Shader Recipes: Rendering Underwater Caustics in Maya
By Kyle Green
Course info
Course info
Description
In this series of lessons, we will discuss different methods for simulating the effect of caustic patterns created by moving water. We will begin by exploring caustic photons in mental ray, and how they can realistically interact with a water surface to create refracted bands of light. From there, we will explore an alternative method for simulating caustics which is much more efficient, especially when working with large, open bodies of water. Software required: Maya 2010 or higher.
About the author
Kyle was one of the first authors for Digital-Tutors (now a Pluralsight company) and has been a part of the team for over 10 years. Kyle began his career in computer graphics education as a college instructor and worked as a Digital-Tutors rendering tutor and curriculum manager since 2002.