YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → How to Make VOLUMETRICS in Roblox

How to Make VOLUMETRICS in Roblox — Transcript

by Ice Guy · 3,383 words · 480 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00What is the secret to realism in games?
0:02If you said the lighting or the models
0:04or even the textures, you would be
0:06right. But do you know what else is
0:07pretty cool? Volumetrics. If you have a
0:10bland-looking scene, just [music] slap
0:12on a volume and it becomes
0:13photorealistic in a second. But how can
0:15I make this? You might be wondering.
0:17Well, I'm going to be showing you three
0:19different methods, all with different
0:21uses. And stay until the end to see how
0:23you can easily add optimized volumetrics
0:26to your own game. But what are
0:27volumetrics? Well, volumetrics in games
0:30is the effect you see when light passes
0:32through dust, fog, or smoke. Most
0:35notably seen in sun rays. In real life,
0:37this is caused by thousands of small
0:39particles scattering and absorbing
0:41light. However, matching this in game
0:43[music] engines would be terribly laggy.
0:45So many ways to replicate this effect
0:47have been created. What most methods use
0:50is an approach of transparent layers
0:52creating a gradient-like effect that
0:54will highlight shadows and lights. But
0:55it's important to understand that this
0:57effect is fundamentally created by
0:59layering multiple objects. So some
1:01amount of lag will always be generated.
1:03Let's begin with method one, part
1:05volumes. Part volumes are basically just
1:08a whole lot of semi-transparent parts
1:10just stacked on top of each other like
1:12this. And because each of them are
1:14slightly transparent, by stacking this
1:16it slowly becomes more and more opaque.
1:19So you can create different effects and
1:21you can create different levels of
1:22optimization by changing the gap between
1:25each part. [music] And of course, having
1:27more parts causes more lag, but can
1:30create a better effect. So as you can
1:31see here, there are multiple different
1:33layers stacked on top of each other.
1:35This one has the most parts and is very
1:37dense. And it's honestly a little too
1:39dense because you can hardly see the
1:41shadow fade and creates this weird
1:42lighting effect. And it's just very
1:44laggy. So I would say the sweet spot is
1:47one of these. Now another way you can do
1:49this is through creating a mesh. And the
1:51way you can do this is by going into
1:53Blender, deleting the default cube, do
1:55shift A, add in a plane, go to this
1:59plane, add in a modifier, select array,
2:03then do offset, set this to zero, then
2:06set the Z as much as you want. The
2:09higher the count and the greater density
2:11will create a better effect, but will
2:13cause more lag. So, you need to find a
2:14sweet in between. Then, once you have
2:16your desired amount, go into file,
2:20export FBX, and simply just export it
2:23and bring it into Roblox Studio. And
2:25once you're in Roblox Studio, you can go
2:27up to right here, select the FBX you
2:29just exported, then import. It'll be
2:32grouped as a model, so what you can do
2:33is just do control U to ungroup it. You
2:36can name this if you want to. Then, make
2:37sure it's double-sided. Then, all you
2:39have to do is set the transparency to as
2:42high as you like. I recommend doing at
2:44least 0.9 and probably even more than
2:46that. As you can see, there's already a
2:48bit of a volume going here. And what you
2:50can do with these part volumes is
2:51instead of just orientating it one way,
2:54you can rotate it and align a whole lot
2:55of different parts, so this effect works
2:57from every angle. Because, if you look
2:59at this head-on, the volume doesn't work
3:01as well as when you're viewing from the
3:03top. The mesh can also be rotated like
3:05the parts and fit any axis. Okay. And
3:08now, the color also dictates how the
3:11volumetric will work. So, if you set
3:13this to a darker color, it starts to be
3:16a little bit more clear, starts to fade
3:18out a little bit more. But, if you set
3:19it too dark, then it becomes like a
3:20void-like effect. And what the part
3:22volume is the best at is creating
3:25precise casts like this. So, if you have
3:28a window, for instance, you can quickly
3:30create a cast like that. But, where it
3:33lacks, thank you, but the main drawback
3:36is creating massive scenes like this
3:38because the shadows don't properly cast
3:40across the volumetric. But, it's great
3:42for isolating singular areas. When
3:44you're doing lights like this from the
3:46window, what I recommend doing is simply
3:48grabbing your mesh, bringing it to the
3:50window, see where the light ends, which
3:52is right here, then orientating it so it
3:55aligns it as close as possible. As you
3:58can see, the window ends right here and
4:00the light ends right here. What you want
4:02to do is orientate [music]
4:03this to get as much of the volume as you
4:05can into the light without wasting any
4:07of it. That way you can optimize it as
4:09much as you can. So, since it ends right
4:11here, I want the very edge of the volume
4:1310 right there and simply just rotate it
4:16to fit the window. And that's where this
4:19type of volumetric really shines. Now,
4:21again, the main drawback, large outdoor
4:23scenes and the optimization. Because if
4:26we look at the scene triangle count, as
4:28we can see, this right here takes up a
4:30decent amount of triangles and a decent
4:31amount of draw calls. This is basically
4:33just a whole lot of parts just smooshed
4:35together, which creates a whole lot of
4:36triangles, which isn't great for
4:38optimization. Now, if you wanted to use
4:40this great fog, you can because it's
4:41great at just creating a subtle little
4:43falloff at the end. Now, this example is
4:45pretty extreme, but then again, you know
4:47what else creates a nice even fog? It's
4:49the atmosphere in the lighting. If you
4:51ever want to create fog easily and
4:53optimized, just use the atmosphere in
4:55the lighting tab cuz this will basically
4:57create any simple fog effect you want
4:59without using thousands of triangles.
