Maya Light Fog Tutorial by Stuart Christensen

[mircopagni]

i love 3d maya

[xsoulpl]

Hello there.  very nice tutorial.

I got a question why i dont get the shadow under the sphere when i create the light.

I got the light but the shadow isint there. Same hapens with other objects There is no shadow.

Im using Maya 2011

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@xsoulpl Did you remember to to enable either depth map shadows or raytrace shadows on the actual spotlight?

[highflycloud9]

would this also render in mental ray or no?

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@highflycloud9 Yes, if you use mental ray just make sure you use raytrace shadows option.

[11KieranTobin11]

Thanks for the tut, it's great! One question, if the scene was rendered with another renderer and this fog was rendered in Maya software can you tell me how you would composite them in photoshop? Or do you know of a tutorial that shows this?

thanks again.

[gianmarcomontes]

Hi great tutorial, i have some questions, the firstone is how can i make the fog have some difuse at the end, i mean lost the opacity with the distance?. And the second one is why when i duplicate the light (with the fog effect) the new has no Fog light. thanks

[cobr3n]

You have some great tutorials!! :)

[cyberalienakuma]

I think its perfect how you let us see the result of each change during each new step, it is so useful, thank you!!! thank you very much!!

[ssuuppeerrbbooyy]

i cant get it to work with a point light. maya 2011. any clues?

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@ssuuppeerrbbooyy Generally you would not use a point light for creating light fog. Instead you would use volume type fog effects to enhance other types of lighting. Attaching fog to a point light works although it's not something that's all that useful. If you really have to do this, try attaching the light fog, then switch the fog type to linear, play with the radius and intensity. It works sort of the same as with a spotlight, but because it's omnidirectional it just turns to mush.

[ssuuppeerrbbooyy]

@deepfriedectoplasm Thanks for the reply. Im trying to create a sphere with holes in it and have light rays come out of those holes and illuminate the floor plane. I tried a few things but i cant seem to get it to work.

[SweaterSwagg]

You didn't say read a book >:(

[isyutd159]

thank you so much, now I can create some really neat stuff with this, you're a champ

[CarlosShowroom]

liked and subscribed! nice tutorial, very simple and clear, well explained!

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@CarlosShowroom And, I'm happy to know that you know a good thing when you see it!!!...Glad to have you as a subscriber! Thanks for the kind words, and remember...you are the way it should be!

[bpp45]

@deepfriedectoplasm nice tutorial but i do have one question how did you record your screen? was it through maya or some other program? oh ya and i subscribed

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@bpp45 I use a little program called Screenflick for Mac, it's a $20 app that works great...and there's a new version out that seems to be a better version because of the addition of a pause button and such. So, if you are on a Mac it's a great choice, however, I am playing around with Camtasia which takes a bit longer to render but allows for editing which comes in quite handy at times. Hope that helps.

[bpp45]

@deepfriedectoplasm i also use mac so that sounds great but what do you mean camtasia lets you edit wouldnt i be able to save a video as and avi. and edit it in after effects if i chose screenflick? i like the one you used for this vid cuz its in 1080p and hardly even looks compressed if compressed at all

[Ratiosaurus]

I did everything exactly like in this tutorial but the fog just aren't showing up in render :( I use maya 2008

[sharmasalilrahul]

hi thanks for this tutorial

but i have some problem in fog setting in my render i got two shadow for oval its not looking good plz give me advice.

thanks again.

[Mirmidon87]

is there a way to make this work in mental ray ? i got it to work in maya software, but not in mental ray. thnks for the help

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@Mirmidon87 Yes, just use Maya Software or Mental Ray, either works fine.

[Mirmidon87]

@deepfriedectoplasm I tried with mental ray but i dont get the shadow between the ball and the shadow on the floor (meaning the fog shadow beneath the ball). But i Do get it with maya software :s

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@Mirmidon87 Just enable depth map shadows or ray trace shadows, one or the other. Hope that helps!

[DarkBunnyLord]

Using 2010 and still trying to figure this out. I have fog clicked on my spotlight however every render is failing to change no matter what I put the spread and intensity to, it just won't change. Is there a render setting I need to change?

[FilmsQ]

Many thanks... great tut!

[jogar777]

Works great!!! Thnks!!!

[Nantchev]

Odd, I never saw that fog setting there in light attributes.

Also

Can thi sbe done with all light sin the same way?

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@Nantchev All of the lights can except fog attributes just depending on what you need. It's best to only use fog on lights where absolutely needed as it can greatly increase render times, and it doesn't always do what you would expect it to do. Use light fog sparingly!

[f1uxwildley]

Thanks alot :) this video really helped me! you should continue to make more tutorials. keep up the good work :P

[xwolverine2]

i did everything as you did it... and i get the light fog and everything.. except the shadow light ray underneath the sphere doesnt show up...

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@xwolverine2

I made a special tutorial that answers your question about not seeing the shadows. Check out the new video post called Maya Refining Shadows for Light Fog! Cheers! Hope that helps. STU