For everyone getting dark clouds: After experiencing the same issue, I managed to get lighter clouds by connecting a value node directly to the transparent BSDF that's connected to the surface of the metaball. I set the value to 2 and it made my clouds whiter without having to use the emission settings. As for the viewport going white/grey/black or "foggy" I've noticed that anytime I use a material that has something connected to the volume, it causes this foggy effect in the viewport's "material preview." However, this effect goes away if you hide the objects with the material, switch to render, or switch the view to "solid" or "wireframe" in the viewport.
I'm sorry, what do you mean by "if you hide the objects with the material" ? I am willing to give you money for this answer i been trying to do this for the past two days.
@@JugsawJugsawJugsaw haha no need for money. When i was following this tutorial, I kept having an issue where my entire display went foggy/black in the material preview viewport, not in the actual render. I meant the mesh (object) that had the cloud material had to be hidden (by clicking on the eye in the scene collection list) to stop the foggy effect that was causing viewport problems. It doesn't solve issues with the material itself, just for working/navigating in the file if you're working on other meshes.
I'm super glad you ran into that "displacement not working" snag - and showed how to "fix" it. I was having that issue and thinking, "Am I on the right version of Blender? What did I miss?" - that's definitely a bug ...
I remember trying to make clouds procedurally as maybe the second thing I did on blender. It wasn't actually as bad as you'd expect but my god did it take me ages. :) Really like the technique, I generally don't go near metaballs and they're so handy in the right circumstance. I maybe would have added a gradient along the z axis to perhaps make the underside slightly darker and denser but it might have spoilt your aesthetic, hard to say. I find it very hard not just to do realism and I think that just comes down to not having the artistic eye to product something as striking as your vid.
Thanks! I think I will be very grateful to everyone for the next step: 1) Turn on the display of pressed keys on the keyboard and mouse buttons in the Blender!
Nice tricks on the shader part! So having texture applied to both density and displacement makes sense because the brighter part(in the texture sense) has more density and displaced inward! Just like real clouds.Thanks for insight ;)
Pretty good considering only object and displacement and shading, I would however personally just make fill the metaball clouds in to volumetrics with fluid simulation on top of it..and add additional slight noise forces and you would have a much righer volume description with also a bit softer in the edges, and reacting more realistic to any sunlight. Even if your sample is vey well done, it lacks both edge detail and edge softness, it is too hard, it´s ok perhaps for some cartoony style, and then it also miss the greatness of volumetric scattering .it looks a little bit different with shading material scattering. A fluid sim means you fill that metaball object carefully inside out with fluid smoke, so you still will maintain your manual blob design, and then only have a slight force field, noise to affect a little uprise and turbulence, save out as vdb and reload for the static shots.
I'm architect... I really want to do that kind of rendering and visual style for my jobs but then I see all that nodes and inputs and I forget that idea... A lot of work that really competes with my creativity project workflow... Some day when things could be more easier I guess... 😭😭😭 For sure I subscribed to you awesome works bro 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
great tutorial, just a strange thing happens my shading viewport is all greyed out when i have that material in the scene , wonder if thats normal? thanks again for the tut :)
excellent video. One thing I do notice that the shader editor lacks is the ability to bake down our shader displacement to geometry. Can we export it as a VDB instead ? Using the displacement modifier is unfortunately very limited in Blender.
Oh man! I‘m just working on a similar video and wanted to ask you about it, what a coincidence! 😁 Great to see this! Would you mind me sharing my process as well and how I utilized your shader?
Thank you. Very nice tutorial. But in dynamic Metaball it is very hard to get nice clouds without glitches (like particles). But this is a very interesting method and I can get stylized clouds.
Hello, I followed your tutorial step by step but did not get the same results. I even downloaded your file and imported the material, but the clouds still remained as metaballs but grey instead of white. I was wondering if you knew why or could help please.
my metaballs just dont act the way yours do. If I select both green circles and hit scale they start moving away from each other on the x axis only as opposed to scaling up or down based on their center. If I select both of them and try to use the stiffness slider it only scales one of the balls based on its center, not both. If I set my Influence threshold to 0.15 the balls completely swallow the green circle widget and selecting it becomes a real pain.
@@neskick Just in case you didn't figure it out yet, go to Render Properties -> Light Paths -> Max Bounces -> increase the Volume value to get white clouds
Hi Louis, when i render this out, the result look very different compare to the viewport, all the random forms are lost and I got back to basic ball shapes I wonder why it happens Thank you
TRY Render settings: Check you're on Cycles & run with GPU Under the light settings and volume settings and bump up those bounces Cloud Material: In the cloud material play with anistrophy -0.5 to 0.5 gave me good results I also changed "absoption col" to pure white Tested with multiple versions of blender an most gave dark ugly results. Might be due evolved & automated settings.
don't worry about duplicating your nodes right now, just get another one from the add list like I did. I don't know how he duplicated either, but I'll learn later. (I'm just thankful for the bits that he shared with us so far)
this is hands down the best way to make fluffy clouds. I love this tutorial so much, thank you!
