Tag Archive for: vdb

How to Use Cloud VDB’s in Blender, Cinema4D, 3ds Max and more

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Download high-resolution VDB clouds, wisps and atmosphere effects here.

Part of our growing library of 3D assets includes VDB files. But what are VDB files anyway?

Developed by DreamWorks, VDB’s are the CGI industries’ solution to storing three-dimensional grids of data. Each grid cell can contain a range of information, such as temperature, density, velocity and more. This makes it possible to efficiently store complex atmospheric phenomena such as clouds, explosions and even interstellar nebulae.

We’ve created several bundles of professional VDB assets that take your art to the next level. These allow you to join the many artists that are already utilising cinematic atmospheric effects in their projects. In addition to this, you can access our library of over 10,000 VFX, Sound Effects, Music and 3D Models.

Download Cloud and Tornado VDB Pack

This unique file type is not to be confused with polygon-based files, such as OBJ and FBX, which store solid 3D geometry – however, it is possible for these to accurately match the unique appearance of volumetric objects. In CG rendering, when light hits a solid object, the raytraced-path can easily be processed as a single interaction as it reflects from the surface. When entering a cloud, light can scatter erratically, requiring non-trivial approaches to simulate the appearance of the final image, such as ray-marching.

Due to the many ways that these can be rendered, different software and rendering engines have their own implementation of VDB’s. Once you know your software and rendering engine, click on the appropriate link below for their official documentation on how to use VDB files. If your software isn’t listed, there’s a good chance that they have information about VDB’s on their website.

Blender

Cinema4D

3ds Max

Maya

Houdini

We’re excited to see what you create with our cloud VDB assets. If you want to spice up your renders even further, check out our 4K Dust Overlay stock footage.

Download New Cloud VDBs Set

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We have 10 Production-Ready Cloud VDB’s ready for you to download.

These video effects were built in Houdini and are compatible with most 3D software. Load these VDB’s quickly into your scene using your renderer or plugin of choice.

This set of 10 includes the most commonly seen cloud shapes. You can mix them together for cloudy days and rotate them for an endless variety of options. These clouds also work wonderfully as storm clouds. Use a light with some randomized position parameters and have your light flash and fade over 15 or so frames. Place your light within your cloud VDB and you have quickly created your own storm-clouds!


We are having a great time building out FootageCrate assets based off of these VDBs. If you have an aerial shot you want to make more interesting by flying through some clouds or a CGI shot that calls for some interesting sky scenes then these FX are right for you.

We also have two other VDB categories already built out. Our Mega Tornado pack will let you create your own doomsday, while our mist pack is perfect for those SciFi and fantasy projects.