How to create these LASER BEAMS? (plasma cutter "light rays")
polycounter lvl 3
Is there a way to simulate(create),inside 3dsmax, those laser beams? those rays of light emitted from the plasma cutter(or line gun).
i apologize if my question sounds a bit off topic or silly and i know that the "subject"(the result) from my attach is a result of a special graphic engine developed by a professional team.
I am aware that even if it seems such a simple thing, "some light beams" coming out from an object, there are some special effects at the base of it.
From my point of view, i believe they perfectly simulated the way the "light beams" scatter through the atmosphere; the details and the correct light behavior when it is "refracted" by the atmosphere(specks of dust,smoke,steam,etc)
After many hours of testing and rendering, i failed to achieve the same result as in the attached pictures. How would you do those light beams(plasma beams,laser beams), because i have tried around with photometric lights and i couldn't approach the end result. in the beginning i thought i could use a cylinder(self-illuminated) but its too cheap, its a big difference comparing to a light ray. i am using mental ray engine(photometric lights of course).
i apologize if my question sounds a bit off topic or silly and i know that the "subject"(the result) from my attach is a result of a special graphic engine developed by a professional team.
I am aware that even if it seems such a simple thing, "some light beams" coming out from an object, there are some special effects at the base of it.
From my point of view, i believe they perfectly simulated the way the "light beams" scatter through the atmosphere; the details and the correct light behavior when it is "refracted" by the atmosphere(specks of dust,smoke,steam,etc)
After many hours of testing and rendering, i failed to achieve the same result as in the attached pictures. How would you do those light beams(plasma beams,laser beams), because i have tried around with photometric lights and i couldn't approach the end result. in the beginning i thought i could use a cylinder(self-illuminated) but its too cheap, its a big difference comparing to a light ray. i am using mental ray engine(photometric lights of course).
Replies
Probably with an animated texture (possibly using world coordinates as UVs) to give the impression of haze as the laser passes through it.
i thought they've used "inside game engine" lights as the light source. What you have said sounds...complicated, at least for me
I am no expert but those rays(laser beams) looks and feel very realistic. And beside the look, i was also surprised of the fast response(of the graphic card) to display those rays in a second when aiming the plasma cutter, when the player is pressing the "right-click" mouse button.
I have tried to simulate a laser beam inside max, i boosted up the power of the photometric light(spotlight type), i have used the Volume light effect, but i cant achieve the result from the pictures. i also tried PartiVolume effect but it takes an eternity to render. i am aware that 3dsmax is not a game engine, i am not comparing "them". I guess i'll have to stick with playing around with a spotlight photometric light,1cm size disc shape,thin-long spotlight 1cm size + Volume light.
Here's an example with a world-space procedural projection map, through a couple Volume Lights (hot inner one, soft outer one), with the projection controlled in the Material Editor.
When you're asking for advice on an effect, it helps to show what you have done so far. Even if it's not what you want yet. It's very difficult to give the right amount of critique without seeing what you've done so far.
Ironically, this effect might well be easier to pull off inside a game engine than a proper render. I suspect the easiest way for you would be to have cylindrical meshes with a material at full self-illumination, and then mask their transparency via some kind of volumetric texture (or just a simple procedural noise texture or a triplanar projected clouds texture or something). I'm not really sure what VRay offers in the department.
But without knowing the desired end use, it's hard to recommend what method to choose.
But yeah, your solution is probably close to what I'd have gone with.
I have attached some rendered images.
My project:
1. the main subject(the car) is Inside a gravity test chamber.
2. Chamber lights goes ON, the debris(some objects) from the chamber are beginning to levitate except the car.
3. All lights goes off, completely dark.
4. Laser beams from a plasma cutter turns ON(aiming mode) swiping the place around focusing on the car in the end.
5. Music starts(twinkle twinkle little star....from dead space), the logo of Benz is shown as the music plays in the background.
You know, "Twinkle twinkle little star" Dead space version, and the Benz logo is a 3 point star
I am using a rendering station with 12cores/12threads, 48GB RAM, 3dsmax2016 , mental ray.
Thank you for the example(settings image+scene), i will try it. As i said, i am no expert, i believe what you both have said about the methods used in game engines. I was amazed when i have experienced the environment+lights+objects from DeadSpace.
as you can see i am far from the desired result. Simulation of laser rays.
But still, you could get away with a texture tiled across a long thin plane, maybe with world-space noise for the atmosphere it cuts through. This would render much much faster than a series of volume lights.
There's nothing wrong with cheating in computer graphics, it's all fake after all.
(i am joking of course, you made me smile anyway, sorry for my cheap reply)
I feel you but I am not the owner of the station.
Well, despite the falseness(fakeness), most of the simulators(games) really emerge you in their world,
which is great, thats the point. As i said, the environments, the atmosphere, the sounds, etc, really makes you "be in there"(Alien:Isolation, DeadSpace, etc)