. Author:
Francesco Legrenzi.
. Role:
Modeling, rendering, animation, and post-production.
. Date:
March 2023.
. Software:
3ds Max, Chaos Corona, Chaos Phoenix, Photoshop, After Effects.
My origins
THE IDEA
I had to find a scene that showcased the new tools introduced by Chaos Scatter. Being born in a valley located in the Italian Alps, the choice to develop an alpine environment was obvious. What’s better than a forest made up of thousands of trees spread over steep meadows?
I typed “Orobic alpine lakes” into the Internet and immediately found the right page. I’d already visited many of these lakes in person, and a photo of Lago delle Casere caught my attention, so I used it as a reference image.
. Second camera
MAIN LAKE
MAIN LAKE
More complex than I expected
THE PROJECT
To create the mountain range and lake, I initially thought it would be enough to use the 3ds Max Displacement modifier, along with a 16bit Height map. The map of the globe can be found at this link. After several tests, however, I realized that the resolution of those images was too low and that this method required me to manually create all the textures. As a result I decided to learn and use a complex terrain modeling program. Thanks to its powerful tools, I was able to generate all the maps I needed at 8K resolution. In the book, I explain in detail all the steps I used to model the terrain, and how I created the complex material for the mountain range.
In the next images, you can see some of the maps I used in the project. To download the 8K version of the normal map for free, click this link.
. DISPLACEMENT
. NORMAL
. TERRAIN
. RIVERS
. VEGETATION
. MASK
. TERRAIN with LAKE
. LAKE
Why stop here?
GOOD MORNING, WORLD
Obviously, I could not stop there. Seeing the great potential of the scene, I created a third camera, modifying the CoronaSky and CoronaSun parameters to generate a sunrise and to test the new CoronaSky in PRG Clear Sky mode.
A tutorial to set up the three cameras and the two morning and day lighting solutions is included in the book.
What a beautiful view from up here!
CLOUDS IN CORONA
With the new cloud generation system, Chaos Corona forced me to move forward. I took advantage of this file to create some panoramas, testing all the new features in the “Clouds parameters” rollout of the CoronaSky map. I placed a new camera higher than the previous ones, giving more breathing room to the sky in the render.
This scene is part of the new update to the book Corona: THE COMPLETE GUIDE, available as a separate file to the project used for the Chaos Scatter explanation. Both .max files include everything needed to generate the next animations.
Higher and higher
"ALTITUDE" PARAMETER
The “Altitude” parameter. Examples of all the parameters can be found in the book.
Finally, an outdoor scene
VIDEO
If you have been following me for a while, you know that I have always been a fan of large-scale outdoor projects since the days of V-Ray. These scenes can be much more satisfying than boring interiors, but more complex to manage.
I crafted the next video with the Chaos Scatter scene shown at the beginning of this page. There are three animated cameras: two cameras are used to compute the daytime portion of the animation, while the third camera generated the morning sequence. I created the small ripples using Chaos Phoenix. Yes, I know – if I hadn’t told you, you would never have noticed =). Finally, I paid special attention to the sound effects and the creation of a short “behind-the-scenes” sequence.
Attached to the book is a second animation showing the behavior of all the parameters of the “Clouds parameters” rollout. A 10-second sequence is available on the Chaos Corona 9 update page.
For curious users
BEHIND THE SCENES
Below are two sequences shown in the final animation of the Variety and Phase parameters. The page concludes with a wireframe screenshot of the 3ds Max viewport.
- FILES – 20MB, 25MB, .max
- RESOLUTION – 3000×1688 px, NL 2.5%
- TEXTURES – 53, 252MB
- RENDERING TIME – 40 minutes per frame
- CAMERAS – 3
- FRAMES – 450, 30FPS
- TOTAL FRAMES – 1350
. “Variety” parameter
. “Phase” parameter
In a word - Chaos Scatter
WIREFRAME
DEMO
50 pages about CoronaLightMtl, CoronaSelectMtl, CoronaVolumeMtl, and CoronaRoundEdges
