Overview
God rays are a volumetric effect, often used by 3D artists to achieve a more dramatic effect on a 3D scene. This effect is caused when direct pointed light (such as a sun) passes through the dusty or foggy atmosphere.
Creating God Rays in 3ds Max
A video tutorial can be found here.
Example scene can be downloaded from here.
To create God Rays effect in V-Ray for 3ds Max, follow the steps below:
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Create a camera, e.g. V-Ray Physical Cam.
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Create a light, e.g. V-Ray Sun.
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Add VRayEnvironmentFog effect from: Rendering menu > Environment > Atmosphere rollout > Add button > VrayEnvironmentFog:
At this point, Environment Fog should be visible in the rendered image. To achieve a more convincing effect, adjust Fog Color, Fog Distance, and Fog Height parameters accordingly.
Note: Fog Distance and Fog Height parameters operate in Scene Units. For easier setup, it is
recommended to know the size/scale of the scene.
4. The fog color parameter determines the color of the fog:
5. The fog distance parameter controls the fog density. Larger values make it more transparent, whereas smaller values make it denser:
6. The fog height parameter determines the height of the fog:
Note: when multiple lights are present in the scene but you want only some of them to be responsible
for the god rays effect, you can include or exclude light sources by disabling the Use all
lights option in the VrayEnvironmentFog nodes rollout and clicking on the Add button.
Note: For a more realistic effect, set the fog height to be higher than the position of the camera,
and if the scene allows it, to cover any visible part of the scene.
Creating God Rays in Cinema 4D
Example scene can be downloaded from here.
To create God rays effect in V-Ray for Cinema4D, follow the steps below:
-
Create a camera, e.g. V-Ray Physical Cam.
-
Create a light, e.g. V-Ray Sun.
-
Add VRayEnvironmentFog effect from: Render menu > Edit Render Settings> V-Ray Bridge> Environment Tab> Environment Fog rollout.
At this point, Environment Fog should be visible in the rendered image. To achieve a more convincing effect, adjust Fog Color, Fog Distance, and Fog Height parameters accordingly.
Note: Fog Distance and Fog Height parameters operate in Scene Units. For easier setup, it is
recommended to know the size/scale of the scene.
4. The Fog Color parameter determines the color of the fog:
5. The Fog Distance parameter controls the fog density. Larger values make it more transparent, whereas smaller values make it denser:
6 The Fog Height parameter determines the height of the fog:
Note: for a more realistic effect, set the Fog Height to be higher than the position of the camera
and if the scene allows it, to cover any visible parts of the scene.
Note: when multiple lights are present in the scene but you want only some of them to be responsible
for the God rays effect, you can include or exclude light sources by disabling the Use all
lights option in the VrayEnvironmentFog nodes rollout and clicking on the Add button.