SNOWY CITY Particle systems are perfect for creating your own winter wonderland
Using a particle system can be computationally expensive, especially when incorporated into a full 3D scene. Sometimes that’s unavoidable and render times just have to take a hit, but in many situations you can get away with doing it in post. This will depend on factors like objects in the scene or camera placement, but if you can get away with it, turning to something like Fusion or After Effects can be a real time-saver.
I covered the process for adding atmospheric rainfall last issue and this time I’m going to look at falling snow, which, to really sell the effect, requires a little more input. Whereas rain is quite simple in look, snow has more detail, both in the flakes you use as particles and in the motion itself.