3D Water – The Ocean
In this 3ds Max tutorial we’re going to create a 3d water surface that could be a lake, a sea, or an ocean. The 3d water is illuminated with the Daylight system. It might sound complicated but it’s actually pretty simple (at least in 3ds max 2010) since the default settings work so well.
Step 1 Mental Ray Renderer
We’re going to render the 3d ocean with the Mental Ray. By default 3ds Max uses the Scanline renderer so we have to change that. Change the renderer to the Mental Ray ().
Step 2 The Basic Geometry for the 3D Water
Create a Plane ( ) in the top viewport . Modify the Plane ( ) according to the following parameters :
- Length: 500
- Width: 500
Step 3 Camera Above the Water
Create a Target Camera ( ) in the top viewport to the center of the plane. Go to the right viewport and place the camera and the camera target according to picture below.
Activate the Perspective view and press C in the keyboard to activate the Camera view.
Step 4 Material to the 3D Water Surface
Open Material Editor () and create an ocean material:
- Click “Get Material” button and select ( ) ‘Arch & Design (mi)’ from the list.
- Select the ocean plane and assign the material to it.
- Select template from the drop-down list: Water, Reflective Surface
Step 5 3ds Max Daylight System
We’re going to illuminate our 3d ocean scene with the Daylight system. Daylight is a system that mimics real world sun. Create the Daylight system ( ) in the top viewport. A new dialog appears. 3ds Max suggests that you use mr Photographic Exposure Control with EV=15. Just click YES. ( If the dialog doesn’t appear, apply the setting manually ()). Modify the following parameters of the Daylight:
- Daylight Parameters
- Sunlight: mr Sun
- Skylight: mr Sky(A new dialog appears. 3ds Max suggests that you use mr Physical Sky. Just click YES. If the dialog doesn’t appear, apply the setting manually ( ))
- Position: Manual ( )
- Place the daylight so that it shines straight from the top like in picture below.
Step 6 First Render of the 3D Ocean
We have the ocean and the daylight system so it’s a good idea to check how the rendered image looks like. Your image should look similar to picture below. In the background you see the mr Physical Sky environment map which was added automatically in the previous step. The brown line represents the ground in the background map. Thanks to Metal Ray’s lume shader the plane looks like and 3d ocean already. However, there are some things I’d like to change:
- Horizon should be lowered to hide the ground
- Smaller Waves
- More blue and saturated colors to both ocean and the sky
- Little brighter image
Step 7 The Horizon
The horizon can be lowered in the parameters of the Daylight ( ):
- mr Sky Advanced Parameters
- Horizon
- Height: -0,1 ( )
- Horizon
-
Step 8 Smaller and Bluer Ocean Waves
Open Material Editor () and make the following changes to the ocean material:
- Main Material Parameters
- Change the color to blue ( )
- Special Purpose Maps
- Click on the (Ocean (lume)) shader and make the following changes:
- Largest: 2,5
- Smallest: 0,12( )
- Click on the (Ocean (lume)) shader and make the following changes:
Step 9 Color, Saturation, & Brightness
Color, saturation, and brightness of the image can be adjusted in the parameters of the Daylight:
- mr Sky Parameters
- Multiplier: 1,1 ( )
- mr Sky Advanced Parameters
- Red/Blue Tint: -0,1 ( )
- Saturation: 1,3 ( )
( Notice that the default colors were more realistic, these color changes are purely for artistic reasons ; )
Step 10 Antialiasing of the Ocean Waves
If you look closely you might see minor aliasing problems in the distant waves. To fix this, just increase antialiasing quality by increasing Mental Ray’s sampling values ():
- Samples per pixel:
- Minimum: 4
- Maximum: 64
Create a Torus Knot ( ) to see how standard objects look in the water. Go to the Modify panel and apply the following parameters:
- Base Curve
- Radius: 23
- Segments: 300
- Cross Section
- Radius: 2,5
And if you feel like it, do some color correction in Photoshop:
- Brightness: 35
- Contrast: 25
Now our 3d water is complete. Next we’re going to see what else we can get out of the daylight system.
