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2. Select Create⇒Helpers⇒Atmospherics⇒Box Gizmo, and drag a box that covers the lower half of the cattails in the Top viewport.

3. Choose Rendering⇒Environment (or press the 8 key) to open the Environment and Effects dialog box. Click the Add button to open the Add Atmospheric Effect dialog box, and then select Volume Fog. Click OK. In the Volume Fog Parameters rollout, click the Pick Gizmo button and select the BoxGizmo in a viewport.

4. Set the Density to 0.5, enable the Exponential option and select the Noise Type Turbulence. Then set the Uniformity to 1.0 and the Wind Strength to 10 from the Left.

Figure 46.14 shows the finished image. Using Atmospheric Apparatus gizmos, you can position the fog in the exact place where you want it.

FIGURE 46.14

A rendered image that uses the Volume Fog effect

Using the Volume Light effect

The final choice in the Environment and Effects dialog box is the Volume Light effect. This effect shares many of the same parameters as the other atmospheric effects. Although this is one of the atmospheric effects, it deals with lights and fits better in that section.

Cross-Reference

To learn about the Volume Light atmospheric effect, see Chapter 20, “Using Lights and Basic Lighting Techniques.” •

Adding Render Effects

In many cases, rendering a scene is only the start of the work to produce some final output. The post-production process is often used to add lots of different effects, as you'll see when I discuss the Video Post interface. But just because you can add it in post-production doesn't mean you have to add it in post-production. Render effects let you apply certain effects as part of the rendering process.

You can set up all render effects from the Rendering Effects panel, which you open by choosing Rendering⇒Effects. Figure 46.15 shows this dialog box.

FIGURE 46.15

The Effects panel lets you apply interactive post-production effects to an image.

The Effects pane displays all the effects that are included in the current scene. To add a new effect, click the Add button to open the Add Effect dialog box, in which you can select from a default list of nine effects: Hair and Fur, Lens Effects, Blur, Brightness and Contrast, Color Balance, Depth of Field, File Output, Film Grain, and Motion Blur. You can delete an effect from the current list by selecting that effect and clicking the Delete button.

Below the Effects pane is a Name field. You can type a new name for any effect in this field; doing so enables you to use the same effect multiple times. The effects are applied in the order in which they are listed in the Effects pane. To the right of the Effects pane are the Move Up and Move Down buttons, which you use to reposition the effects in the list. The effects are added to the scene in the order that they are listed.

Caution

It is possible for one effect to cover another effect. Rearranging the order can help resolve this problem. •

The Merge button opens the Merge Effect dialog box, where you can select a separate Max file. If you select a Max file and click Open, the Merge Rendering Effects dialog box presents you with a list of render effects used in the opened Max file. You can then select and load any of these render effects into the current scene.

The Preview section holds the controls for interactively viewing the various effects. Previews are displayed in the Rendered Frame Window and can be set to view All the effects or only the Current one. The Show Original button displays the scene before any effects are applied, and the Update Scene button updates the rendered image if any changes have been made to the scene.

Note

If the Rendered Frame Window isn't open, any of these buttons opens it and renders the scene with the current settings in the Render Scene dialog box. •

The Interactive option automatically updates the image whenever an effect parameter or scene object is changed. If this option is disabled, you can use the Update Effect button to manually update the image.