5:01And if you were wondering, using meshes
5:03for volumetrics does not capture light.
5:06As you can see with this point light,
5:07the volumetric doesn't capture, it
5:09doesn't enhance it any way. It simply
5:12just adds a box of fog. Okay, so I was
5:14just editing and then I thought about
5:16something. What if the mesh and the part
5:19volumes actually behave differently for
5:20some reason? And it turns out they do
5:22because shadows are caught with the part
5:24volumes and they're not with the mesh
5:26volumes for some reason. I don't know
5:28why. If someone can comment explaining
5:30why, that would be very helpful. And
5:32also,
5:34part volumes capture the light of point
5:37lights as well, which is also
5:39interesting. Well, yeah. Sorry for the
5:42interruption, but I'm currently hosting
5:44a 10,000 Robux game event. And for this
5:46event, you don't even need to make a
5:47game from scratch like a game jam. I
5:50just want to see my community's cool
5:51creations and make a video about them.
5:53So, if you find this interesting or want
5:55more information, then join my Discord.
5:58>> [music]
5:58>> Now, particle volumes are simply a
6:01particle that creates a volume. Now, the
6:04way I do this is by adding a particle
6:05emitter into a part. You do this just by
6:07clicking this button right here and just
6:09typing in particle emitter, then boom.
6:11Then the settings I would recommend is
6:13setting the light influence to one. That
6:14way the light influence is at the
6:16maximum and most of these are the
6:17default settings. Now, the size we'll
6:19get into later. Now, for the
6:21transparency though,
6:23>> [music]
6:23>> for particles, I recommend keeping the
6:24start and the end at zero. That way you
6:27don't see them flicking in and out like
6:29that cuz that's pretty distracting. And
6:31for the rest of it, you want it to be
6:33pretty transparent. The amount of
6:35transparency you add here will, of
6:36course, change the amount of
6:38transparency you have down there. If you
6:39set this to like 0.5, [music]
6:41then you can see it's very dense and
6:43it's very opaque. There's not much
6:44transparency going on in that center
6:46bit. But if you increase this, [music]
6:49it becomes less dense. There's more
6:50transparency. You can actually see
6:51through more. You should find a happy
6:53medium between the amount of particles
6:55you have and the transparency. [music]
6:57Cuz the more particles, the more opaque
6:59it'll become and the less particles, the
7:00more transparent it'll become. So, for
7:03this instance, I'm just going to leave
7:04it at 0.85. And if you really wanted to,
7:07you could drag out another value about
7:09like right here. You want this to also
7:10be 0.85. Now, this will be the same
7:12value. The way you can make these
7:14particles more or less dense is changing
7:16the size. Now, by changing the size, it
7:19simply makes the particles larger. So,
7:21more of them interact with each other.
7:23Because if you have a small particle, it
7:24won't take up as much space. Therefore,
7:26it won't interact with as many
7:28particles. And another way to make this
7:30more or less dense is increasing this
7:31lifetime. Now, this lifetime sets how
7:34long the particles will exist in the
7:36world for. [music] So, if you set this
7:37to 15, each particle will last for 15
7:39seconds. But if you set this to one,
7:41they will disappear quite a lot faster.
7:43See, they won't even escape this little
7:45region here. And then the rate [music]
7:47is how quickly particles spawn in. So,
7:49if you set this to 50, 50 particles will
7:51spawn in each second. And then those 50
7:53particles will last for 15 seconds
7:55because of this lifetime. So, the amount
7:57of particles adds up fast. Then, the
7:59speed here will basically determine how
8:02large the volume will be. So, if you set
8:03this to 30, you can see it spreads out a
8:05whole lot more. But, you usually never
8:07want it to be this fast because you can
8:09see the particles moving and it ruins
8:10the illusion of of a volume. So, I
8:12recommend keeping this below 10. Then
8:14the spread angle, I recommend increasing
8:16a little bit so that way it shoots out a
8:18little bit more. Now, each one of these
8:19volumes has a different value associated
8:22with them. And you can create different
8:23effects, but keep in mind each one will
8:25have different levels of optimization.