Step 11 Sunset Render
Let’s explore further the power of the Daylight system. Let’s simulate sunset by placing the sun near the horizon. Now we can actually see the sun and notice how the daylight system changes color and intensity based on the angle of the sun. ( you might want to decrease the sampling values ( ) temporarily to speed up the rendering ).
Tip: you can see the sun and illumination before rendering the image if you do the following:
- Activate the camera view and press SHIFT+F3 in keyboard
- Go to viewport background settings ( ) and apply the following settings:
- Use Environment Background: ON
- Display Background: ON
Step 12 Colors of the Sunset
Let’s make the rendering more interesting by changing the colors to more orange. Select the Daylight. go to the Modify panel, and apply the following parameters:
- mr Sky Advanced Parameters
- Red/Blue Tint: 1,0 ( )
- Saturation: 2,0 ( )
Step 13 Sun Glare
Next we’re going to add some glare to the sun to make it more interesting. Apply Glare Camera Shader ( ) Just turn the output shader on, the glare shader should be selected by default.
Tip: If you’d like to adjust the Glare shader you can just drag and drop it into a material slot in Material Editor ( ) and adjust it there. Make sure to select ‘Instance’ when asked.
Tip: Another way to adjust the sun glare is to drag and drop ‘mr Physical Sky’ ( ) into a material slot in Material Editor and adjust it there. ( )
Step 14 Fog / Haze in the Sea
Let’s add some Fog/Haze to the scene to blend the horizon with the background. Select the Daylight, go to the Modify panel, and apply the following settings:
- mr Sky: Haze Driven (mr Sky)
- Haze: 2,0 ( )
- mr Sky Advanced Parameters
- Aerial Perspective
- Visibility Distance: 50 ( )
- Aerial Perspective
- mr Sky Parameters
- Multiplier: 3,0 ( )
Step 15 Color Correction in Photoshop
I’ll do some color correction in Photoshop to make the image more dramatic:
- Brightness: -10
- Contrast: 70
Step 16 Moonlit 3D Water
The final thing we’re going to try with the 3ds Max Daylight system is a moonlit night scene. We can’t get perfect blue color out of the Daylight system so let’s remove the color from it. Select the Daylight, go to the Modify panel, and apply the following parameters:
- mr Sky Advanced Parameters
- Red/Blue Tint: 0 ( )
- Saturation: 0 ( )
Those values are well suited for subtle changes but now we need a radical change so we’re going to change the mr Photographic Exposure Control settings ():
- Image Control
- Color Saturation: 1 ( )
- Whitepoint: 3000 ( )
- Vignetting: 7 ( )
Step 17 Some Magic Over 3D Sea
Now I’m tempted to add fireworks over the 3d ocean to create some magic to the image but for the sake of the length of this tutorial we’ll settle with some floating light sources. Create a sphere (), go to the Modify panel, and apply the following parameters to it:
- Radius: 0,3
Open Material Editor ( ) and create a new material for the sphere:
- Click ‘Get Material’ button and select (doubleclick) ‘Arch & Design (mi)’ from the list.
- Select the sphere and assign the material to it.
- Main Material Parameters
- Diffuse
- Color: pure white
- Diffuse
- Self Illumination (Glow)
- Self Illumination (Glow): ON
- Luminance: 1000
We’ll create standard lights so we should change the mr Photographic Exposure Control settings ():
- Physical Scale: Unitless: 1500
Create a standard Omni light ( ), go to the Modify panel, and apply the following parameters to it:
- Multiplier: 20
- Decay
- Type: Inverse Square
- Start: 10
Place the Omni to the middle of the sphere. Now one light source is ready. Make several copies of it and move them around.
Finally we’re going to create a stronger glare to the moon and the spheres by modifying the glare shader:
- Drag and drop the Glare shader ( ) to an empty material slot in the Material Editor ( )
- In Material Editor, change the Spread value to 4. ( )
Darken the moon to create a little more convincing image. Select the Daylight, go to the Modify panel, and decrease the multiplier value of the Daylight system:
- mr Sky Parameters
- Multiplier: 1,5
Render the image and you should get something like picture below.
Step 18 Color Correction in Photoshop
You probably guessed it. I’ll do some color correction in Photoshop to make the image pop:
- Brightness: 15
- Contrast: 80
- Hue: -8
And that’s it for today. I hope it helps and you’re able to create something beautiful. Let’s continue in the comments!