I love it too!!!
For everyone getting dark clouds:
After experiencing the same issue, I managed to get lighter clouds by connecting a value node directly to the transparent BSDF that's connected to the surface of the metaball. I set the value to 2 and it made my clouds whiter without having to use the emission settings.
As for the viewport going white/grey/black or "foggy"
I've noticed that anytime I use a material that has something connected to the volume, it causes this foggy effect in the viewport's "material preview." However, this effect goes away if you hide the objects with the material, switch to render, or switch the view to "solid" or "wireframe" in the viewport.
I'm sorry, what do you mean by "if you hide the objects with the material" ? I am willing to give you money for this answer i been trying to do this for the past two days.
@@JugsawJugsawJugsaw haha no need for money. When i was following this tutorial, I kept having an issue where my entire display went foggy/black in the material preview viewport, not in the actual render.
I meant the mesh (object) that had the cloud material had to be hidden (by clicking on the eye in the scene collection list) to stop the foggy effect that was causing viewport problems. It doesn't solve issues with the material itself, just for working/navigating in the file if you're working on other meshes.
Thank you very much!
I'm super glad you ran into that "displacement not working" snag - and showed how to "fix" it. I was having that issue and thinking, "Am I on the right version of Blender? What did I miss?" - that's definitely a bug ...
Is it reported?
This turned out beatiful! Thank you :D
Another fan who wants some insight into your lighting! Its gorgeous!
Nice tutorial! It would be great to see your approach to lightining as it is totally astonishing !
B e a utiful! Fantastic tutorial, thank you 😁
A big thanks man, I was stuck on a project, really helped out. Thank you!
That's really unique way to make a clouds. Never think of it. Thanks dude!!
that's kind of magical
Dude! That trailer looks awesome!
Looks like bath foam. Love it.
Nice lighting and colouring :)
Here's a comment for the algorithm. Thanks for the tutorial!
this is nice, the concept of this tutorial can also be used to make it in Cinema 4D as well!! Nice work man
wow this made me subscribe in no time, keep up the great work Louis.
Thanks!
Best fluffy looking clouds ever! Thank you.
Verry professional tutorials very easy , thank you
Glad to received notification from your channel
Nice tutorial and nice clouds, instant sub, you kinda look like a young Dave Ghrohl, both handsome and cool.
:)
wooow i am soo glad i stumbled upon this glorious technique...i'll try making snow with it though
you literally made my life better thank you sooooo much fr 🙏🏻🫡
Uh this so beautiful!
I remember trying to make clouds procedurally as maybe the second thing I did on blender. It wasn't actually as bad as you'd expect but my god did it take me ages. :)
Really like the technique, I generally don't go near metaballs and they're so handy in the right circumstance. I maybe would have added a gradient along the z axis to perhaps make the underside slightly darker and denser but it might have spoilt your aesthetic, hard to say. I find it very hard not just to do realism and I think that just comes down to not having the artistic eye to product something as striking as your vid.
I definitely find it hard to side step realism in favour of a stylised approach. Thanks.
Beginner here! Took me a couple tries, but overall fantastic tutorial!
That shading was hard to follow with all the sneaky clicks
That looks awesome
Excellent guide and even better presentation. Thank you!
Thanks!
I think I will be very grateful to everyone for the next step:
1) Turn on the display of pressed keys on the keyboard and mouse buttons in the Blender!
Fantastic! Thank you for the breakdown.
You're work is so inspiring. Thanks so much for taking the time to make videos :D
Thanks so much! :)
Fantastic method! thank you!
Thank you, looks really good.
great tutorial! maybe in the provide and quick recap of the node tree!
i love the cloud.
Your short film looks fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absolute legend
Nice tricks on the shader part! So having texture applied to both density and displacement makes sense because the brighter part(in the texture sense) has more density and displaced inward! Just like real clouds.Thanks for insight ;)
Wonderful tut!
Nice tutorial! Thanks!
Cool stuff. Thanks for the tutorial!
many thanks. any tip to understand nodes properly? you connect them as playing the piano :)
i love this art
movie looks cool so far
Very creative and informative!
Pretty good considering only object and displacement and shading,
I would however personally just make fill the metaball clouds in to volumetrics with fluid simulation on top of it..and add additional slight noise forces and you would have a much righer volume description with also a bit softer in the edges, and reacting more realistic to any sunlight.
Even if your sample is vey well done, it lacks both edge detail and edge softness, it is too hard, it´s ok perhaps for some cartoony style, and then it also miss the greatness of volumetric scattering .it looks a little bit different with shading material scattering.
A fluid sim means you fill that metaball object carefully inside out with fluid smoke, so you still will maintain your manual blob design, and then only have a slight force field, noise to affect a little uprise and turbulence, save out as vdb and reload for the static shots.
Cool stuff man. Great
so beautiful!!!
Thank you 🙏 this is the cloud im looking for to use in my game 😊
Awesome video
Amazing style! Thanks for sharing!
wow nice, im gonna work on a new scene tomorrow. Followed!!
