very very basic question - clouds&sand storm

[Peng]

Hi there - I'm very new to Houdini. So my questions are a basic type.

I was wondering what is a best way to achieve effects like - rolling fluffy cloud that i can fly into. I've used particles, and put metaballs onto them with volume shader but the cluods looks so flat and without detaill.

The second question - creating waves of bursting sand storm. My first

idea is to create millions of particle and render them as points.

Give me some hints - where to dig.

[Jason]

Welcome Peng,

Are you trying to use .i3d for the rolling cloud solution? If so, just make sure that you are casting shadows.. shadows are the only thing that gives clouds form.

The waves of a sand storm .. this is a bit tougher, but I'd most likely attempt a combination of and i3d cloud for the background sand particles, and possibly and attempt at a grainy/spotty i3d shader. I'd also use thousands of particles (point primitives) for the foreground stuff only.

But this is *not* a basic effect you're going for - if this is a basic question, I'm not sure I want to see a complicated one:)

Hope this helps,

J.

[Peng]

Thanks for a quick response.

That's right - I use .i3d for rolling clouds, and I have casting shadows on.

I think i have to work with lighting up a bit more.

But there's another question: I is a good idea to increase .i3d

resolution to gain more detail or maybe increase particle count with smaller radius.

As for sand storm - thanks for an idea - splitting scene into 3 layers:

1- main big cloudy sand background noise cloud.

2- a bit more detailed part - in-between layer.

3- for a front line - rolling point primitives.

I should save rendering time and help to adjust the scene faster

But that scene scares me, I think i will try to experiment with clouds a bit before i jump into quick sand

[Tyfx567]

Welcome to the almost limitless, amazing, and frustrating world of Houdini. 

Start small projects and build up. If you are too ambitious you may never finish. Learn how to say control points by force then learn how to do pyro.. etc. Take small steps to learning a new fx. 

Edit = just realized this post was so old. Gonna delete it. 

Edited May 28, 2017 by Tyfx567