Smoking rocket trail?
frankrblow
Posts: 2,052
I'm looking for a large rocket trail, in particular such as the smoke trail from a rocket launch. I do have Spacebones' "Skytrails" object files, but they are not adequate for a big rocket.
Here are a couple of examples, courtesy of https://www.nasa.gov/ :
KSC-00padig006~medium.jpg
800 x 1220 - 91K
KSC-20180206-PH_KLS02_0215~medium.jpg
800 x 1200 - 40K
Post edited by frankrblow on
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Unfortunately the Dust and Trail tool seems to be discontinued.
The Dust and Trail Tool lets you add realistic trails in your scenes. It doesn't matter if it's a stage coach or a ballistic missile you will be able to create the perfect trail behind it. This powerful tool is easy to use and comes with 77 materials so you can get the look you want for your scene. There are even materials for bullet wakes and particle beams. The Dust and Trail Tool is an easy way to bring life to your scenes! If you have the Smoke and Flames Tool you'll find they can use the same materials giving you even more flexibility
You can do this quite easily in Blender if you don't mind following a few tutorials online, and then render it out and add it in post.
there are a few products by Jepe and SimonWM that could work.
Thanks, everyone, your suggestions are all appreciated. Jepe's "PillarZ II" has possibilities, though I'm looking at more of a 3D effect that billboards can never quite duplicate. As for adding things in post, it has never looked right to me, at least with my efforts; so I'll keep looking, and hoping for something better.
How realistic do you need it to look? I ask because there's a quick and dirty way to do this. What you'll need is to create a bunch of primitives (spheres work best) and a cloud-y shader or two (or more). I don't know off the top of my head which shader works best, so you'll need to experiment.
What you do is position the spheres (vary the sizes) where you want and/or need them. Apply the shader(s) to the spheres. (I'd also recommend fussing with the shader settings. Change the color a bit between the different spheres to create some depth. And you might also need to play with the opacity/cutout settings to get the "smoke" looking how you want. And while I'm thinking about it, you could also do the same for the rocket flames.)
It's not a perfect solution, but depending on your skills, you might be able to create what you want from scratch. (Plus, there's nothing like making something yourself. It feels really satisfying.)
Thanks, FeralFey, I had not thought of that. Worth looking into.
My OMS1 shader has a procedural smoke option that should do great, once you have a rough object, just need to tweak transmitted distance to make it sufficiently opaque.
@ Oso3D - Yours was one of the shader sets I had in mind, but for the life of me I couldn't think of it, so thanks for speaking up.
Wishlisted for March (or sooner).
Fast Fog Iray by SickleYield includes 3 smoke takeoff props.
Yes, unfortunately, though, they don't look very realistic when enlarged. I have several fog tools, and they are just not dense enough to be convincing, even when many are combined in different ways. Thanks for responding.
Nerd 3D still sells the product on one of the other stores, google;)
Thanks, Sven, I'll certainly consider it (wishlisted). I'm looking at all posibilities before doing anything, as I'm not in a hurry.
Have you tried scaling and instantiating this product '3D Toon Clouds for IRay and 3Delight' in the right ways to make a smoke trail?
https://www.daz3d.com/3d-toon-clouds-for-iray-and-3delight
It's very good although long to render. It's debatable which is faster WillBear's procedural or those toon clouds. Despite the name toon clouds given enough time to render they look real.
Thanks, Nonesuch00. Speed is not a major issue. I looked at the gallery entries that use the Toon Clouds, and two of them offer promise; possibly it can be used as the ground layer of smoke.
If you go with the Toon Clouds, I think you'll be pleased. Marshian does excellent work on his sets. (I love his work. One of my favs.) I haven't yet played with the Toon Clouds set, but if it's anything like his other cloud sets, I think you'll find something that will definitely work for the ground layer of smoke.
And when you get your smoke trail built, you've definitely got to show us. I'm curious to see how it turns out, regardless of what products you wind up using.
I'll do my best, FeralFey, though my plan is to wait for March Madness to make purchases since I only get a small pension. That said, if I am successful, I'll post a render.
And I always remain open to suggestions.
You can scale the clouds on their long axis to make longer trails and also there are 9 levels of mistiness to the clouds.
Well, I have been playing around with what I have so far, but I'd class my first attempt as a faiiure. Here's what I did:
Bought the Dust and Trails Tool (which is the best of its type, I think) for the long trail. Then used https://www.daz3d.com/above-the-clouds-for-iray-nimbostratus as the base of the smoke column, but that needed a higher rim of clouds, so I thought of using a torus primitive (actually 3 tori would work better) that I can get around to deforming.
Unfortunately, each trail/cloud/torus is not enough on its own, and multiples of each is required. The problem there, is that each Dust Trail has 100 planes, with various maps, the clouds have other maps, and so on. When I get Oso3D's shaders, that will reduce the textures, but the sheer number of individual surfaces will be a strain on my PC, since the scene I plan will be pretty big.
And that's why I think I need to investigate a 3d smoke trail, not billboards.
Oh, and here are my initial steps in pictures: