How to Make Interesting Water Shapes Using Caustics and Displacement


In this tutorial, Chris shows you an old technique he uses to make cool caustics based animations. He also talks about speeding up test renders, displacement, and some special lighting settings. Enjoy!

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40 people have commented on this post. You should too!

  1. Jay says:

    I love your out of the box thinking. Great ideas… thank you.

  2. David says:

    LOVE this tutorial. Thanks a million. I have been looking for something like this for a long time :-)

  3. Craig says:

    Cool technique! You mention at around 6-7:00 you never scale objects in object mode. Why do you think that’s a bad idea?

  4. Elmar Luijmes says:

    Hey i found a way to create a water effect light looks really cool

  5. DeepMotions says:

    One of the BEST Idea and tutorial, Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  6. w00dy says:

    Finally….waited for my weekly Chris.
    I noticed, you´ve been struggling to come up with some news ideas.

    I really would appreciate a tutorial ab texturing, e.g. explaining the functions of the different channels. Not the basic stuff…more the advanced typ of tutorial.
    How to achiev realistic surfaces, what to look out for,how to use textures,etc.
    GI tips and tricks are always nice and would love another in depth modelling tutorial.

    Come on guys…let´s brainstorm and take the weight off of chris´ shoulders.

    Greetings from Berlin…

  7. Guilherme Todorov says:

    about the ideas for next tuts…
    https://vimeo.com/35224052 the walking drums from 00:03 to 00:17 would be an amazing and challenging tutorial :)

  8. Louis says:

    Another excellent Tutorial. I love the way you problem solve as part of the tut
    Thanks

  9. Kutaputa says:

    Made a fish and used caustics the other day .. trying to learn the char stuff and a fish seemed like the easiest thing to learn with
    might try to redo it and use a different settings now

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2rt6k-7dPI&list=UUNaT4VTzzMDZ_oxZjP6AFDA&index=3&feature=plcp

  10. Interesting Tutorial, Thanks Chris!

  11. katie says:

    awesome~ thx

  12. andre fry says:

    This is super cool. U r awesome Chris !

  13. Steve From UK says:

    Great and interesting tut to watch Chris, however I could not implement this as I only have the Broadcast version.

    Please don’t forget the little people who do not have the full blown studio version :)

    I would love to see another rigging tut say a updated version of your robotic arm

    Again great stuff Chris

  14. Kris says:

    Thanks these tutorials are awesome. I also would love to see some information on Materials and Texturing, like how to make different surfaces, glass objects, wood, car paint ,etc and shaders vs materials. any general ideas on ways to make our renders look less 3D and more like real world objects. It seems to be one of the more subjective parts of 3D that I think would help greatly. Thanks again keep up the good work!

  15. Marty says:

    Hey! buddy, thanks for the tutorial–you area the man! Excellent job! I love all your tutorials–plus I think that you are one of the best teachers in my opinion–keep up the awesome work–cheers!

  16. Antonio says:

    great tutorial, thanks to this i know how to make proper 3D water, i should upload the video in the near future

  17. wtf_cakes says:

    I had been looking for an effect that the displacer deformer does for a long time. Thank you!

  18. In AE you can get something similar using TC form, yet that would be far from this particular effect. Especially when it comes to an area of usage of these caustics’ behavior :)

    Great stuff, Chris. 5 hours of brainstorming an idea for this tutorial worth it :)

  19. airbusch1 says:

    Love all your tutorials, Chris! You always demonstrate stuff that is so totally amazing and unique!

  20. TuhinBagh says:

    Hey can’t v create the effect on AE using Form..???

  21. alguti says:

    hey thank you Chris, really appreciate how you go in depth in explaining each function, move and why you did this and not that, makes learning this kinda of stuff accessible, fun and interesting!

  22. Tomtom Biggles says:

    I love this tutorial. Thanks so much. I just cant figure out why after getting almost all the way through it, Cinema will not allow me to turn caustics on….Any thoughts?

  23. Tomtom Biggles says:

    Hey thanks for the great tutorial. Ive gotten almost all the way through, but when i go to turn on caustics in my light settings. It wont let me…. Some help please?

  24. jo sol says:

    Good tutorial, Thanks Chris!

  25. Simon Smith says:

    Also if your stuck for a tutorial idea, a decent one on projectionman in c4d would be really useful

  26. Dustin Thaxton says:

    I KNOW THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE WRONG PLACE but I think I may actually get help with you guys.

    I’m using – Cinema 4d 11.5 / After Effects CS5.5 / Mac 10.7.3

    I’m trying to export my Cinema 4d scene to After Effects and it’s not working for me. I know all about the plugin I have to install and I have already done that. In fact, I can open of the provided .aec files in Example folder in the Exchange Plugins folder. The problem though is that I can’t open the ones I’m creating myself.

    So After Effects is working properly ( I think ) so I’m guessing it’s something wrong with Cinema 4d. When I export a file it comes up with an icon that has a picture of a yellow triangle with an exclamation point.

    Also, I’ve seen where people are trying to directly open the file. I’m not doing that. I’m going through the import process.

    Sorry for being rude! I appreciate any help that you offer me. Thanks!

  27. Mike says:

    Thanks for the fantastic tut Chris, and for showing us some nice new techniques.
    Great Work!

  28. Liam Gallagher says:

    I cant find the ‘Caustics’ Effect you select on the Render settings at 9:55…. I’m using Cinema 4D R13.016. Any help? Thanks

    • Liam Gallagher says:

      I also cant enable the ‘Caustics’ effect on the spotlight you use. The ‘Surface Caustics’ tick box is un-tickable :( Any help would be marvellously appreciated, and keep up the amazing work you all are doing. Greetings from England.

  29. Franz Former says:

    Hey Chris,
    thanks alot for sharing this handy technique.
    iam stuck getting the crisp look perfectly sharp…
    i tried the energy settings, the photons and the position of the objekt to the floor, but no luck (holy science).

    thnx again and big ups
    Franz Former

  30. Sue says:

    Really great tutorial Thank you!

  31. Pingback: 225+ Cinema 4D Tutorials for Beginners and Professionals | AnimHuT

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