noted and some of which you have experiment with, there are several parameters and settings to play with to get a result close to what you want.
Below are four renders in which I only rotated the environment dome by 90 degrees – sky0 is with zero degrees rotation, sky90 is with 90 degrees rotation, etc. As you can see, just changing that parameter alone can dramatically affect the appearance of the clouds.
the overall sun sky system is pretty powerful. I like to use it but keep forgetting things, like how did I get the sun to show up in the scene last time? :) Its too bad the clouds are not more prominent. I have several VDB sets, but I don;t like them all that much. Seem too close or something.