UE4 Tutorial: Local Volumetric Fog

How to create localized volumetric fog in Unreal Engine 4. Topics covered: Material graphs, material instancing, sphere mask, particle systems, volumetric fog, lighting, post processing.
LINKS:
Texture Pack - gumroad.com/l/kPmAYm
Rainbow Map - i.imgur.com/rBX606o.png
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CONTACT:
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E-Mail - [e-mail]

[@vinople4260]

I'm not even following the tutorial (or need it), but still found myself watching. Keep up the good videos! :)

[@underscore00]

Thanks man! :) And thanks for dropping by

[@pwrskeleton]

This is fantastic, thank you for sharing this fog setup! Perfect for getting started with volumetrics in Unreal.

[@matthewhawkins3697]

Super great guide - I'm paying an obscene amount of money to a university and learned more following your tutorial than I have in 8 weeks of class. Thanks man!

[@Trungledorph]

Exactly what was looking for. Straight and to the point also! Thank you.

[@BaseRealityVR]

Excellent Video, I learned a lot, Really Like how you also showed of other methods like the panner and rotation stuff , too .

[@ruscristi92]

Thank you for this great lesson! I've been looking for a tutorial like this to create volumetric clouds and this helps in doing so. 🙏🏻

[@underscore00]

Thanks! I really like this effect :)

[@Rezgi]

Oh wow !! Excellent technique I’m amazed !! Thank you for sharing !!

[@friendmegaming804]

Your presentation is spot on. Thank you so much : - )

[@thorebl]

As always a great Tutorial!

[@underscore00]

Thank you! I'm so glad you like it :)

[@DeanAshford]

Nice. Haven't played with fog since the introduction of volume material domain in 4.16! My fog tutorial so out dated now XD That looks hawt

[@underscore00]

Thanks for dropping by Dean! Ive been having a blast playing around with this lately (hence the disco fog XD) but yeah, its very cool :) Much love homie

[@MsDevilMaria]

Thanks for sharing , this is amazing!

[@GamersHaven]

Thanks for making this! I figured out how to make fog, thanks to you!

[@Janovich]

Make sure you turn on Volumetric fog in your exponentialHeightFog or else it won't show up.

[@tutumannyAQUE]

Thank you, you just saved me hours of work!

[@maixentchenebaux6774]

you sir, are the true MVP.

[@JeffFermon]

This is fantastic, thank you so much!

[@Savage_granny]

tank you !! after many videos I finally managed to make fog !! thank you very much!

[@moranana5222]

Great Video. Thanks!

[@da_cat]

Jesus, i was watching somebody elses 3 part tut on vol fog, then i saw yours in the suggestion list ... and its not only just 1 shorter video but its 1000 x better, that other guy was spwning 500 fog particles ..wtf RIP FPS !!! lol When he said he gonna spawn the max cpu particles i was like ... ok this guy is clearly not knowing wtf he is doing XD thx man yours works PERFECT with just 5 particles

[@davidrichards7232]

Very nice!

[@solokiller5883]

Very cool

[@jero5566]

thanks a lot really helpful

[@TheZoobZoobs]

Much obliged!

[@licxstar]

Pretty much how to be Awesome. Great work bud.

[@vincentz7775]

i bought the texture pack but cant find any of the masks, only metal/concrete/wood?

[@GhostBingo]

Great video, can you show us how to make volumetric fog masking? like if there is some sort of fog repeler and it just masks the volumetric fog area to be visible?

[@ty_teynium]

I hear the volumetric fog eats up alot of hardware performance. Is there a certain feature that effects this so I can adjust it to make it less strenuous on frame rate and hardware?

[@tradeandmagicofficial2563]

great thanks!