8:28If you look right here, the scene
8:29triangle count is largely particles.
8:31But, all things considered, this many
8:33particles only creating 5,000 triangles
8:35isn't that bad. And it only creates one
8:37draw call, which is even better. But,
8:40it's when you get to larger scenes like
8:41this, it's when the triangle amount
8:43starts to get out of hand. Now, one area
8:46that particles lack is creating nice
8:48shadows. While you can kind of see some
8:50effects going on [music] between the
8:52trees, it really creates an un
8:55inspirational effect, especially if you
8:57actually go into the fog, everything
8:59gets way too dark. And with the larger
9:01scenes, you get start to see some weird
9:03clipping effects where particles start
9:05loading in weirdly. But, the main
9:08benefit for using particles is that you
9:10can actually animate them to create nice
9:12smoke and fog effects. So, for instance,
9:15[music] as you can see here, the fog is
9:18subtly moving, which creates a very nice
9:20effect. If you've seen my particle
9:22tutorial, you know you can create nice
9:24environments like this with a massive
9:26volumetric scene. But, another drawback
9:28with particle lighting is that it can
9:29take a long time for the particles to
9:31actually load in. Because if you look
9:33away for long enough, then the particles
9:34themselves will actually despawn.
9:37Because of this, quick effects can take
9:39some time. And for indoor environments,
9:41I would simply just never recommend
9:43using them. Now, it can also really work
9:45well for massive scenes like this where
9:47you want to create a nice little foggy
9:48effect on a hill. Again, if you go too
9:50far, it can create these artifacts that
9:52look very weird. But, it is one of the
9:54most optimized options. Now, one of the
9:56areas that particle volumes shine the
9:58best in is actually interacting with
10:01light. As you can see here, the
10:02particles take the color of the light.
10:04And using this, you can create some very
10:06cool effects. This works best, for
10:08instance, if you have like a car
10:09headlight or something you need to
10:11illuminate at night. It adds a nice
10:13little glow to it. And if you were to do
10:15this, what I recommend doing is setting
10:16the light very bright and making the
10:19range pretty small. Make sure it doesn't
10:21clip to the edge or exceed the volume
10:24amount, or else you'll see the borders
10:26of the volume because it might ruin how
10:27it looks. Did you know, you're over
10:29halfway through this video. So, if you
10:31found it at all helpful so far, it would
10:32mean a lot if you could help me reach my
10:34goal of 10,000 subscribers before the
10:36end of the year. Also, my asset store is
10:38having a 25% sale this week. So, check
10:41the link in the description for some
10:42tailor-made Roblox assets.
10:45Now, using beams for volumes is very
10:47similar to using parts or meshes for
10:49volumes. But, instead of using triangles
10:52or parts, it uses beams. So, the way I
10:55would typically make it is adding in a
10:56part. Then, into this part, you should
10:59add in a attachment and name this
11:01attachment attachment one. Then, with
11:04this attachment up, what you should do
11:06then is duplicate this attachment and
11:08name this attachment attachment zero.
11:10Then, just drag that attachment down.
11:13You can also just set this part to
11:14transparent. Then, what you should do is
11:16add in a beam. And for this beam, set
11:19the attachment one to attachment one and
11:22set the attachment zero to attachment
11:24zero. Then, you might be wondering, "Why
11:26don't I see the beam?" And the reason
11:29is, you need to actually rotate these
11:32attachments 90 degrees. That way,
11:34[music] you'll be able to see it. And
11:36another thing I recommend doing is going
11:38into this gear icon and going down to
11:40constraints and selecting that. That
11:42way, you can easily view the
11:43attachments. This is the basic setup you
11:45need. And what I recommend doing here is
11:47making sure the light influence is set
11:48to one. Then, set this transparency to
11:51as light or dark as you want. I usually
11:54keep it at .5 while I set the scene up.
11:56You can use face camera in certain
11:58instances, but I'm going to keep this
11:59flat for now. Set this width zero and
12:02width one very large. Something like a
12:05hundred will work. And while you're at
12:07it, you can set this top attachment to
12:08as tall as you like. Something like that
12:10will work. Then, all you need to do is
12:13simply duplicate this and bring it out.
