Customizable Material to create photorealistic clouds
SOA CLOUDSMAKER v3.0
UPDATE 24th January 2024
If you download the 5.3 version, you'll get both v2 and v3 version.
Tutorial coming soon.
SOA CLOUDSMAKER v2.2
UPDATE 29th May 2023
SOA CLOUDSMAKER v2.1
UPDATE 1st Dec 2022
SOA CLOUDSMAKER v2 is OUT! (only for UE5)
UPDATE 13th May 2022
A new tutorial is coming soon.
UPDATE 7th Dec. 2021
Fixed a wrong update for 4.26
NEW VERSION 1.2 Walkthrough!
HOW TO ANIMATE CLOUDS IN-GAME & FOR VIDEOS
SOA CLOUDSMAKER is now also available for UE 4.27
UPDATE 1.2.1 - July 2021
UPDATE 1.2 - July 2021
READ CAREFULLY
The SOA CloudsMaker plugin has been rewritten from zero, for many reasons.
This new version will give you better visual results and let me update it more often in the near future.
I also deleted useless textures and features from version 1.1 in order to make the plugin lighter and easier to use.
Here are some changes:
HOW TO START:
1) Open the test map in the SOA_CloudsMaker_v1_2 folder.
2) Go to the preset folder, and open both the material instance and the material parameter collection to modify the shader.
3) Quality can be modified in the SOA_CloudsMaker BP detail panel.
TUTORIAL UPDATES: January 2021
Quick setup for SOA CloudsMaker: https://youtu.be/Oyz1POSDdAw
UPDATE 1.1 - January 2021
BASE VERSION 1.0 - December 2020
The SOA CloudsMaker v.1.0 project will let you create photorealistic skies thanks to a fully customizable material for the new VolumetricCloud Actor (UE4.26). You can define the clouds' main shape, control the vertical profile, add volumetric details and noises, add natural movements, and control the overall quality. You'll also find ten presets and many textures to make your new realistic sky!
Here you can find a couple of videos example of the cloud presets, screen-captured from the viewport:
For support, please contact us at:
Features:
Number of Materials and Material Instances: 2 Master + 5 Material Functions + 15 Preset Instance Materials
Number of Textures: 20+
VDBs: 7 clouds
Texture Resolutions: 32px, 128px (for billboard), 512px, 2048px, 4096px
Supported Development Platforms:
Windows: Yes
Mac: Not tested
Documentation: https://www.stateofartacademy.com/soa-clouds-ue4/
In case of issues:
If you're working with the Unreal Sun&Sky plugin (which is active in the Architectural UE4 project type), the default sun strength is 75000lux, and you need to activate the "Extend default luminance range in Auto Exposure settings" option in "Project settings > Rendering" and restart the project.
If you're working with default Directional Light, Skylight, SkyAtmosphere, you don't need to activate that option if your Directional Light strength is 10lux. However, since the right strength for the sun in an almost perfect day should be 75000lux, I suggest you update that value and activate that option.