Underwater

[Jas. Hook]

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to produce an underwater effect. I tried make a fluid with a few ripples, but when I put the camera in the fluid, it didn't work.. I even made it transparent with a light refraction.. Any ideas?

[kAinStein]

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to produce an underwater effect. I tried make a fluid with a few ripples, but when I put the camera in the fluid, it didn't work.. I even made it transparent with a light refraction.. Any ideas?

Do you mean faking a caustics effect? I fake it usually with a textured spotlight. Same with the attenuation effect - therefore just make it a halo light. You've got to play around a bit until you get satisfacting results.

[Jas. Hook]

I'm not sure what you mean by a caustics effect, but what I mean is if I took a camera, and put it underwater, and then turned it towards the sky, I would see clear ripples, bubbles, etc. I wanted to know if there was a way to do this and still have objects underneath in view. For example, if I were going to make an animation, and I was moving the Camera. I wanted a way to make the camera go underwater and then come out again, and be able to see as if it were underwater.

[kAinStein]

I'm not sure what you mean by a caustics effect,

I mean this.

but what I mean is if I took a camera, and put it underwater, and then turned it towards the sky, I would see clear ripples, bubbles, etc.

I'd say that this can be done with animated textures.

I wanted to know if there was a way to do this and still have objects underneath in view.

Well, there are certainly more than one way. It mostly depends on what exactly you want to have. There are different kinds of "water" and the surrounding ambient has also to be taken into account. "Water" (as simple it might sound) can be hard to do and needs some effort, a lot of observation and some experience. First of all you'd need to know what kind of water you want to have. Then find out what is specific (i.e. the visibility, light attenuation/ scattering, water depth -> how much light reaches the ground/ how much do you have a caustic effect, etc.). The next thing would be to make your head how that can be achieved directly or how it can be faked with the possibilities you have.

For example, if I were going to make an animation, and I was moving the Camera. I wanted a way to make the camera go underwater and then come out again, and be able to see as if it were underwater.

This one can be quite tricky. I can imagine some ways to do it and it would need postprocessing in the sequencer or node editor to make the transitions from overwater to underwater and vice versa, but first I would need to figure it out by myself. As I said: "Water" can be hard to do.

A better place to discuss this stuff would be:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=31

There might be even some threads on this topic.