Air & sky optics.

When you think about Psunami Water, you think of water. But Psunami actually has TWO physics-based render engines. One engine controls large bodies of water. The other engine generates a realistic atmosphere, for 'Air Optics'. This means that Psunami can create photorealistic clear skies. Psunami skies have light orbs, haze and rainbows, all atmospherically correct. Quickly make nice, simple, believalbe skies.

Use two light sources.

Psunami give you two light sources to work with. One is on by default and usually functions as the sun in your scene.

The 'Lights' work independent of each other, and each can operate as a sun. This allows you to, for instance, turn off a light in the sky but still light your scene. You can enable/disable the lights, and choose which elements of your scene the light will affect. The 'Light Color' sets the color of your light source, and by extension, the Psunami sky and the water. Control the 'Elevation' of the light above the horizon. Control its 'Azimuth' which is the orientation of the light’s motion.

Create optical illusions.

Some controls create an optical illusion. For instance, you can determine the 'Glitter Scale'. This is the band of specular light that you see directly below the sun in a Psunami scene.

'Light Intensity' sets how strongly the light will illuminate your scene. This allows you to show a time of day.

'Viewed Size' lets you simulate the setting sun growing larger as it approaches the horizon.

Control light through air.

In real life, the density of air scatters sun rays. Molecules of air scatter some of the blue light, while allowing the other colors of light to pass through. This is what makes the sky blue. (Didn't know you were in for a meteorology lesson, did you?)

'Scattering Bias' lets you set how much the Psunami air will scatter sunlight before it reaches the ocean surface. Low 'Bias' levels reduce the saturation in your scene to the extent of inverting colors. (below, left) Very extreme 'Bias' causes surreal color filtering. (below, right) Good examples, generally, of knowing what NOT to do in Psunami.

Make your world hazy.

In Psunami, you can use 'Haze' to simulate fog, smog, or smoke; anything atmospheric with a uniform density. Real haze is water that's suspended in the air, reducing your overall visibility. Haze has the effect of scattering and filtering light. In Psunami, it also reduces the saturation of your scene.

The 'Haze' defaults (top, left) can produce extreme luminance, but you can refine this with the other Haze properties: 'Haze Visibility' (top, right), 'Haze Height' (below, left) , 'Haze Color' (below, right), and 'Haze Diffusivity'.

Turn on a rainbow.

Both in the real world and in Psunami, rainbows are generated by the refraction of sunlight through water vapor. Psunami has a Rainbow generator with two render styles. 'Haze Rainbow' produces the best quality rainbows but is slower to render. (above, left) 'Clear Air Rainbow' doesn’t look quite as good, but it renders faster and is easier to set up. (above, right)

Once you've chosen your style, Rainbows have some basic controls. You can change the size aand width with 'Rainbow Radius' and 'Rainbow Thickness'. (below, left) You can also adjust 'Rainbow Intensity' for brightness and saturation. (below, right)