Let it Snow!
Posted on 09. Jun, 2010 by Andrew Price in Modeling, Tutorials, Weather
Welcome to week 2 of the Weather special :)
Last week we covered how to create puddles, but this week things are getting a little bit chillier… snow.
Being from Australia, I must admit that snow has never been my strong point. The most contact I’ve had with snow was from ski holiday in New Zealand about five years ago, but those memories are getting pretty vague let me tell you! So for this subject I’ve had to rely entirely on reference photos. Hopefully the result will please those of you in colder climates! :P
I’ve experimented with various methods for making the snow clump together naturally and glisten in the sunlight, and this is my workable solution.
In the tutorial you will learn how to create:
- A realistic snow material
- Snow tire tracks
- Footprints in the snow
- Icicles
- A snow roof texture
To play along at home, download the starter .blend.
Featured User Submissions
- Winter War by Antti
(to submit your image, post a link in the comments below)
182 Responses to “Let it Snow!”
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11. Jun, 2010
[...] that’s really been of help is BlenderGuru a website by Andrew Price in Australia. His latest tutorial which shows how to make snow is amazing.. especially considering he lives in a country where there’s no [...]
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11. Jun, 2010
[...] neste site: http://www.blenderguru.com/let-it-snow/ [...]
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14. Jun, 2010
[...] that’s really been of help is BlenderGuru a website by Andrew Price in Australia. His latest tutorial which shows how to make snow is amazing.. especially considering he lives in a country where there’s no [...]
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16. Jun, 2010
[...] on from last weeks snow tutorial, it’s time to delve into [...]
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01. Jul, 2010
[...] Let it Snow! [...]
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03. Jul, 2010
[...] Let it Snow! [...]
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03. Jul, 2010
[...] Let it Snow! [...]
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Jerry
15. Jun, 2010
A T-storm would be nice…
latest blend: Dark Hallway..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0UOpPDRV6s&feature=channel
Thanks for the tutorials…
John C.
16. Jun, 2010
WOW. A next great tutorial would be showing how a character can leave the footprints as it walks across the scene.
IOR stands for “Index of Refraction”. There are look-up tables available which have actual values if ultra-realism is needed.
Keep up the fantastic work,
John
Cedal
16. Jun, 2010
@ John C
hey
at your response i just thought of this one:
http://www.vimeo.com/7316651
(at least if it loads properly)
grtz Cedal
John C.
16. Jun, 2010
Thanks Cedal. Great tip.
Sean
16. Jun, 2010
LOL!!! “So how do you like THEM APPLES?”
@Omar_Ramirez
16. Jun, 2010
Great tutorial, this one. It’s amazing what can be achieved with blender.
Really considering buying the Wow Factor.
Regards from Mexico!
Rodigo Silva
16. Jun, 2010
Hey Andrew, awesome tutorial. Altough I have the same problem as you, as long as we don’t have too much snow here in Brazil, I think you’ve just got it perfectly. By the way, the new BlenderGuru logo is pretty neat.
As a sugestion, if it doesn’t create too much trouble, could you add PDF links to your video tutorials?
Best regards :)
Rodrigo Silva
tin2tin
17. Jun, 2010
Now you got rain down, how about a storm surge?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_surge
Mads
17. Jun, 2010
hey! nice tutorial… But (i got vista) i cant open the picture… how do i open the picture???
please answer
Greg
22. Jun, 2010
haha nice Andrew, that was probably your most humourous tutorial ive seen yet! haha, but yea, it was good, i made my own snow the other day… not quite as nice… also as im in south africa and we dont get snow here either
Jono
23. Jun, 2010
@Greg
Then we are quite close only I’m in Lesotho and i do see more snow but only from long distance :( BTW where can I get that background picture?
JJackabascal
27. Jun, 2010
Interresting how you thought of everything, even the icicles.
btw: IOR = Index of refraction
And I’m just guessing this looks good to because I live in Florida.
terence nyandoro
27. Jun, 2010
hey great tutorial as always!
i was wondering is it possible to the masking technique to mask of materials or is it limited to textures
thanks in advance
therealnoz
05. Jul, 2010
Just wanted to let you know, icicles group to certain spots at even slight variations in the roof, usually near the corners. They usually aren’t spread out so evenly. Just a friendly little comment from someone who lives in the northern hemisphere. xD
alvin1stdelmax
08. Jul, 2010
always on top
Antti
18. Jul, 2010
I just finished my M/27 bolt action rifle and thought why not put in this snowy scene. Here’s the result: http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/2594/winterwar.jpg
Pro tutorial Andrew. Cheers ;)
Andrew Price
18. Jul, 2010
@Antti
Fantastic! Really great scene. If I could suggest one improvement it would be to brighten the lighting a touch. Currently the snow looks a bit dim. But overall I like it :)
Gabbe
19. Jul, 2010
Nice tut from Norway :D
Antti
19. Jul, 2010
@Andrew
Thanks ;) I recon this is my first scene that looks even distantly believable (thanks to The Wow Factor I’m no longer afraid of the node editor :D). I boosted up the “specular lamp” and the sun a notch and it does indeed look better now. The background image is actually taken by my father around where I grew up :).
I really got inspired by this tecnique and decided to make a whole series of these images and maybe even some videos. I’m quite interested in the events of the Finnish Winter War in WWII and these would be a sort of tribute to the Finnish “White Death” (the deadliest sniper world has ever known http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4) and the battles of Winter War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War). I’ll check up later how it goes.
pixnlove
22. Jul, 2010
And another Masterpiece…
Thank you again.
Daniel
29. Jul, 2010
Wow, that´s really amazing! Thanks for all your hard work!!
However… can’t help but noticing (living in a snowy place) that the doors haven’t really been opened (should be a plowed wall on each side)… and that the vehicle had only two wheels (side by side!). The rear tires will of course take a shortcut and for a while there will be four tracks.
camreon
30. Jul, 2010
Please make a tutroial for new 2.53 its different and im lost
camreon
01. Aug, 2010
How do i get the background image mines is alwsys white or blend etc.
JohnLM
01. Aug, 2010
Hey! I’ve started following your tutorials. I’m going through pains to migrate to Blender from 3ds Max, what feels like I’ve started learning modelling all over again from zero. Your tutorials however really help me to get a grip on workflow in Blender. And Blender 2.5 is indeed way nicer than 2.4.
Being from Latvia, where we have quite a bit of snow in winters. I can tell you that the wavy pattern mostly forms when snow is just starting to melt. Still it looks quite good in you pic.
Other thing, which really threw me off reality feeling in this picture, is the lack of snow volume on the roof. When it falls it really covers surface. I had half a meter thick snow on my roof last winter. But otherwise very good tutorial on displacement tecniques.
Carl
06. Aug, 2010
Tornado!!! Auntie Em, Auntie Em!