• Required Products: None
  

Ready for an adventure in the clouds? Get on your way quickly with five 360° scenes representing three different times of day, plus two alternate views below the clouds. Each prebuilt scene has unique materials and lighting to match the time of day; each includes a stratocumulus cloud prop that’s 333 meters wide, a sky sphere, lights with bounce/occlusion, and a distant ground prop that fades into the horizon.

Beyond the included scenes you can customize the cloud prop with many material presets that control color, density, lacunarity (cloud and gap size), edge contrast, and volumetric effects such as shadow rays. The inner material will catch and scatter light like real clouds.

The material presets will change the cloud effects to match the scale of your scene.

Below is a list of the installation package types provided by this product. The name of each package contains a Package Qualifier, which is used as a key to indicate something about the contents of that package.

• 1 Core ¹⁾

Not all installation packages provide files that are displayed to the user within the interface of an application. The packages listed below, do. The application(s), and the location(s) within each application, are shown below.

• You can find new icons for loading this product in the following DAZ Studio Folders:
  • “Environments:Landscapes:Above The Clouds 3Delight:Stratocumulus”
  • “Environments:Landscapes:Above The Clouds 3Delight:Stratocumulus:1 Scene”
  • “Environments:Landscapes:Above The Clouds 3Delight:Stratocumulus:2 Material:Cloud Color”
  • “Environments:Landscapes:Above The Clouds 3Delight:Stratocumulus:2 Material:Cloud Density”
  • “Environments:Landscapes:Above The Clouds 3Delight:Stratocumulus:2 Material:Cloud Lacunarity”
  • “Environments:Landscapes:Above The Clouds 3Delight:Stratocumulus:2 Material:Cloud Sharpness”
  • “Environments:Landscapes:Above The Clouds 3Delight:Stratocumulus:3 Utility”

• You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
  • “Environments:Skydome”
  • “Materials:Props”
  • “Props:Landscape”

• Most Important:
  • Depending on your scene elements and computer setup, you may experience extended render times while using UberEnvironment2 lighting and “Accept Shadows” at the same time.
• Your camera needs to be outside the prop for all cloud layers to render correctly.
• Moving the prop will not change where the individual clouds and gaps are located, it is counter intuitive. Think of the cloud prop as a lens through which you see the cloud material, the clouds actually exist everywhere and the prop merely allows you to see them. If being specific about where individual clouds vs. spaces are located you will need to move your props and camera instead of the cloud prop.
• The cloud prop can be moved and scaled to make the layers thin or thick or to put the clouds in a small space. Scaling it will not change all of the effects, you’ll have to use the included presets or manually adjust the surfaces.
• The individual clouds are not visible in working view, the surface labeled Default Cylinder allows for adjusting placement of the prop in working view. It does not render and has no cloud effects applied to it.
• About the presets (getting started):
  • You can load the prop by itself or start with a scene preset. The scenes load a sky sphere, ground prop, stratocumulus cloud prop, and lights with UE2. From here you can customize the surface of the clouds by using the included presets to adjust color, density, edge sharpness, and lacunarity (size of clouds and gaps). Utility presets can be used to turn shadows off or on and there is a full reset material.
• Tips for faster renders, adjusting cloud materials, and lighting For occlusion in 3Delight you will find renders going quicker using Age Of Armours advanced ambient light (https://www.daz3d.com/advanced-ambient-light). It can be utilized to exclude surfaces that you don’t want lit for occlusion, instead of using UberEnvironment2.
• If you want to customize surfaces beyond the presets you can find instructions for working with Ubervolume here: http://www.omnifreaker.com/index.php?title=UberVolume. The quality or graininess of the volume is controlled by “Step Size”. The lower the number the softer the clouds will be. The prop can be adjusted to create shadow rays or volumetric effects by turning on the “Accept Shadows” preset. This is off by default as it increases render times and is not always wanted.
• The cloud prop very is sensitive to light, especially specular light. If using lights other than the ones included you may need to turn them down a bit.
• Since this prop has a sculpted top it’s best to scale all dimensions rather than just using “Y” to increase the height. Scaling too much on the “Y” may start to show the geometry, as the top of the prop will begin to resemble peaks if pushed too far. If the prop is reduced too much on the “Y” scale the layers may start to show.

• File List

• None

• None