How do I get my water to adjust with the color of the sky? I have a grey sky & my waters remains blue....it looks ridiculous. What have I missed? In addition, I want my items to reflect in the water...trees/clouds etc. I've messed with the reflectivity slider to no avail. Thanks :)

I can't say without seeing your shader tree but I suspect you have too much color in the Color part of the shader tree. Try changing the color to gray or dark gray and then, instead, slowly bring in some dark color into the reflection channel in place of using a value.

Hmmmm....I'm using water preset "New water". I hate be a dolt...but shouldn't water naturally take on the attributes of the atmosphere. Sorry, I'm still confused. I am busy messing with it though :)

The problem is, NOTHING in 3D is natural so, depending on the shader settings, anything can look wacky. I don't have a preset in my browser "new water" so I can't take a look. The C5 water shaders that I do have are working as expected though. Just double check a couple of things: Is the water transparent? If so, what color the object or atmosphere beneath it? Is there a background image that is showing through? Nothing but questions... ;)

Thanks Mark :) I think I've got it figured out. I "think" LOL No background image & nothing underneath(maybe that's the problem). I have used an infinite plane. The atmos is a grey rainy type day w/vol.clouds. I'll try putting a inf. plane underneath....very good idea :) Thanks :)

Post an image as well. Maybe we can figure it even better if we can see. -Kix

Will do tomorrow.....Time for bed here in US, at least for me...I had to add bump to the water as I was getting weird artifacts in the water. Thanks for the help :)

Message edited on: 02/14/2006 17:44

I am not sure what you are referring to in the picture(I see jpeg artifacting). Most likely you will have to tweak the shaders, the color, texture etc. Water is complex. Fresnel is definitely going to be important also. Also, may want to check that your water plane is intersecting your terrain. In other words adjust your terrain and water more like they would be in real life.(turn collision detection off to do this.)

Message edited on: 02/14/2006 20:43

Hi. Im just seriously getting into natural shaders myself but I have a few suggestions. Based on the shader tree above. Add some highlight, about 25% would look good. Also water is translucent, about 10% value would be good. About 20% shininess also helps. Some water, like a lake can also benefit from about a 10% transparency. Keep reflection at about 10%-15%. I would also do a displacement map to try and get some subtle ripples in there if you have C5. No water is completely smooth. It would look unnatural if it was too smooth. Even iced over water has some texture to it. I wish there was an easy way to do a spray on the shoreline. If anyone knows a way to do that, let me know. Maybe a particle emitter or fountain. Let me know if this helps. Oh yeh and the colors in the color channel mixer, try and give a bit more contrast between them, not much but a little helps. Good luck Rich Sparrownightmare

And if you're talking about natural water, I had to start looking at the Fresnel complications; the Fresnel angle controls where a body of water transitions from being clear & transparent under your feet, to reflective & solid-appearing toward the horizon. My guesstimates have been running about 10-13%, but the other variables under the transparency and reflection channels affect this, too (as well as the refraction index channel).

Message edited on: 02/16/2006 12:22

Thanks, will give these ideas a whirl :)