# fog and atmospheric lighting Lights in Maya illuminate objects and cast shadows. While that is necessary, sometimes you need something more. Fog and atmospheric lighting can add that extra little bit of depth and realism to make for more compelling images. We will be using Arnold for creating these effects, although similar effects are possible using default Maya settings as well. This is the basic setup I’m using for the demo. It is just an array of cylinders receding into the distance. Rendered with Arnold, of course. ![[Pasted image 20230410141922.png]] ## fog Fog is a low-lying cloud of water vapor that makes everything look misty and indistinct. In a foggy world, objects in the distance will become soft and fade into the mist. In Arnold/Maya, you will create the fog in the **Render Settings**. Choose the Arnold Renderer tab and scroll down to **Environment > Atmosphere** and choose the little checkerboard. In the pop-up menu, choose **aiFog**. ![[Pasted image 20230410140517.png]] In the Attribute Editor, you can change several settings for Fog Attributes. The higher the Distance, the closer the fog gets to the camera view. Similarly, the higher the Height, the foggier it gets. ![[Pasted image 20230410141054.png]] Ground Normal is pretty cool, in that it controls in what direction the fog is growing from. By default, a 1.000 in the Z-direction means the fog is far away and grows closer to you. A 1.000 in the Y-direction can make the fog grow from the ground plane instead. ![[Pasted image 20230410141240.png]] _Z-index of 1.000 makes fog grow from the distance toward the camera._ ![[Pasted image 20230410141657.png]] _Y-index of 1.000 makes fog grow up from the ground plane._ ## atmosphere volume This approach is good for showing the actual lights in a foggy scene, such as the cone of light from streetlight on a dark street. As above, you will create the fog in the **Render Settings**. Choose the Arnold Renderer tab and scroll down to **Environment > Atmosphere** and choose the little checkerboard. In the pop-up menu, choose **aiAtmosphereVolume. ![[Pasted image 20230410140517.png]] In the **Attribute Editor**, you can adjust **Volume Attributes** to set up the basic level of fog in the scene. A higher Density will give you more fog. You can also adjust the color of your fog. **Attenuation** allows you to add a complementary color into the rendered scene. This renders colors on the opposite of the color wheel, which can be a surprise. A blue Attenuation will result in an orangish color in the render. **Anisotropy** affects the lights and darks in really cool ways. ![[Pasted image 20230410142636.png]] Here’s a render of the scene using a lower Anisotropy and a blue Attenuation. The misty look is a bit different than what you get with the Fog approach. ![[Pasted image 20230410143337.png]] As a bonus feature, Atmosphere Volumes will render Arnold lights in the scene. Here’s a darker, spookier version with a red light floating in the area. The big trick is to increase the **Anisotropy** of your Atmosphere Volume. ![[Pasted image 20230410145448.png]] --- Learn more… - [Arnold Volume Shaders from Autodesk Help](https://help.autodesk.com/view/ARNOL/ENU/?guid=arnold_for_maya_shaders_am_Volume_Shaders_html) - [Create Fog using Arnold in Maya YouTube video from Academic Phoenix Plus](https://youtu.be/q2Bq4lRkvAs) - [Maya Lighting Tutorial: Volumetric Lighting with Arnold Renderer YouTube video from SYIA Studios](https://youtu.be/Ve0Hs0v2qpA) - [How To Use Ai Atmosphere In Maya And Arnold Renderer YouTube video from ReimagineFX](https://youtu.be/wNoLv9sr3UE) --- tags: #3d #maya #lighting #resources home: [[! 3d modeling- maya]]