A Neat Method for Setting Up Volumetric Clouds in UE5

Virtual Art Department Supervisor and Co-Founder of Narwhal Studios Safari Sosebee has recently shared a stunning demo showcasing a neat method of setting up realistic-looking volumetric clouds in Unreal Engine 5 using Thibault Lambert's recently-released SVT_cloud_demo.

For those unaware, last year, CG Engineer and Principal Graphics Programmer Thibault Lambert and Janga FX's Principal VFX Artist Jason Key collaborated to test out "OpenVDB and NanoVDB for Unreal", a great plug-in developed by Thibault that allowed reading OpenVDB and NanoVDB files in Unreal Engine.

Using the plug-in alongside cloud VDBs, which were created using JangaFX's EmberGen, a real-time fluid simulation tool for creating fire, smoke, and explosions, Jason managed to set up an extremely lifelike volumetric cloudscape capable of reacting to various lighting conditions.

With the release of Unreal Engine 5.3 Preview, the engine got native support for VDBs, converting them to Sparse Volume Textures (SVTs). In response to the update, Thibault also upgraded the cloud demo, adding support for SVTs.

According to the developer, the new SVT_cloud_demo features one VDB cloud, made by JangaFX in EmberGen, and doesn't require the aforementioned UnrealVDB plug-in, working perfectly well with the native Unreal Engine 5.3 Preview. You can learn more and download the demo by clicking this link.

Leveraging the enhanced SVT_cloud_demo, Safari has set up an outstanding cloudscape in UE5.3, commending the method's convenience and the quality of the result. "Can't tell you how excited I am to be able to move clouds around like this and have them look this good," commented the creator.

Jason Key has also recently experimented with the upgraded demo, demonstrating a similar fantastic cloud setup in Unreal Engine 5.3:

You can find Safari's original post here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Threads, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.