Volume material - plasma-like

Dear Forum,

I have been struggling some time to achieve something like this (attached):

It is for an animated scene.
Valuable input would be MUCH appreciated.

/Majere

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If you’re using Cycles, then there’s no clearly easy way to do it right now other than have lines of volumetric spheres overlapping each other (using the gradient node).

Otherwise, Blender version 2.76 will allow you to use what it known as the point density texture (meaning you will be able to use a particle system and visualize it as a volumetric texture through use of a ‘domain’ mesh.

Cheers, very nice answer!

Just to be sure I get you correct. Lines of volumetric spheres overlapping , could you elaborate a bit on this so I could try it out?
Are we talking many many spheres or just 5 or 10.
And then giving them a volumetric material (= either of the three, Emission or Volume Absorption, Volume Scatter). Any recommendation of which one to pick?

I look forward to 2.76 release :slight_smile:


This is an example of a volumetric beam made from a line of spheres (done via the use of dupliverts on a line object).

The only thing to note is to make sure your transparency depth is high enough, otherwise you might get artifacts.

Cheers again, very nice answer & help!

I am now getting much closer to what I want to achieve. Follow-up question though.
I can accomplish a similar effect to what you display on the image, but I am stuck with visible circle boundaries - I think you hint to it - where do I adjust the transparency depth?

Go to the render settings panel and increase the number of transparent bounces (because when you’re just using the volumetric output, Cycles will still create a transparent shader for the surface).

There - that really put me in the right direction.

But I still see clear boundaries of the spheres. It is as if they are fuzzy on the inside & not on the outside (should be the opposite).
The goal is to have a fuzzy/decreasing intensity edge/fading out, with no visible edges.

Make sure each sphere is a separate object (done by the use of dupliverts on a line).

Also, if you have mapped the spherical gradient to be exactly in the center, then you need to tweak the ramp node until the edges are invisible. You should be able to hide the edges if you made sure to exactly follow the example in the image.

Now 2.76 is finally arrived , and I think point density texture is a really good idea for making this type of material. And also being able to animate it afterwards.
When I try this however, I get something like this… which I do NOT quite understand? Why is it fractured and not homogeneous?


Use a separate object for the particle system and use a ‘domain’ volume cube as the object with the actual material.

It’s more or less the same system used to allow the rendering of smoke.

I have been trying to find the same thing for a while now and this is what i came up with. My problem is that i need to find a way to make this work for any type of mesh, like a person for example, but the problem is the that i use a gradient texture for this and for a person it would not work since a person is not spherical


Then base your gradient on the viewing angle.

You could use a particle system emitted from the mesh volume - then drive an emission volume shader using the point density texture…might work.

Hello Moony, could you perhaps further explain how to do that, i am not capable to reconstruct it with your explanation. thanks in advance

If this is what you want… Works without adding Domains, just an object, particle system as a volume which you could shape using any available means.
http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=97967

Take a look at this tutorial and adapt from there:

Thanks eppo and moony i will try experimenting with your suggestions :slight_smile: