Realistic Atmospheres in Vue

I have been unable to find many good (free) Vue tutorials so I decided to make several of my own.
Made using Vue 9XStream but should apply to most versions.

Call up the Atmoshpere Editor by pressing F4

            Under the Light tab there are several different types of atmospheres.

                        Spectral Atmosphere – The most physically realistic atmosphere type in Vue.                                                                                    Everything is mathematically calculated to emulate how light                                                                      and the atmosphere interact on planet Earth.

                        Global Ambiance – Darks become grey/lighter shadows.  Lower contrast.

                        Global Illumination – Dark Shadows.  Scatters only shadow not reflected color. 

                                                              High contrast

                        Global Radiosity – Scatters shadow and reflected color/light.  More detail in shadows.

Global Radiosity is extremely render intensive and should only be used in situations where the reflected light will be featured (example: interior of a flooded cave).  Use Global Illumination for most outdoor shots in order to save on render time (check out my Vue Render Optimization tutorial for more information).  However, should push come to shove, when using Global Radiosity:

1)      If using it indoors, a Gain of 0.5 - 0.75 should be enough to illuminate while still preserving shadows.  The higher the number, the more light is reflected.

2)      In order to preserve reflected and indirect light color turn on Indirect Skylighting.

3)      Changing the Bias will change the color of all reflected light.

In the Sky, Fog, and Haze tab.

In this tab it is important to remember, the higher the number on the slider, the higher the render time.

            Decay – More = More Orange in the Sky

            Decay Altitude – Anything below 10km is physically realistic

            Haze Altitude – 800m to 1.2km is physically realistic

            Scattering Anisotropy – Negative 1 pulls sun glow close to the camera. 

                                                      Positive 1 glow pushes the glow all the way to the sun. 

                                                      An accurate distance is between 0.45 and 0.65

            Cloud Anisotrapy – Controls the highlights on cloud bulges.

                                                -1 = Light behind cloud that will not travel through it

                                                1 = Sun punches straight through cloud

            Aerial Perspective – 1 = Atmosphere is scaled according to real world distances

                                                One way to make your scene look bigger than it is, is to pump this number a little higher.

In the Cloud Layers tab.

Warning: Clouds are puffs of gas and water, only n00bs make them solid objects.  Don't be a n00b.

            Scale: Changes the size of the fractal that the clouds are generated from. 

                        If your renders look speckled then raise this slider.

            Altitude: When the clouds start to form on the horizon.

            Height: How thick the layer of clouds is, this slider controls where the layer ends.

            Cover: Minor changes are better, controls cloud cover.

                        0% = no clouds in sky

                        100% = no sky visible through clouds

            Density: How thick and dense the clouds appear to be.

                        60% - 80% = Thick and Strong clouds

                        10% - 40% = High Altitude clouds

                        0.1% - 1% = Thin and Wispy

                        100% = There is no excuse for ever having your clouds this dense.

            Opacity: How much light penetrated your cloud layer as a whole.

                        Try and keep this setting the opposite of your Density setting.

                        80% - 100% = Thick and darker clouds, but not dense.

                        20% - 50% = Lots of light in clouds

            Sharpness: This controls the edges of your clouds.  Keep this as low as possible.

            Feathering: Controls the cloud wisps.  0 – 25 is recommended.

            Detail: Breaks the edges of your clouds into smaller clouds. 

                        Anything under 10% is not realistic.

            Altitude Variation: Random altitude jitter.  30% - 70% is realistic.

            Ambient Lighting: Lightens cloud layer as a whole, this can destroy a lot of contrast so use                                                      Opacity first and this one as a last resort.

            Shadow Density: How dark the shadows on the ground cast by the clouds are. 

                                          Keep this low if your Density or Opacity are particularly high.

                                          This setting greatly affects the visibility of Godrays

                                          (a setting you should only use if you enjoy ridiculous render times).

Double click on the picture of your cloud in the Cloud Layer tab to open up the Cloud Materials Editor (any changes here will affect the entire layer as a unit).

            Color and Density:

                        Scaling: If there are too many unnecessary details or small clouds in your scene be sure to pump this up!

                        Variations: Random cloud formation jitter function.

                       

                        Roughness: Too low = Smooth ice cream bulge clouds

                                             Too high = tons of tiny clouds instead of an edge

                        Uniformity:  Low value makes bottom of cloud layer as rough as the top.

                                                High value makes lower portions of cloud layer smoother.