[@joelwynd9233]

Hey mate, thanks for the video very helpful. I have question tho..... I'm trying to use this tutorial to make shifting nebula formations in a space environment I am working on. Everything works as in your video but the fog only appear on camera when you are really close to it. I want these particle systems to be background elements and so far away from the camera. Is there a setting somewhere to increase visibility in regards to distance from camera?>?>

[@Galoso2000]

You can change the distance from where it is visible by going to your ExponentialHeightFog, inside Volumetric Fog settings and changing View Distance

[@anim8ruk]

Awesome video as always. Thanks. You're changing the alpha over life in the Particle System, yet there is no Particle Colour node in the Material. How does that work? Have I missed a step? Cheers

[@anim8ruk]

I switched the Extinction Multiplier with Particle Colour Alpha and it works a treat :) You could also hook Particle Colour RGB in the Material to drive the Fog colour through the Particle System :)

[@underscore00]

Sorry for late reply! You're totally right, it absolutely slipped my mind that I wasn't even using particle color in the material XD I just gave it a go and your method works fantastically, so thanks so much for the tip!

[@anim8ruk]

@@underscore00 no worries. Thanks for you videos. Ive been a VFX artist in the games industry for 20 years, and your videos are teaching me new things. Every day is a school day. Really looking forward to your future videos. Awesome job!

[@sphangman]

Thanks for this. It’s super cheap like you said which is perfect. Unfortunately when I scale up to large values (10000) it breaks , is it a buffer issue ?

[@zeon3d755]

Thanks! How the view distance could be increased so that I can see the fog from distance as well?

[@outerheaven2810]

This is done through ExponentialHeightFog, "Start Distance" parameter.

[@daveodwyer5365]

Great tutorial. I've adopted this approach but am having the issue that when the player moves away from the particle system - the fog cloud fades out and disappears. I would like the fog cloud to remain no matter what the camera distance from it. There must be some occlusion setting for this i am just not finding?

[@Cody1425105]

Thanks, this works well, but I am having trouble keeping the particles visible at a distance. They seem to disappear at a pretty near distance and none of the settings I can find affect that.

[@kohjx9692]

For anyone requiring help for this in 2023: Set your volumetric fog View Distance higher under your Exponential Fog object

[@paulthomas6537]

Great tutorial! How do you suggest I do this for my entire map/landscape?

[@paulthomas6537]

I had added the effect to the player as an attempt to reduce performance cost adding the effect to the whole world. It works, but is slow to rebuild after leaving the distance of the cylinder. Should I just place this effect all over the map? Thanks, @underscore.

[@VRock121]

Are you sure the shader complexity you showed was correct? My fog is pretty much on the red and pink in the scale. Maybe I did something wrong, but I dont think so. I would think this effect is pretty expensive .

[@Bugman563]

same here

[@TigraPolosatiy]

same problem)) Material was built right, but complexity is pinkish-white :D

[@tutumannyAQUE]

Same here!

[@bridge1444]

Thanks man! My fog is black due to scene settings I have no idea of. Do you know what could cause it? :)

[@miguelmoralesnavas]

I have followed the steps, but I do not see any fog at all. It is transparent, totally transparent for me; any ideas?

[@lazytopaz]

Make sure you turn on Volumetric fog in your exponentialHeightFog, adding exponential height fog + turining on volumetric fog fixed it for me.

[@janmicka5272]

@@lazytopaz totaly transparent to me as well, where do I find the option of the exponentialHeightFog you are speaking of?

[@lazytopaz]

@@janmicka5272 you need to add exponentialheightfog actor to your map from actors list. Place actors (by default on the left side of your viewport, has stuff like recently placed, geometry, etc and a list of stuff related to that particular filter), you'll find it under visual effects or if you use search bar on top of it as soon as you type exp you should have exponential height fog actor and just add it to your map.

[@janmicka5272]

@@lazytopaz Thank you, I did all as you asked, placed expo. height fog, turned on volumetric fog as well. put both niagara and cascade version of particle and both are just transparent. Any ideas what am I missing?

[@lazytopaz]

@@janmicka5272 hmm It might be silly of me for not pointing it out : but adding directional light (if you don't have one) and in its properties add cast volumetric shadows on, it also might need to be switched to being a movable (stationary might work too but needs light rebuild to take effect, for learning/testing purposes preview quality is best), keep in mind that volumetric scattering intensity value in that light is the one that bumps the effect of the fog and the effect of the particle on the screen + in exp. h. fog there are several properties you'll need to tweak for better effect like fog density, second data fog density...basically Exponential H. Fog Component properties + volumetric fog properties both of which sit in expo. height fog. Hope my explanation is good enough.