Very good!
Братанчик, спасибо за туториал, результат супер
I'm architect... I really want to do that kind of rendering and visual style for my jobs but then I see all that nodes and inputs and I forget that idea... A lot of work that really competes with my creativity project workflow... Some day when things could be more easier I guess... 😭😭😭 For sure I subscribed to you awesome works bro 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
This is a brilliant tutorial! Thank you! :D
Hey great tutorial, followed through this, though keep running into my clouds looking blobby and not fluffy, any ideas? thanks
Damn - an Aidy Burrows clone. lol. Proof that blender can make anything I guess :)
great tutorial, just a strange thing happens my shading viewport is all greyed out when i have that material in the scene , wonder if thats normal? thanks again for the tut :)
It's fantastic
Thank you, really helpful for me :)
Thank you!
Amazing ❤
excellent video. One thing I do notice that the shader editor lacks is the ability to bake down our shader displacement to geometry. Can we export it as a VDB instead ?
Using the displacement modifier is unfortunately very limited in Blender.
Hi can I know whhy when I try to scale the clouds are separated?
Me too
rly nice
nice and easy
how did you make that building and sign
Thank you! ^^
displacement isn't working for me, even with transparent bdsf connected to surface
edit: i skipped 4:30 because i'm stupid lol
Oh man! I‘m just working on a similar video and wanted to ask you about it, what a coincidence! 😁 Great to see this! Would you mind me sharing my process as well and how I utilized your shader?
Yeah, for sure!
Thank you. Very nice tutorial. But in dynamic Metaball it is very hard to get nice clouds without glitches (like particles). But this is a very interesting method and I can get stylized clouds.
amazing
Any know a trick to make them more white without an emission mix? Because my clouds are shaped great but they're too dark.
BEAUTIFUL, but will like on eevee
How did you make the background?
how did you not have the circle around the metaball?
i followed along all the way correctly but my clouds come out dark. any idea why? i am in cycles
Maybe Add some lights to the scene
maybe you plugged the volume node to the surface input instead of the volume one
Hello, I followed your tutorial step by step but did not get the same results. I even downloaded your file and imported the material, but the clouds still remained as metaballs but grey instead of white. I was wondering if you knew why or could help please.
Awesome!!!!!
Thank you so much
Thcnx for the video ❣️
Quick question sir, will this effect work in Eevee? Thank you!
my metaballs just dont act the way yours do. If I select both green circles and hit scale they start moving away from each other on the x axis only as opposed to scaling up or down based on their center. If I select both of them and try to use the stiffness slider it only scales one of the balls based on its center, not both. If I set my Influence threshold to 0.15 the balls completely swallow the green circle widget and selecting it becomes a real pain.
how u can get this color and light
Good question!
4:02
7:54 Thank you for the good cloud making video. I followed along well, but it became difficult from that time on. I am sad. 😭
I made it on a new page and succeeded. Next, I'm leaving to fix the gray clouds. I want white clouds, too. Thank you.
@@neskick Just in case you didn't figure it out yet, go to Render Properties -> Light Paths -> Max Bounces -> increase the Volume value to get white clouds
Hey Louis! Awesome tutorial. I did everything you said but my clouds keep coming out BLACK. Please Help! Thanks
I found a solution to the problem. Just turn up the Emission Strength on the Principal Volume Shader and it'll be White!
@@olayinkabamilosin1457 omg thank you!!!!!!
Hi Louis, when i render this out, the result look very different compare to the viewport, all the random forms are lost and I got back to basic ball shapes I wonder why it happens
Thank you
Maybe check that material doesn't have anything plugged into the 'surface'.
@@ldm Hey, same problem. Nothings plugged into Surface,
these settings even adding light paths doesn't work for me nor converting to a mesh. Did 3.4 break the displacement wit volume?
Cool!
TRY Render settings:
Check you're on Cycles & run with GPU
Under the light settings and volume settings and bump up those bounces
Cloud Material:
In the cloud material play with anistrophy -0.5 to 0.5 gave me good results
I also changed "absoption col" to pure white
Tested with multiple versions of blender an most gave dark ugly results. Might be due evolved & automated settings.
Could it use EEVEE?
Thank you! Why my clouds looks gray :(?
when i plug in the principled volume everithing turns white. pls help
hi,..you should change render engine from eeve to cycles,...
There's no surface option in settings in the material output node. How to fix it?
are you using purple lighting on this one? im curious about the lighting
is there a way to implement this cool looking cloud in eevee or possibly even export it to a game engine?
What did he do at 5:40
Why the Viewer vanished?
PLS HELP ME I'm wandering in this part.
how did you duplicate?
don't worry about duplicating your nodes right now, just get another one from the add list like I did. I don't know how he duplicated either, but I'll learn later. (I'm just thankful for the bits that he shared with us so far)
2:38 How are you moving these clouds here? I can move them but it just doesn't resize, or anything else.
I was using the scale tool on the left, once I clicked S it worked perfectly.
I created the exact same texture but the shape of my cloud wont change a bit. What can I do?