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title: "Creating God Rays Effect"
canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/VMAX/113582078/Creating%20God%20Rays%20Effect"
format: markdown
---
This quick tutorial shows how to create God Rays effect in V-Ray using the Environment Fog feature. Overview God rays is a volumetric effect, often used by 3D artists to achieve a more dramatic effect to a 3D scene. This effect is caused when direct pointed light (such as a sun) passes through dusty or foggy atmosphere. To download the simplified example scene, used in this tutorial, click the button below:  A video tutorial is also available  here .  Want to follow along but don’t have a license?  Creating God Rays in 3ds Max To create God Rays effect in V-Ray for 3ds Max, follow the steps below. Create a camera, e.g. V-Ray Physical Cam. Create a light, e.g. V-Ray Sun. Add VRayEnvironmentFog effect from: Rendering menu > Environment > Atmosphere rollout > Add button > VrayEnvironmentFog   At this point the Environment Fog should be visible in the rendered image. To achieve a more convincing effect, adjust the  Fog color ,  Fog distance , and  Fog height  parameters accordingly.  Fog distance and Fog height parameters operate in  Scene Units . For an easier setup it is recommended to know the size/scale of the scene. The  Fog color  parameter determines the color of the fog. The  Fog distance  parameter controls the fog density. Larger values make it more transparent, whereas smaller values make it denser. The  Fog height  parameter determines the height of the fog.   When multiple lights are present in the scene, but you want only some of them to be responsible for the god rays effect, you can include or exclude light sources by disabling the  Use all lights  option in the VRayEnvironmentFog nodes rollout and then clicking the  Add  button. For a more realistic effect, set the  Fog height  to be higher than the position of the camera, and if the scene allows it, to cover any visible part of the scene.