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198 Responses to “3D Water – The Ocean”
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g8t nd really amazing
i really liked it nd helped me 2 learn new toolz..
nd plz plz give me some website lyk diz tutorialz
What kind of units do you use?, my waves look veery small. Great tutorial though!, thanks
very nice thx a lot put i have q that was like trouble to me if u c’ld resolve this to me i can’t make that sea foam on beach or behind any ship so if u have any info about this cuz i wanna to make that in video or animation
very thx anyway
I don’t have any experience with that. Maybe it could be done with the DreamScape plugin…
Vue has a shader-based approach to this problem. Wherever ocean comes close to any objects it just fades in a shader of white, thrashed water.
There is an actual way of doing this with a plug-in, I just can’t remember the name right now. I remember seeing an add for it on the Vue website somewhere, it is apparently made to integrate with Vue very well.
- Spencer
Best tutorial ever!
thx this was a very good tutorial it helped me a lot!
result http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1191.snc4/154332_1785912092476_1379734319_32094255_6631011_n.jpg
Thanks Robin. I’m happy to hear that!
I start my adventure with 3ds max 2011, 4 days ago. I want to say, that U make very good tutorials which are very detailed. For beginners like me it is very important. Not all tutorials which we can find on web are good like yours. I finished this tutorial and I’m happy
. 3ds Max rulez. Thank You for sharing.
This is my work without PS.
http://www.mypicx.com/12142010/ocean/
Peace.
Nice to hear it worked for you!
Hm , I am on step 11 and there is no physical sun for me. The lighting is there, but no sun is showing up in the render. I just see normal sky.
Make sure your camera is pointing towards the sun.
My camera was pointing at it, and it was in my field of view when I switched the view to my camera. I have tried positioning the camera to point at it from different directions, too.
hi,
Its the same problem I was facing for a little while. If you are moving the skylight, you wouldnot be seeing the sun. But adjusting it near the water body will show up the sun high on the sky. The skylight is not the sun. Rather, the sun in high in the sky and you will have to make the skylight tilted to see the sun on the sky. You would be able to see the sun in the camera view.
Regards
hi thx again but i have another q that there is no mr Photographic Exposure Control in 3dsmax 9 so what i can use instead:
Automatic Exposure Control or
Linear Exposure Control or
Logarithmic Exposure Control or
Pseudo Color Exposure Control
thx again
Try Logarithmic Exposure Control and set brightness to 1.0.
I have no physical sun either. I thinks I got some incorrect settings because I had the sun in previous renders, but I don’t know which settings I have to adapt.
Nice Works guys i thank u say about work
Nice work, one thing i couldn’t get is sunset render, it didn’t work… is there any other process. plz help me…
Can it be animated?
http:Thanks realy amazing tutorial here is final rsult! //www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=190195744330061&set=a.107992679217035.15578.100000189109742&ref=nf
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=190195744330061&set=a.107992679217035.15578.100000189109742
and how i can animate ocean?
Hey Donald! Select the water and add a wave modifier. Then drag the time slider over to 100 and turn on auto key. Now, go to the modifier list and click on wave. Change Amplitude 1 to 90
and Amplitude 2 to 19. Then go to video post(Rendering>Video Post). Hit the Add Scene Event button and select your camera from the drop down list. Then add a image output event and hit files in the dialog box. Name it and save it(Make sure you add .avi to the end of the name. Then hit save. Now hit the Execute Sequence Button. In the Time Output rollout, select range and make sure it says “0 to 100″ then hit render. Wait a while then once its done play the animation file. And your Done!
Also Donald, this is video of my animated water. Check it out!
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Sorry about the last post. Image shack was not working.
Also Donald, this is video of my animated water. Check it out!
Link: http://img842.imageshack.us/i/hem.mp4/
Direct Link: http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/7933/hem.mp4
Hello! I need help. When I applyed the water material to the plane, there were no waves. I did what you said in step 4. Can you help plz!!!! Thanks!
Hey! Nice Tutorial. But I need help. I did what you said in step 4 but when I rendered it, there were no waves. It doesn’t even look like water.
