Post 17/30: VFX tutorial for Blender – Creating Smoke with Volume Effects (VFX in Blender)

Goal: Today, you'll learn how to create realistic smoke effects in Blender using the smoke simulation system. This is a great way to simulate environments like industrial settings, campfires, or even volcanic eruptions.

Task Overview:

• Set up a simple scene.
• Use Blender’s volume effects to create smoke.
• Tweak the smoke settings to get the desired look.
• Render a shareable visual of a realistic smoke simulation.

Step-by-Step Tutorial:

1. Open Blender

• Open Blender and start a new project.

2. Set Up the Scene

• Delete the default cube (Select the cube and press X to delete).
• Add a new object that will emit the smoke:
• Go to the Add menu at the top or press Shift + A, then select Mesh > Sphere (you can use any object, but we’ll use a sphere for this tutorial).

3. Add a Smoke Simulation

• Convert the sphere to a smoke emitter:
• With the sphere selected, go to the Physics tab on the right panel.
• Click on Fluid, and from the drop-down, select Smoke.
• In the Smoke Type, select Flow. This tells Blender that the sphere will emit smoke.

4. Adjust Smoke Settings

• In the Flow Type, ensure it is set to Smoke.
• You can tweak additional settings here:
• Temperature: This affects how fast the smoke rises (default is fine for now).
• Density: Adjust to control how thick or light the smoke appears (default is good for basic smoke).

5. Add a Domain Object

• Smoke simulations in Blender require a domain to contain the smoke.
• Add a cube (Shift + A > Mesh > Cube) and scale it up (S key) so that it surrounds the sphere completely.
• With the cube selected, go to the Physics tab and enable Fluid > Smoke. This time, set the Smoke Type to Domain.

6. Preview the Simulation

• Press Play (Spacebar) to start the animation. You should see smoke start to emit from the sphere and fill the domain.
• Tip: If the smoke appears too slow or fast, you can adjust the simulation time in the Domain settings under Time Scale.

7. Refine the Smoke Look

• To make the smoke look more realistic, you can go to the Shading workspace (at the top of Blender).
• Select the Render Properties tab and switch the Render Engine to Cycles for better results.
• Under the Domain object's material settings, ensure you are using the Volume Scatter shader for more realistic smoke rendering.

8. Adjust the Lighting

• For realistic smoke, you need good lighting:
• Add a light source (Shift + A > Light > Sun or Area light).
• Position the light to highlight the smoke.

9. Render the Simulation

• Set up a camera to capture the smoke effect. You can add a camera by pressing Shift + A > Camera, then position it using G and R to adjust.
• Go to the Render tab and click on Render Image or Render Animation if you want to render an animated sequence of the smoke.

10. Export and Share

• Once the render is complete, save the image (F3 to save).
• For animations, export the video as a .mp4 file to share.

Shareable Visual:

• You now have a realistic smoke effect animation or still image ready to share. This could be a simple puff of smoke, an ongoing smoke cloud, or something more dynamic depending on how you adjusted the simulation.

This lesson helps you get familiar with Blender’s volume effects and provides you with a solid understanding of how to create smoke. This fundamental skill can be applied to larger VFX projects like fires, explosions, or even misty environments!

Source:
ChatGPT