Unity Volumetric Clouds Tutorial

Volumetric Clouds Tutorial

Unity 2021.2 HDRP added a new feature called Volumetric Clouds. This add-on adds 3D clouds to your scene that can be flown through and interacted with. There are several options for customizing cloud parameters, including visuals and performance. The tutorial below will show you how to use these new features.

You can control volumetric clouds using the Volume Framework, which is the same tool used for most HDRP effects. It provides various settings to adjust the type of clouds, wind, lighting, shadows, and other settings. There are four built-in presets that are useful for creating different kinds of clouds: Sparse, Cloudy, Overcast, and Stormy.

To create a realistic unity volumetric clouds, you first need to create a volume material in your scene. Then, you can use a volumetric advanced input and output node. Many of the attributes can be controlled through material instancing, but some can only be set on the Cloud Node. For example, you can use a Gray Scale Material that only considers the R (red) channel in the input parameters. This will result in a grayscale material response, but the lighting of the material will remain colored.

Volumetric clouds are often used in games and cinematics. Creating realistic clouds with this method can enhance the visual quality of your project, while opening up new possibilities for gameplay. Historically, sky and cloud systems were static and rendered far from the camera. However, the advent of real-time 3D rendering has opened the door to completely new types of gameplay experiences.

Unity Volumetric Clouds Tutorial

Adding ground lighting to your scene will give you more control over the shape and color of your volumetric clouds. You can enable this in the Details panel. Just make sure to set the correct values for the Ground Albedo in relation to the light and atmosphere. Next, enable Multi Scattering Approximation Octaves in order to simulate multiple scattering effects of light through the cloud volume.

This plugin is a comprehensive weather system for Unity that includes volumetric clouds, terrain, and ambient sound. It also automatically adapts to the quality level of your Unity game to achieve maximum FPS. It also provides an automatic day-night cycle and automatic weather transitions. Its cloud and water solutions are also integrated with Unity’s advanced particle effects.

Volumetric clouds are a popular and powerful effect in games. It’s possible to use the technique of ray marching with cloud shadows using the volumetric advanced material expression. By tracing multiple octaves of light, the volumetric advanced material expression can accurately simulate multiple scattering.

The number of steps in the process will determine how your clouds are illuminated and transmittance. The higher the value, the higher the intensity of the effect. The lower value, meanwhile, suppresses ambient light and produces dark clouds.