[@tylermadigan7631]

is it possible to do this while you already have a volumetric fog in your scene without disturbing the existing one?

[@ty_teynium]

Looks good to me. This worked out a bit different for me. For starters its visible but it appears stretched like in 15:47. Also they appear or fade in too fast.

[@Sophie-rl6uo]

I downloaded the texture pack but there are no masks, only concrete, wood etc.?

[@SUPERSAIYUAN]

Hey! Question - the shader complexity is red for me when I check the optimization. Would you happen to know what the issue is and how to fix it? Thanks, great tut!

[@underscore00]

Hi, thanks for watching! Yeah in the version that this was made with, volumetrics dont appear in shader complexity which is why my scene looks green in the video. Red is OK, but it does indicate a performance hit. Pink/White is bad, so if youre seeing any pink or white, I recommend looking for ways to optimize. Hope that helps! :)

[@dsasterpiece666]

Does this work in UT Editor? The volumetric fog option doesn't appear on the details panel

[@jmv1]

How do adjust the resolution/voxel count on this?

[@snoozemuse]

Does this work with 4.24? When I add the particle system into my scene it doesn’t show up. Volumetric fog in exp height fog is checked.

[@richardg8376]

Is there a way to disable global fog and just have the fog in one localised area? I've noticed that adding an Exponential Height Fog actor to my landscape, it adds a global haze to everything alongside the localised particle system. I can't find a way to remove the global haze in a way that doesn't also remove the localised fog effect. Any idea how to achieve this?

[@Aero3D]

Is there a way to contain the fog into a specific shape? Thank you!

[@MarkOfArgyll]

Yes, you can use a skeletal mesh. Check out Marvel Master on youtube. He also shows how to add collision to the fog, making it swirl about as a character moves through it.

[@pacificnorthwesterman]

EDIT: I missed a step -- (watch the video at a slower playback it really helps) He highlights the material, then goes into details > material > material domain and changes the dropdown to "Volume" Looked interesting, but sadly you lost me at 5 minutes in, went to plug the extinction scalar value into the extinction node on the material and discovered mine does not have that option. Using version 4.24 hopefully not too much has changed...

[@iiTzMythic]

Can you make a tutorial on how to make a local sand/snow storm because there is 0 to non info to find on that

[@fleksandrzh5645]

i do it) thank you)

[@TorQueMoD]

You want to multiply your two cloud textures for the best result. Otherwise this is a fantastic tutorial!

[@underscore00]

Thanks for the tip! :)

[@bpansky]

I've made a laser using a very narrow, extremely bright spotlight. However, its illumination of the fog is very pixelated. Does anyone know a way to fix that?

[@AroTheOcto]

i dont know why but my particle isnt working, it isnt showing me anything

[@n000Face]

Sooo how can I use this but also use Volumetric Clouds? The VC and the Exponential Height Fog seem to cancel each other out :/

[@tristenbernier9998]

Can you do snow possibly

[@shaolung5342]

does this have to be in a sphere? could it be a cube?

[@mayurhedau5930]

My fog cloud is showing white color in shader complexity viewmode and having performace issue, how can I resolve it???

[@Emarketsarts]

i have exponential height fog and volumetric fog checked but nothing shows up , when I put it on the level.

[@JoeFinlayson]

You might have the ExponentialHeightFog > Volumetric check box turned off, or you might have it on but potentially have 2x ExponentialHeightFog in your level

[@freezEware]

There is also a bug or changed setting in newer engine versions, where you have to set the material to be lit, or nothing shows. Still looking for a fix so I can use it in unlit.

[@devjitpaul1191]

now for the most important question how the frick do i reverse the effect. i want my forest to be foggy but there is a house and i don' want fog to go indoors

[@JoeFinlayson]

Did you figure this out?

[@devjitpaul1191]

@@JoeFinlayson unfortunately no

[@Zeteenager]

Hi, i'm following your tutorial but when i place my particle in the world, nothing appears, and I don't know why. I work on UE4.21 Somebody can help me please?

