Smoke Effect Colors Overly Dark and Gray When Rendering with Cycles or Eevee in Blender 2.92

Question

I tried to make a multi colored smoke effect because it looks cool. Unfortunately, this feature only seems to work with Workbench Render Engine while in wireframe view. Indeed, once I try to render with Cycles or Eevee, smoke is dark and gray. I tried to type "color" as some have recommended, but this doesn't seem to help. Here's the blend file in case you're asking: https://we.tl/t-DW0AlOQdOX

Answer 1

Before anything else, here is an absolutely free YouTube video course on MantaFlow, which should give you everything you could possibly need. Here's the link: ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgO2ChD7acqElskP1q7SQKWgOybrO54Xv )

MantaFlow is still a bit finnicky, especially since recent updates changed its baking options. As such, you have to make certain you set up a few things before you begin your MantaFlow simulation.

1: It may sound silly, but: don't forget to add a light to your scene, before beginning your simulation.

Allow me to show you something you've probably shrugged off as a bug.

This is a picture of what a MantaFlow sim startup is supposed to look like.

and this is a picture of a MantaFlow sim startup when you forget to place a light in your scene (this is all in Solid Mode).

(delete everything, reset smoke sim without a light:)

Unfortunately, MantaFlow shaders in Solid Mode are not treated the same as Blender's built-in viewport mesh-shaders, which are automatically lit, regardless of the light from your scene. So you need to add a light source, otherwise your simulation will be dark, or rather, unlit.

Onto the next point, which I think will help fix your issue.

Let's take a look at Principled Volume Shaders. A Principled Volume Shader will allow you to easily color and light your volumes with a few simple clicks and swishes!

Your smoke domain comes with a Principled Volume Shader if you used Quick Effects > Smoke. You can access it from the shader tab by selecting the bounding box of your smoke domain.

Let's keep it simple, and answer the question above: how can we turn this smoke blue?

With your domain selected, you can change your volume's color using the "color" setting from your principled volume shader!

And we're done!

I hope that this helps! You're awesome, my friend -

And keep the smoking to Blender! <3

Answer 2

The color is there, you just needed some more light. :)

Also, the colors are multiplied by the color input of the Principled Volume node.