This is part 2 of the new Houdini 20 Cloud Tools tutorial series. In part 2, I will be applying the knowledge we learned from part 1 and the cloud noise types to the new 3d sky box SOPs. While part 1 focused on 2d high altitude clouds using these new noise patterns, part 2 will further elaborate on these fundamentals to add midground/horizon level 3d clouds to our scenes.
While the 2d clouds are excellent for high altitudes to fill our shot, near the horizon sometimes you need more complexity than actual 3d clouds. Using the new Skybox SOPs you can easily fill in sections of your sky with large grids carved out of noises. I go over how to make these and modify them to get a lot of control over the generated volume and elaborate on a few other utility volume SOPs and techniques to improve the VDB export. These clouds are nice filler clouds that can be closer to the camera, especially in combination with the high-latitude 2d clouds.
This will lead us into part 3 with the knowledge we have been building up, starting with the 2d noises and moving into modifying 3d volumes. Part 3 will cover individual clouds, the SOPs, and the workflows associated with them.