Does the plane show up black or some cheesy bright color? If it isn’t black then drag and drop the material onto the plane, because you didn’t actually apply it.
If it does show up black then re-trace your steps, because you did something wrong
- Spencer
It Is Black, but still not working. When I rendered it, it is blue but has no waves.
Also heres a image of the render: http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/2393/pictf.jpg
Never mind it is working now!
I tried the tutorial and am only having one problem, the glare on my sun is a square. Any suggestions? I’d love to fix this so I can use it as a wallpaper.
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/8973/renderp.jpg
Here’s how it looks
Go to your preferences and turn off Gamma/LUT, this can sometimes cause that.
- Spencer
Hi, which option should i change/tweak to make small waves in the water..for flowing water effect?
Why isn’t the sun showing? I followed everything.
I can’t seem to get the self illumination of the sphere to work. It shows white in the material editor and will take any change I make to the material. It just won’t glow. I did everything step by step. What could I forget?
Please check the following:
- Make sure you added the glare (Step 13 Sun Glare)
- Check that you applied all the settings in Step 17
- Make sure you have actually applied the material to the spheres
Amazing tutorial
..but i can’t make the line between ocean and sky more blure..there is sharp line between them !!
Thanks a lot. Saved a lot of time. It would have taken long long time for me to reach here.
Zeni
PS: Only haze did not work for me. I don’t know why?
Consegui , efeito incrível, obrigado
I was just wondering how you could add a fire effect with this while the mr photographic exposure control is turned up to 15?
when i render everything is black, like there is nothing, and i dont know what i could have done wrong, i mean i followed it step by step, thing is when i have the arch& design its just black there is no glossyness like in the pic, what am i doing wrong?
Here’s my version, made it a bit darker and moodier, grebbled the torus to make a futuristic city, then put a moon infront of the sun to make an eclipse
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1511236755591&set=o.142157969780
Thanks so much for this whole site, its excellent
Very, very nice! I’m glad the tutorial worked for you!
Added a spaceship
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1511488521885&set=o.142157969780
Where do you get your ideas for projects from, or is that a stupid question, where does anyone get their inspiration from?
Hi, I am also having problems with step 11, in that no sun appears, yet everything I have done is exactly as you have shown, no-one seems to have mentioned how to correct this, can somebody help please?
Thanks
A super tutorial! Exact and fully informative. Many thanks. CP
Final Result (Animated)-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JOYnJpyEOM
Have a slight problem ive followed the tutorial step by step and everything worked amazingly except from step 17 for some reason when i render out the scene the material on the spheres (self illumination) dosent render, ive added the white difuse colour and turned on self illumination, when i create the spheres and add the texture in another file it works, i believe i have accidently changed a setting, any1 got any ideas what ive changed? or how to fix this?
I too am also having this problem and have gone over every step but I can’t figure out why the material will not work. Please help…
Great tutorial, it really helped me out! But I have one question, the reflection of the knot goes vertically into the water, as opposed to following the curves of the knot itself. Is there a way to cast a more realistic reflection?
Great tutorial… thanks a lot for your work
only thing.. i cant make a boat i placed in the ocean look completly black (shaded becouse of the sun) like it looks in yours. any way to set it that you know?
thanks again
Nice tutorial, thanc for this…
For thos who have problem of sun not showing in the render, you need to position the camera right. Easiest maybe going to perspective view ( P ) and doing test renderings at different perspectives ( say front, left etc ) untill you see the sun. You can then rotate the whole scenery once where sun has been located.
Cheers
awesome tutorial, many thanks, you had me going through menus i never knew existed
thanks again
Fonz
tnx
Great tutorial… thanks a lot
I was wondering if you can put some stuff about V ray lighting …and wich is more realistic V ray or Mental ray? ..thanks alot
It’s amazing. I foffowed your tutorial step by step and I made it. I hope I’ll learn more from you for the next tutorial. One more time, thank you very much for your time to teach us how to do it.
Have a nice day
T. Nguyen
In Step 17 render, the Light spheres are not displayed for me.. Help please.
Thank you the lesson! Good Work!
Hiiiii,
Thax for halpfull tut.
but i fount 1 prob in last step in rendering. i cant make star so pls help me 2 make my dream place with star