Help creating nice looking water

[3dvizual]

Hi.

 

I am pretty new to vray (3dsmax). And I am struggling to make some nice looking water. I have downloaded a couple of vray water materials from vray-materials.de But I can't seem to get the right look. It looks flat with no waves on it.

 

If i isolate the plane from the rest of the scene and render the image, the waves appear. Why is that.?

 

I am trying to create a aerial view of some buildings and some surroundings with water etc.

 

Anyone have some good advice.??

[datacrasher]

create a plane in the top view. add the material you want add under the maps in reflection click none button double click on the raytrace now change the reflection to about 15 to 20% now add a box on the water then render it you will see the reflection of the box on the water. you can also add a bump map to add some bump to your water.

 

if you want to add waves then go to the spacewarps tab use the dropdown menu geometric/deformable then choose the wave create the wave in the topview blind the wave to your plane In the modify panel you can change the Amplitude 1 and 2 if you want too animate it you can turn on the autokey and and use the Amplitude 1 and 2 when completed turn off the autokey and move the time-slider you will see the your wave moving

[Francisco Penaloza]

Usually I start with a basic water, reflection, traparency to 100% IOR 1.55 but I make a single plane so whe add the fog it get more dark as deep it's get, now you may have to model some underwater landscaping put several colors, that will give you deph, then you can add a mix material in the bump channel and add 2 or more noise map at different scales.

Now depending of how far your camera is from the water will be the scale that you'll need for your noise. Also try to put your sun a little low so you get more shiny reflection on the water.

[3dvizual]

Happy new year...

 

Thanks for your replies.. It is really helpful. I have tried searching the web for tutorials about this, with no luck.

 

#Datacrasher, How do I make the waves more sporadic instead of the very monotonous look like the space warp - wave creates... So it looks like real waves.?

 

#fco3d, Could you post an example of the material like you suggest above. Maybe also an image where you have applied the suggested material..

[Francisco Penaloza]

happy new year to every one!

Create an ocean water shader it is more complex that it what it looks

There is some shader specific for that you can buy them online

Now depending what you are looking for what I recommend will work fine, if it is for a background shot for a fly around you don't need more, if it is a close up to the water then you will need more complex shaders with displacement included to create more random movement.

I'm out of my house now coming back tomorrow so I don't have access to my files but I can show you a video that I did using the same technique that mentioned before, just play with different noise values in the bump or displacement slot.

 

http://www.fco3d.com/?p=403

 

When I get home I'll post the settings

[3dvizual]

Sounds great. Video looks amazing... :-)

[Francisco Penaloza]

Hello there, hopefully you already figure out your water, here is the material that I used for the video that I mentioned before, you'll see a value in the phase, that one it is just to animate the noise and create the effect or waves in the water, I mixed that one with the wave modifier, you'll see the effect in the final part of the video, hope this guide you to get a better water

fco.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]46483[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]46482[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]46481[/ATTACH]

[3dvizual]

Thanks for your reply.

 

Your setup for your scene is this something like this or.??

 

1)You have a plane, which is the seabed. (a couple of meters below the water plane surface or) Is it rotated so it is around zero height by the beach.?

 

2)Then you have another plane which is the water plane, to this plane you have attached the wave modifier. How do you setup the effect so it looks like real water. I mean when I attach a wave modifier to a plane, the waves is very similar looking. How do you setup the waves like real water.

 

I am very grateful, the that you take the time to explain me, it is always nice when you are new to a program, and people are helpful..:-)

[Francisco Penaloza]

Well real water it is hard to get with default tool in Max, if you want the real thing you may have to write your own shader or use something like this (http://www.alessandrocangelosi.com/html/html/little_cloud_dev_-_rshaders_ho.html)

now what I did try to accomplish was separate the water movement, I used the wave modifier for a big movement, soft and slow up and down kind of water, then I animated the first noise, to create the random waves moving, and the small noise give you those tinny waves s more like noise or shining reflections moving kind of thing, again you can add a moving displacement map too, to get sharper effect, I didn't used in the animation because my frame rendering time was already to big

 

But yes what you mentioned is right, a top plane with the water material and under that other mesh with a seabed material, not uniform with ups and down and colors change to give a natural look.

[3dvizual]

-Have you tried the rshaders, are they good and easy to use.?

 

-Did you rotate the seabed so it was around zero near the beach.?

 

-When you use the wave modifier, is it not possible to have the waves to be en both directions. Like on open water. Or do you only use the wave modifier with waves in one direction.?

[Francisco Penaloza]

no I have not used those shader, but they seems simple enough to use.

 

The plane was under water for sure lol not sure what you mean with flipping or ground zero. I start modeling following the location of the building so my site was a little high of Z=0 but can't remember where it was, it should not matter really, I just didn't do it flat, it does have some bumpiness, ups and downs, irregularities that help to create shadows and color variations.

The wave modifier, only work in one direction at the time, not sure if you can apply more than one to the same mesh, but it didn't matter to me really, the ocean mostly it is pointing to the beach and a general movement, the detail movements I got it with the noise map.

That one is random enough