How to render a photorealistic sky

For this tutorial, we'll be using Vue xStream to create a sky full of clouds. While you could choose to recreate the look of clouds by using smoke sims, for example FumeFX and the Phoenix FD plug-in for 3ds Max 2014, Vue xStream is great as it has a special section for clouds, with lots of parameters to adjust – that's why it's used by many animation and VFX studios. 

Vue is based entirely on real-world clouds, so it's very easy to get up and running in this software because it has many default cloud set-ups to help you understand the parameter settings. These settings also help when you're making your own clouds.

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Vikrant J Dalal has nine years of experience in VFX and graphic design. His VFX studio, Project.01 Design Studio, provides VFX, graphic design, 3D architectural visualization and tutorial services.
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