SOA CloudsMaker

Customizable Material to create photorealistic clouds

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Description

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!

https://youtu.be/XSaNfgvdyaM

HOW TO ANIMATE CLOUDS IN-GAME & FOR VIDEOS

Quick tutorial

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

https://youtu.be/xJwWU4Y5maw

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:

https://youtu.be/oQekIzVJYCA

https://youtu.be/aGd3JdGTP4s

For support, please contact us at:

support@stateofartacademy.com

Technical Details

Number of Materials and Material Instances: 2 Master + 5 Material Functions + 15 Preset Instance Materials

Number of Textures: 20+

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.

Supported Engine Versions

4.26 – 4.27, 5.0 – 5.2