10. Camera settings

In order for the camera to start capturing and rendering the volume caustics photons, it needs to have a reference to the volume shader we first set up in Section 4.

1. Select the “shotCam_persp1” viewport and click on the “Camera Attributes” button in the viewport mini-shelf
   

     

2. Scroll down to the “Mental Ray” section and type “photonBoundary_parti_volume1” into the “Volume Shader” channel
   

   

Test render 7

WHOA. Such wow. Volume caustics.

 

11. Final render

Now that all the necessary node connections are in place, try different settings for the attributes of “waterSurface_parti_volume_photon1” to tone down the volume caustic effect and define some of the rays better. Here are the ones I used:

1. Select “photonBoundary_parti_volume1” and set “Extinction = 0.050” to have photon particles fall off faster (makes them appear less bright the further they get from the water surface faster). I left “Scatter = 0.150“, but feel free to mess around with this setting to change the overall brightness of the caustics effect.

2. Select “waterSurface_blinn1”s “Color” and set “Transparency” to “HSV(200.000, 0.500, 1.000)” for a more subdued blue tint.

3. Select “photonEmitter_areaLight1” and crank up “Intensity = 500”, “Exponent = 2”, “Caustic Photons = 1,000,000” 

Final render

GREAT SUCCESS!