Step 01
Welcome
back to everyone. We are back again for a new tutorial and this time
we'll talk about procedural shading used to create in a very fast way a
CG Sea. Let's start creating a PLANE primitive with Lenght = 25m, Width =
15m like in the figure,
Step 02Change
the Lenght and Width segments to 200 to obtain a more detailed mesh,
Step 03
Create
a camera as you can see in the figure and set the Lens = 43.45mm,
activate the "Show" selector in the "Environment Ranges" and set Near
Range = 2.26m and Far Range = 9.90m so later we'll work with it to setup
the fog,
Step 04
Now
add a GRADIENT RAMP map as Environment Map in the "Environment and
Effects" panel and try to set it in a similar way as we done in the
figure, we'll
use this map to simulate the sky, remember to set W
Angle rotation at -90.0 on the map,
Step 05
Add
a SUNLIGHT system and try to place it as in the figure, set the Shadows
as "Ray Traced", the Multiplier = 1.63, the Color = 255,247,225, with
this LIGHT we'll
simulate the
sun illumination,
Step 06
Place
a TEAPOT primitive as in the figure and set the Radius = 0,23 and the
Segments = 12, we'll use it to check the reflection and refraction
quality,
Step 07
Add
a SHELL modifier to the Teapot to eliminate the face normal issue of
the interior, and set Inner Amount = 0.0018 and Outer Amout = 0,
Step 08
Add
a NOISE modifier to the plane and set the Scale = 20.152, Z Strenght =
0.038 and activate the Fractal checker, with this modifier we'll
simulate the main swell layer as in
the figure,
Step 09
Duplicate
the camera and zoom back with the new one to obtain a new point of view
as in the figure,
Step 10
Add
a FOG athmospheric effect and set Far % = 50, turn off the Exponential
checker and set the Fog color =
191,217,248
Step 11
Now
we can start working on the sea shader. Create a Standard Material,
name it "Sea shader", set the Diffuse Color = 4,9,13, Specular Level =
95 and Glossiness =
50,
Step 12
Try
to render a test, and you should obtain something similar to the
figure,
Step 13
Add
a FALLOFF map in the "Reflection" slot and set Falloff Type = Fresnel,
Black amount = 8, White amount = 68 to control the amount of reflection
on the top zone of the swell and on the base of the sea, Index of
Refraction = 1.75, try to modify the Mix Curve as in the figure to
obtain the best result,
Step 14
Add
a RAYTRACE map into the two color slot on the Falloff map we just
created, so we'll have real reflection of the environment and the entire
scene, you can see the
test render in the figure,
Step 15
Add
a WAVE space warp and try to move it as in the figure so we can create a
bigger swell layer over the sea, set the Amplitude 1 = 0.038, Amplitude
2 = 0.037 and Wave Lenght
= 2.0,
Step 16
Link
the Wave space warp just created to the plane mesh using the "Bind to
Space Warp" feature,
Step 17
Try
to make a test render,
Step 18
Change
the default rendering engine
to Mental Ray, and create a Skylight with Multiplier = 0.65 and Sky
color set to 203,221,255,
Step 19
In
the "Indirect Illumination" panel that you can find in the mental ray
renderer setup, please set "ON" the "Enable Final Gather" checker and
choose the "Draft" preset, set Diffuse Bounces = 1,
Step 20
Try
to make a rendering test,
Step 21
Go
to the "Sea shader" we created before and add a "Refract (Base)" map in
the "Refraction" slot, set Input = 0.101, 0.164, 0.219,
Step 22
Now
set Refraction = 0.513, 0.525, 0.533, in the figure you can see also
the refraction in action,
Step 23
Add
a MASK map in the Bump slot, and set Amount = 20,
Step 24
Enter
in the Mask map just added. Add a NOISE map in the map slot and set
Noise Type = Fractal, Size = 8.0, High = 0.855, Low = 0.185, Levels =
7.0, with this map we'll add a
new level of little swell over the sea
using only the material,
Step 25
Try
to make a render, you can see the noise map in action all over the sea,
Step 26
Add
a GRADIENT MAP in the Mask added before to control the bump slot. We'll
use it to control the visibility of the Noise map that generates the
little swell layer just added. Set the W Angle rotation = 90.0, and try
to setup the gradient as you can see in the figure, where the gradient
is white the swell are visibile and at distance it disappear because the
gradient
fade to black,
Step 27
Try
to make a render test, you will notice the difference,
Step 28
Now
you are ready for the final rendering. Please go to the rendering
parameters and set Filter Type = Gauss, Minimum Samples per Pixel = 4,
Maximum Samples per Pixel = 64, and Bucket Width = 128,
Step 29
Try
to make a render from the 1st camera,
Step 30
And
now using the 2nd camera. As you can see this is a very fast
way to setup a still sea, using the parameters of the modifiers applied
and the sea shader, it will be possible to animate it in a procedural
way, it will be interesting to create a custom panel to control it over
the time also. Please try to change the illumination and shading setup
to find different results and understand better how you can use it in
real productions.