[@patrickgauthieris]

Same thing here. For me I had forgotten to add an exponential height fog to my level and set the volumetric fog checkbox to true.

[@bpansky]

@@patrickgauthieris Thanks! Had the same thing here.

[@shakaama]

@@patrickgauthieris didn't change anything for me, as I already had that done.

[@Mowroze]

You forgot to put 1 in the material extinction param :D

[@gossalex]

tut was great--feel like I've been looking for this for a year! everything was working well until I suddenly got these error x3018's for VolumetricCloud and VolumetricFogVoxeliztion invalid subscript vertex id

[@allbrancereal_]

effectexturemaker is a great way to go thru this tut

[@Badwolf2743]

my fog is flickering off and on in the viewport and game and It's not the distance values or etc as far as I'm aware of because it is visible at times. I don't know how to fix this please can someone help me, thanks.

[@irjayjay]

Anyone having the issue where the shader-complexity is sky-high? Did his just not show up on the older version of UE4?

[@1337art]

EDIT: This has now been fixed and Jack sorted out my issue with the wrong pack! Thank you Jack Jack you've linked to the wrong texture pack in your description. I have discovered this after purchasing the pack and it does not contain the assets needed for this tutorial. Can you please amend the description. I am also going to email you separately to request a refund.

[@visualfinesse7445]

Doing this in the new 5.0 Beta, the Sexy Godrays are there but so friggin faint they're hard to see/notice unless looking for them. Anyone have any ideas?

[@zeon3d755]

My shader complexity is pretty bad. How do I fix that? I only did upto time 7:30 and that's all I need.

[@irjayjay]

Same here, I did what he did, but shader complexity is in the red/white.

[@DanielVargas-mo2yh]

You link a download to a texture pack but we have to pay for it to use it??

[@zestybomb]

Could you line the border of a large online multiplayer map with these fog particles without it costing too much on the system?

[@underscore00]

Potentially, yes. You could make them show/hide based on player proximity and save a lot of overhead that way; thats just an idea off the top of my head.

[@ty_teynium]

It's only visible if I'm close enough. Is there a way to make it more visible regardless how far or close I am?

[@moragna]

Having that issue as well. Did you figure out a solution?

[@lusastmafrkr7191]

0 dislikes! YOURE A KZbin LEGEND :D

[@Arcki_Plage]

Hey Man, I am trying to apply your tutorial in ue5 but appears no bottom for Particle system ! Any clue ?

[@wild890920]

in miscellaneus it appears a legacy cascade particle system

[@itsnotbloodborne1237]

can this fog cast god rays?

[@UnrealArtist]

Nice tut, What if we don't want to use volumetric fog in the scene? :P

[@Mowroze]

For people who seeing nothing when put the Particles into the scene, the solution is: you forgot to put 1 in Default Value in the Extinction param ! :)

[@stef_supertramp3226]

Thanks a lot!

[@freezEware]

unfortunately not. still see nothing

[@Mowroze]

@@freezEware You probably did something wrong and forget to add a value somewhere

[@freezEware]

@@Mowroze That's what one could think, but it wasn't the case. Same for other volumetric fog & cloud examples, none of them produce a cloud, unless the material is set in lit mode. Probably a bug in the newer engine versions 🤔 I've tried and googled every fix, other people have had the same issue. Workaround is to change the mat to lit. Please let me know if someone finds a way to to fix it.

[@Mowroze]

@@freezEwareI hope you will find a way, I never used the new version for the moment because with my job I'm too busy but if I'll install it, I'll try this tuto and let you know if I can fix it !

[@IRONFRIDGE]

Nice tutorial, but on my turn it just stays in form like a sphere, it is not changing the Form. Fog works

[@FreakinMrGamer]

hi , can i know why my particle system didnt show anything when i drag it into the editor ?

[@FreakinMrGamer]

its shows only yellow outline box

[@greeberoni3046]

@@FreakinMrGamer Probably a bit late, but check your constant values in the material, if theyre set to 0 that could be causing your problem

[@jmv1]

Please tell me you offer mentorships!

