Weather, seasons, wildlife and sound: a scene that feels alive
Rain, snow and storms, autumn and winter, birds and fireflies, a soundscape heard from where you stand, and smoke, fire and music you drag into place.
A still model is a photograph
A scene with weather, a season, birds moving overhead and sound around you feels like somewhere you are standing. All of the following is saved with the scene, so anyone who opens your published model gets it too.
Sky and time of day
The sky is generated from the time of day and your site's direction: sun, clouds, haze and, at night, a moon in its proper phase with stars. Moving clouds drift with the wind and change shape as they go. Play the day runs the clock as a time-lapse, so you watch the light cross the building from sunrise to sunset. Fog now reaches the sky and the far ground too, so the distance fades into it.
Weather
Choose rain, storm or snow and set how heavy it is:
- Rain streaks past the camera, surfaces darken as they get wet, and puddles collect on flat ground with rings where the drops land.
- A storm brings faster clouds, gusts in the trees and lightning.
- Snow drifts down and settles on anything that faces up.
It never rains or snows indoors. A shelter map works out what is under a roof, so the floor of a covered porch stays dry.
Seasons
Autumn turns the leaves gold and red and scatters fallen leaves under the trees. Winter strips the deciduous trees bare and can lay snow. The season also moves the sun to the right time of year.
Wildlife
- Birds fly over the model in flocks, flapping and gliding.
- Fireflies come out at dusk.
- Fish swim in ponds, dragonflies skim the water, and bees work the flowers.
Sound
The scene has a soundscape, and you hear it from where the camera is: birdsong from the trees, crickets at night, ducks and frogs by the water, the lap of a pond as you walk up to it. Every sound is generated as it plays rather than taken from a recording, so there is no loop to notice.
Things you drag into place
Three emitters can be placed and moved like lights:
- Smoke for chimney smoke, steam from a stack, or a plume from a tower.
- Fire for a hearth, a brazier or a fire pit, with flames, sparks, smoke and a flickering glow.
- Music, a calm ambient piece played where you put it: pads, piano, chimes, a music box, a drone or a harp. It has a reach, so you hear it as you come close and lose it as you walk away.
In the published viewer
Visitors to a published model get buttons for Night, Sunrise, Noon and Sunset, and for the weather and the season, so they can see your building in the rain or under snow without you rendering every version.
Open Render Options in the editor to try them.