12:17And make sure that the amount you bring
12:19it out is equal every time. For this
12:21example, I'm doing one stud. And then,
12:23just simply repeat this action until you
12:25have a large enough volume. Once you're
12:27happy with the size of your volume, you
12:29can just simply select all of these
12:31beams, then edit the transparency.
12:33Again, I recommend doing very, very
12:35high, like 996. We'll do that. As you
12:38can see, the volume is finished. Now,
12:40similar to the mesh volume, this only
12:42works from one certain angle. If you go
12:43at it from the side, as you can see,
12:45it's less effective. But if you go from
12:47the front, it still works. So, the way
12:49to combat that again is simply to
12:51duplicate this and rotate it. That way,
12:54it covers all of the axes. But again,
12:56that will cause more lag. Now, this can
12:58work very well in indoor scenes where
13:00you want the windows casting out light,
13:02like this. It can also work very well by
13:04just using it as a volume. Because it
13:06will highlight the light better than
13:08every other method we've tried. The area
13:10it works best in is capturing shadows
13:12outside. As you can see here, the trees
13:14are casting shadows, and the beam volume
13:17is actually picking up that data and
13:19creating realistic volumetrics. But
13:21unfortunately, the main drawback for
13:23this method is the amount of draw calls
13:25it takes. Because each beam takes up its
13:27own draw call. If you use a lot of beams
13:29for your volume, it will add a whole lot
13:31of draw calls, which takes up a whole
13:32lot of memory and creates a lot of lag
13:34in your game. But, it does create the
13:36best results. Now, as you can see here,
13:38using beams also interacts with point
13:41lights and captures the lighting around
13:44it. So, as you can see here, the higher
13:46the brightness, the greater the effect
13:48usually. And you can use any color you
13:50want, of course. But, this effect works
13:53best if the light is larger. As you can
13:55see here, it creates a less rough,
13:57little rounded edge compared to this
13:59one, where you can see like the little
14:00boxel pieces. Even though these two
14:03lights have the same brightness value,
14:05the larger one is significantly more
14:07bright. And this effect gets immediately
14:09cut off once the volume ends, which
14:12could create a cool effect. Now, the
14:13uniqueness of using point lights is that
14:15you can actually capture the shadows
14:18within the volume. So, as you can see
14:19here, this point light's casting off
14:21light and you can see how the volume
14:23warps around it. It can create some cool
14:25effects. Even though it looks pretty
14:27rough and not perfect, it still is
14:29pretty cool. And this is how it looks
14:30using spotlights and surface lights. As
14:33you can see here, it just follows the
14:35emitted light. Now, I actually had no
14:37idea that it actually curves at the top
14:39for spotlights. So, that's pretty cool,
14:41I guess. Now, let's talk with an expert
14:43that made a simple script that creates
14:44optimized volumetrics, no matter where
14:46[music] you look.
14:47>> And the entire thing is like fixed onto
14:50your camera, so you don't have to worry
14:51about performance. Just a lot of beams
14:54connected to the camera, like a like a
14:56FPS view model. And I like scale the fog
14:58beams attachments for it to like fit the
15:01viewport and the FOV. The amount
15:03controls how many beams are on the view
15:06model, color determines the color the
15:08beams, and spreadable determine the
15:10amount of like distance between the
15:12beams. So, like if you have like a high
15:14distance, like like let's say like five
15:16studs, each beam will like be five studs
15:18apart. And like tighter the spread is,
15:21the more smoother it'll look. Well, if
15:22you want that distance, you have to
15:24increase either the spread or the
15:26amount. And the transparency is
15:28basically just transparency.
15:31Okay. So, what you want to do is once
15:33you go into the Discord server, go down
15:35to public resources, click on the simple
15:38volumetric fog, and click on this link
15:40right here. Then, you should be brought
15:43to the Roblox Creator Store. And [music]
15:45right here, there should be something
15:46called, I think, get item or something
15:48like that. You just click on that. Then,
15:50go into Roblox Studio, click on toolbox.
15:54If you go into my models, it should be
15:55right here. It should be brought into
15:59your workspace, and just drag the script
16:02down into starter player scripts. Then,
16:04you can adjust all these different
16:05attributes depending on your scene. So,
16:08I'll probably set the color to about 200
16:10each. Then, you can test it and see how
16:13it looks. And if it's a little too
16:15bright, what you can do is go into this
16:17lighting tab right here, scroll down to
16:20the exposure compensation, and just turn
16:22it down a little bit. Then, what I also
16:24recommend doing is just slightly
16:26increasing your contrast, so it doesn't
16:28look washed out or anything. And yeah,
16:31that's it.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of How to Make VOLUMETRICS in Roblox by Ice Guy, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 3,383 words across 480 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to choose a caption track available on the video.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, caption language selection, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.