Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Special effects - fire, smoke, and fog
As mentioned in the introduction of this chapter, the eye for detail and the attention
that we give to the details can make a massive difference between a reasonable scene
and an eye-catching scene. This is not exaggerating the reality because if you have
followed the instructions and techniques from the examples in this topic, you have
experienced this irst-hand. After applying the techniques showed in this topic, you
may have made your visualization much more realistic. Now, let's see how we can
use these effects and explore some practical applications.
Fire, smoke, and fog are elements that can be placed on the scene in the same way we
place a 3D model. We need to open
Objects Library
and locate the Effects button to
open
Effects Library
, as shown in the following screenshot:
It is amazing to find what is available inside this library, but it's also a word of
caution! Although we have these fantastic elements ready to use, adding these
special effects should be done in a reasonable way because if we overdo this, the
result can be an unpleasant render that would look totally artificial.
Before we go even further, there is something we need to keep in mind. For example,
select the Fire tab and see that there are 16 different types of fires. Great, but these
16 types of fires are just variations of the first fire. The same happens with the other
elements. Perhaps the best example is the fog emitter that can be used to create
several elements with endless variations.
However, instead of having one element of each, Lumion gives us a hand by
providing shortcuts that can be easily tweaked to fit our needs.
