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Volume Material Channels
Volume materials use most of the same channels as surface materials. These channels all work the same as they do for surface materials. The only difference is that the channels control the properties of the object's volume, not its surface.
In addition to the channels already discussed, Volume materials have several specialized channels.
Volume Color
The Volume Color channel controls the color applied to the interior of an object. Everything inside the object will appear tinted with this color as all light is filtered through the Volume Color.
The interior of an object can have color, which you set with Volume Color.
The Volume Color interacts with the Transparent Color. If your surface is transparent, light is tinted by the Transparent Color and the Volume Color.
Volume color is an excellent way of creating underwater light effects.
Base Density
Base Density controls how dense the object is. In areas where the object is very dense, no light passes through the object. Where the object is less dense, more light passes through its volume. Base Density works like Transparency in 3D space. Areas that are less dense appear to be more transparent.
High values create very solid objects like rocks, while lower settings create less dense objects like clouds.
You should use this channel cautiously. The more transparent objects are, the more time they take to render.
Setting Base Density Using a Texture
When you use a texture to set this channel, the alpha channel is used to determine which areas of the object are solid and which are empty.
Edge Softness
Edge Softness controls the softness of the edges of the silhouettes of objects with a volume material. For example, a sphere with a low Edge Softness value will have a "hard" silhouette, meaning that you'll be able to clearly see the edges of the sphere. A high Edge Softness value will almost totally obscure the edges of the sphere.
This channel is useful for obscuring the general shape of an object.
Fuzzy Factor
Fuzzy Factor controls the dullness or sharpness of a material. Values greater than 100 adjust the dullness of the material, and values less than 100 adjust the sharpness of a material. At 100 there is no dullness or sharpness applied.
As you increase the dullness of your object, it becomes less dense, so you may have to increase the Base Density to compensate. Likewise, as you increase the sharpness of the object it becomes more dense.
You can use this channel to smooth sharp-looking clouds, or sharpen dull stone textures.
Quality/Speed
Quality/Speed controls the render quality of the texture. This channel represents the inverse relationship between render quality and rendering speed. As you increase the render quality of the material, you decrease the speed at which it's rendered. As you increase the speed at which a material is rendered, you decrease its quality.
The material loses detail as the quality decreases. Detail is introduced as quality increases.
For still images you probably want to increase the quality of the material and sacrifice speed, since the scene only has to be rendered once. For animations, you probably want to sacrifice quality since the scene will have to be rendered once for each frame in the movie.
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