Chaos Corona Forum

Chaos Corona for 3ds Max => [Max] Feature Requests => Topic started by: Tanner on 2022-10-26, 15:34:37

Title: Clouds Improvements
Post by: Tanner on 2022-10-26, 15:34:37
Hi Forum,

I had some thoughts about the clouds feature and while it's a magnificent addition, I believe there is still room for improvement (these three could've been separate posts and I will make it 3 posts if that is preferred):

Cheers!
Title: Re: Clouds Improvements
Post by: Avi on 2022-11-01, 11:23:14
Hi,

Thank you for your suggestion. We have currently logged them in our system to be further reviewed by our devs. We will let you know if there would be any update on this.

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Title: Re: Clouds Improvements
Post by: Avi on 2022-11-14, 11:19:57
Hi,

Hope you are doing well.

For your request regarding changing the appearance of the clouds, can you let me know some examples or how do you aim to use this feature. Some relevant information would be better for us to understand what exactly you are after.

Looking forward to hearing back from you.
Title: Re: Clouds Improvements
Post by: Dionysios.TS on 2022-11-14, 14:07:18
Quote from: Tannerjohnso1 on 2022-10-26, 15:34:37
Hi Forum,

I had some thoughts about the clouds feature and while it's a magnificent addition, I believe there is still room for improvement (these three could've been separate posts and I will make it 3 posts if that is preferred):
  • A seed modifier for the cirrus formations. I assume that the amount value just increases and decreases a texture's opacity for these clouds, but if they could be procedural, I think that would help with randomness and animations in the future.
  • A saturation modifier. Not necessarily colour saturation but water saturation. The darker the clouds, the more water they're holding and the harder for light to pass through. This may increase render times but could offer an easier solution for finding the right kind of overcast or stormy scenarios rather than finding an HDRI with the wrong time of day.
  • Lastly, better fullness control of the clouds when amount is set to 1.0. Even at 1.0, its not fully covered with some gaps in the cloudcover. Like a previous point, I assume that with complete/overcast coverage, it would slow down the rendering as everything would be in shadow, so perhaps a warning or a checkbox to enable complete cloud coverage?

Cheers!

Cool ideas!

+1
Title: Re: Clouds Improvements
Post by: Avi on 2022-11-29, 16:42:11
Hi,

{Clouds lighting now depends on the sun color intensity and direct input color settings (if selected in the sun properties)}

This feature was implemented in V10 Daily build. You can see how it works in this video: https://bit.ly/3g3HZlF

You can download the daily build from here: https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=38385.0

Note: The daily builds are the newest, experimental versions of Corona Renderer, intended mainly for testing purposes and to showcase the recently added features. They contain the latest bug fixes but are not guaranteed to be stable and, in some cases, can even damage scene files.

Check this link to know more about it: https://support.chaos.com/hc/en-us/articles/4528206493329-Corona-for-3ds-Max-Daily-Builds-

Title: Re: Clouds Improvements
Post by: Tanner on 2023-01-10, 15:54:57
I kinda wish I would've gotten an email about your reply... (I've since gone through my notification settings).

Thanks for the replies Avi & Dionysios.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see that procedural cloud generation is now available in Chaos software across the board. But it could be better, it should evolve. I did see the roadmap video Corona posted on Youtube and social media on the cloud improvements. But I feel like Chaos could make a true, in-house Vue competitor right within Corona, Vray, and Enscape.

Some of the cloud appearances could be like whiter clouds vs darker, stormier clouds.  Right now, the clouds all look like they have the same density of water vapour regardless of cloud depth when in reality there's variation depending on atmospheric conditions and if it's going to rain, snow, or it's just dry but with some clouds in the sky. In an attempt to do away with HDRI entirely, being able to show completely overcast but with soft cloud edges would be a nice feature. 

Another option is perhaps offering an advanced settings selection of clouds and their appearance based on their height in the sky, similar to a typical "Types of Clouds" graphic.
https://www.offgridweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Cloud-identification-weather-prediction-1.jpg (https://www.offgridweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Cloud-identification-weather-prediction-1.jpg)
https://www.offgridweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Cloud-identification-weather-prediction-2.jpg (https://www.offgridweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Cloud-identification-weather-prediction-2.jpg)
https://www.offgridweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Cloud-identification-weather-prediction-3.jpg (https://www.offgridweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Cloud-identification-weather-prediction-3.jpg)
It looks like Corona only offers Cumulus or Cirrus cloud formations (and even Cirrus can't change the shape, only coverage).

100% cloud cover shows holes but a 100% overcast sky is just clouded with very diffuse lighting. 100% now is closer to 90-95% coverage. I'm sure this point would be difficult and could be very slow to render/resolve - which is understandable.

A possible bug I found while playing with the settings is that a larger sun size typically softens shadows but the sun size doesn't affect shadows cast from the clouds.

Basically all I'm after is more control on the cloud appearance from a physically/scientifically correct perspective. They look good in animations and timelapses but HDRI and backplates are still often more realistic for stills.

Regards,
Tanner