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I've made this ocean scene following a tutorial.

I want the shader to be transparent so I can see sharks or whatever though the water. But adding transmission doesn't seem to work. And since it's a plane I also can't use volume absorption (I think)

Any suggestions?

My scene: enter image description here

Reference: enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ In the reference, there is an ocean floor. Tried that? $\endgroup$
    – Leander
    Commented May 24, 2020 at 14:37
  • $\begingroup$ yes but still cant see through the transmission pricinpled shader $\endgroup$
    – Ferwous
    Commented May 24, 2020 at 15:21
  • $\begingroup$ Could you please share the tutorial? I've been looking for one like this. $\endgroup$
    – Akhil chandran
    Commented Jan 8, 2022 at 19:47

2 Answers 2

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This isn't so much about Blender as physics.

  1. Real ocean water is very light. Like almost white.
  2. Aim your camera more downwards, to decrease reflections.
  3. Add a shallow seabed to better control your ocean color.

enter image description here

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ Ahh yes changing the diffuse color from black to light and adding the seabed did the trick. Thank you!! Also isnt water rougness just zero? maybe put 0.3 in transmission rougness makes more sense. But maybe I'm wrong $\endgroup$
    – Ferwous
    Commented May 24, 2020 at 17:28
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    $\begingroup$ You're right, the roughness should probably be lower, but since there's a rough bump map, it doesn't make a difference here :). $\endgroup$
    – jachym michal
    Commented May 24, 2020 at 17:30
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    $\begingroup$ Also maybe you know this but, why does changing the base color change the way it looks? I thought transmissive materials ignore the base color? $\endgroup$
    – Ferwous
    Commented May 24, 2020 at 17:33
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    $\begingroup$ They don't ignore it :). Transmission is not transparency. It works the same as glass/water and gives a slight color tint. It also reflects environment colors, even when base color is pure white. $\endgroup$
    – jachym michal
    Commented May 24, 2020 at 17:42
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To add transparency, push the "Transmission" slider towards the right under the "Principled BDSF" shader (The default shader). Make sure you are on Cycles.

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    $\begingroup$ Hello :). While this is not bad advice, I'm pretty sure the material in question is already at full Transmission. Also, transmission and transparency are slightly different things :). $\endgroup$
    – jachym michal
    Commented May 24, 2020 at 22:56
  • $\begingroup$ yes it already was at full transmission! $\endgroup$
    – Ferwous
    Commented May 25, 2020 at 7:41

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