Water Section cutaway

[Abigor]

similar to this...

http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1133/images/fig51.jpeg

http://kbrennanpaintings.com/Pics/Underwater/Full/RiverRose.jpg

iv never tried to make an underwater shader, looking from the outside into water. not the same as making a scene feel underwater by adding fog and such.

so imagine a cube. the top poly will be reflective/displaced as the surface of the water, and the 4 sides will have a different shader giving it a feeling of depth and murkiness.

idealy if i could get caustics projecting into there as well that would be great, but i dont think i can do that with simple materials, and on 1 object.

im going to be tinkering around but i wanted to get some ideas of a good way to approach this. iv already tried surface thickness gradients, as well as a couple SSS shaders, but so far no luck.

any input would b appreciated. thanks!

[Nangleator]

I've had some luck with subtle refraction blur and colors based on surface thickness. Here's an example of something that's probably too strong for you.

[archijam]

I think you can best not aim for 'exactly' how it would work in the real world, as that always looks surreal: ie. the refraction indexes are so different that it will often look 'wrong'. The water scene will often look far more distorted.

IMO you are best off faking it and using tricks for the thresholds, fog etc.

examples of what I mean: 1 (http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/12525141.jpg) 2 (http://www.jbl.de/images/gallery/container/std/71_3033.jpg) 3 (http://www.nerdcore.de/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/creatureben.jpeg) 4 (http://www.shotaddict.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/3042_24_m.jpg) 5 (http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1612/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1612R-14720.jpg) although it can work 6 (http://www.usa.canon.com/uploadedimages/FCK/Image/2009/Underwater%20Tip/OverUnder_%28c%29BradleySheard.jpg)

[Abigor]

its not supposed to be perfectly photoreal... i mean after all it IS a cutaway, which obviously doesnt exist in real life. so artistic license is fine. the caustics might not even be necessary... right now im just tryin to sort out the murky transparency bit.

[Nangleator]

You could have your cutaway happen at, say, zero on the Z, then add murkiness layers to all underwater surfaces based on distance from Z. Fade everything to the same neutral color and 100% luminosity at a set distance, beyond which nothing would be visible.

[Abigor]

ya for some reason im not havin much luck with distance to gradients. maybe just LW being stupid. most of the time they work.

anyway i have some decent for now... this task might not even be on my plate, but i needed something to kill some time. maybe ill post a still later.

[Nangleator]

Whatever you do, don't try it with a Material. Glaciers will seem to speedily advance and retreat past your window while you await your test renders.

[Abigor]

actualy so far i think its goin ok with materials... i have a few ideas for some cheats for the murk, but this is what i have at the end of the day.

...please ignore the crappy "seaweed" and sand textures which were just dropped in as place holders.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g179/aekon_merch/watertest.jpg

[Nangleator]

Yeah, that'll do for caustics, too.

That still I posted started as a Delta material. A large size render (3,500x 2,000 or so) was promising a 70 hour render before I fiddled with the surfaces and simplified them.

[JohnMarchant]

actualy so far i think its goin ok with materials... i have a few ideas for some cheats for the murk, but this is what i have at the end of the day.

...please ignore the crappy "seaweed" and sand textures which were just dropped in as place holders.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g179/aekon_merch/watertest.jpg

Very nice indeed, care to share that, i can see a need for something similar

[Abigor]

uh... ya at some point. i might wanna finess it a bit more. it looks nice, but i dont think its at the point where i want it yet. plus the scene is a mess with all the different things i was trying and i dont currently have time to go in and clean it up.

[JohnMarchant]

Sorry did not explain myself properly. I meant the surface settings or srf/pst file

[Abigor]

ya i find those useless without the objects they're based on because scale can be off. ill get it posted, dont worry.

[calilifestyle]

looks good so far

[xchrisx]

check out this link (tutorial files included):
http://spinquad.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14741&highlight=slice+water

[JohnMarchant]

Thanks alot mate, they always need tweaking to scale but are a good reference point. Are these nodes or surfaces

[JohnMarchant]

check out this link (tutorial files included):
http://spinquad.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14741&highlight=slice+water

Forgot about that one, thanks for the reminder

[Abigor]

ya thats pretty nice. kinda oceany for what i need though. i just glanced at the pdf briefly... i dont have that windy wave prodcedural, but thats not a big deal.

[Abigor]

so i used that above tutorial as a starting point and adjusted it to get back to more of a pond water feel, rather than an ideal blue crystal look.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g179/aekon_merch/water2.jpg

[JohnMarchant]

Looks great

[Abigor]

i still like the top surface of my original better. i will make some more adjustments

[colkai]

i still like the top surface of my original better. i will make some more adjustments

Have to say, I agree, I prefer your version to the one based from the tutorial.

[Abigor]

i like the thickness in the tutorial version though. my original feels empty.

[ASCIISkull]

You could always do a multipass render and composite it, instead of doing it all in one shot. Especially if this is for a still.

[UnCommonGrafx]

I dunno.
Put your placeholders in the second one. I prefer the first one; the second one just looks dirty.

[Deadlyforce]

I've been playing with some settings from the original scene (from Spinquad) using mostly nodes (my translation may be inaccurate, I'm not sure)...I also had a try with the pond style water...
I came up with those results... :)

[JohnMarchant]

I've been playing with some settings from the original scene (from Spinquad) using mostly nodes (my translation may be inaccurate, I'm not sure)...I also had a try with the pond style water...
I came up with those results... :)

Looks great especially liked the middle one sort of murky shallow river water