Clouds are a great example of volumetric shapes. They're gaseous which means they can't realistically be modeled with polygons. Instead they're entirely generated with shader nodes.
Even though volumes require notoriously long render times with Cycles, Eevee makes volume rendering practical. Thanks to Blender’s cutting edge Eevee render engine we can generate, tweak, and perfect cloud volumes in basically real time.
CHAPTER 1
We'll start simple by building an uncomplicated cloud volume based on two noise textures. Then we’ll increase the complexity with a detailed cumulus cloud, followed by cirrus clouds, and eventually building up a complete cloudscape.
CHAPTER 2
In the latter half of the course, we will transform the lighting into a sunset and explore how to animate our clouds. Focusing on a time lapse first and finishing with a fly-through. Moving the camera through the clouds reveals a nasty render artifact that I’ll show you how to fix.
Finally we'll do a quick comparison of Eevee clouds VS Cycles clouds.
By the end of this course you will be prepared to take to the skies and generate clouds of all shapes and sizes!
Creating Volumetric Clouds with Blender 2.8 and Eevee
An earlier long-form livestream exploring cloud creation with Eevee. It was the inspiration for the course!
Fundamentals of Digital Lighting with Blender
Discover the essentials of lighting with Blender 2.8.
Follow up the shark sculpting workflow by presenting your sculpt in the best light! Learn about harnessing Eevee to create a stylish under-water scene.
Not interested in a membership? Pick this course up for just $20 over on the Blender Market.
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Great course on a subject I thought would be more "quick and easy", there is nothing easy about volumetrics, now I know haha.
Really fun course and it opens the door to play around with shaders, I'm thinking of ways to shade fake smokes, and tornados, and dust, and so much more!