[@GameDevAraz]

Hi, Is This Mobile Friendly?

[@destinationunknown6665]

Followed step by step, as soon as you drag the particle into the level 06:50, it's invisible and you can't see the cloud at all.....

[@christraianos6709]

You need to add an exponential height fog and tick volumetric fog in order for it to work

[@armoredcanine9725]

For some unknown reason, the visibility in World Outliner was checked off. I noticed the was closed, I opened and I fixed it.

[@foranie]

Not work for me.(4.25.3) Particle system doen't spawn fogcloud particles. If you want fix this, adding exponential heightfog, checking volumetric fog value to true. that is a working

[@matthewhawkins3697]

I love you

[@darklen14]

A little criticism if you can take it. Some of us are still learning UE and it would be nice if you could sloooow waaay down to explain each step. For instance, there are two Object positions, and selecting the wrong one would throw everything off.

[@underscore00]

Yeah, sorry for the fast pace! I dont like tutorials that are slow or drag on too long so I try to be snappy. I know it can make following along hard, but youtube has controls to slow down the video to 0.5x or 0.25x speed, which should help :)

[@rangerforceproject4182]

why is particle pulsing?

[@maelmarku2509]

"And if we make the fog white, it's gonna be very...yeah very desaturated" oh

[@KiiroHanabi]

If you've done everything right until the particle system, but still see nothing, press Alt+F in your viewport to show Fog, as it is probably disabled by default ;)

[@MichaelEmbers]

I follow along by my shader gets pretty white and red.

[@GameDevAraz]

Mine Doesn't Appear, It Just Goes Invisible, Make A Proper Tutorial Please

[@zzynski832]

Update for Niagara?

[@Deathend]

Big F for the guide. Apparently this tutorial is now worthless because of the new particle system. :'(

[@wild890920]

@@Deathend in miscelaneus on the create menu, there is the legacy cascade system, which is the one he is using

[@futurelight5536]

Hello i am followed all steps but it still invisible

[@mrkatrina8742]

Make sure the graphics are set to high

[@1337art]

@@mrkatrina8742 Thank you! This got it working for me!

[@catdaddymagic]

Some reason it won't even show up. I assemble the tree, create the parent, and no fog appears at all.

[@underscore00]

You might need to go into plugins (or maybe somewhere in project settings) and enable volumetrics. Let me know if thats not the case, I'll try to get to the bottom of the issue :)

[@catdaddymagic]

@@underscore00 I enabled them in plugins. I redid it and I am still getting the same results. What happens is the effect plays, it has box outlines, but it is invisible and cannot be seen.

[@Si-Toecutter]

its like a fucking disco no matter what setting

[@LastNight0]

Niagara update?

[@Neophii]

I followed the tutorial and my shader complexity view is bright red...am i missing something?

[@chasedsea072]

ahh yes the se#y god rays XD

[@oo_atlas_oo]

I managed to make this in Niagara somehow XD

[@motionmx]

can you share how you did it ? i found the material volume is not available for niagara

[@steelpill]

I'm seeing you in 0.75 speed ))) U talk so fast.

[@underscore00]

Gotta go fast! XD

[@misiek08]

@@underscore00 please keep it this way. Sometimes 2x speed is not enough to prevent sleeping on other KZbinrs videos.

[@hemsahirwar3900]

It not work in mobile how it work in mobile and how to creat such fog in mobile

[@TNTMEKKI]

your links not free

[@vxBART]

Doesn't work as of 4.27; followed the first steps to a T and no fog when placing the PS on the world.

[@underscore00]

did you enable volumetrics in engine plugins?

[@vxBART]

@@underscore00 Nope! And was able to get it to function on my main maps. Just gotta make sure that the Exponential Height Fog is there and always has Volumetric ON. Thanks much!

[@blakegt.7326]

This is the easiest way.... and no one really uses it, because it is too demanding for the graphic cards and if you stay in that area for too long, it can overheat the PC

[@lucian6172]

You need to have an "Exponential Height Fog" with "Volumetric fog" checked in your level to make it work. Otherwise it's not showing anything.