How to use the Principled Volume Shader in Blender

This quick guide will show you how to add and utilize the volume shader (Principled Volume) in Blender to give your renders a more atmospheric and cinematic quality. It’s geared toward users who are already comfortable navigating the Blender interface.

For this demonstration, my scene is intentionally straightforward: just a few models and a terrain created by applying a displacement modifier to a plane. The primary light source is a sun lamp. As you’ll notice in the comparison images below, the default lighting setup appears very harsh and lacks realism. In nature, light is rarely so direct—even on clear days, it’s diffused by the atmosphere or particulates in the air.

Leveraging the Principled Volume shader allows us to bring a greater sense of realism to our renders by introducing atmospheric effects such as fog, haze, or smoke. Before diving into the shader settings, the first step is to determine where this volumetric effect should be visible within your scene. Typically, this is done by creating a dedicated object—often a cube—that serves as the container for your volume.

To get started, add a standard cube to your scene via the Add menu (Shift + A > Mesh > Cube). This cube will act as the “volume domain,” defining the region where the volumetric effects will appear. You can scale, move, or reshape the cube to cover your desired area, such as the entire scene, or just a specific region where you want the atmosphere to be more pronounced.

Once your cube is in place, you’re ready to move on to shading and start unlocking the power of volumetrics in Blender!

After you’ve resized and positioned your cube to define the desired volume area, it’s time to set up the Principled Volume shader. Head over to the Shader Editor, select your cube, and add a new material. In the Shader Editor, delete the default Principled BSDF node and instead add a Principled Volume node (Shift + A > Shader > Principled Volume). Connect this Principled Volume node to the Volume input of the Material Output node.

Fine-Tuning the Volumetric Atmosphere

The Principled Volume shader offers several parameters to help you craft the perfect atmosphere:

• Density: Controls how thick or opaque the volume effect is. Higher values create denser, foggier environments, while lower values allow more light to pass through.
• Emission Strength and Color: Use this to add a touch of glowing or misty light if you want your atmosphere or fog to be slightly self-illuminating.
• Color: Tints the fog or haze, which can be useful for stylized renders or simulating atmospheric coloration at sunrise/sunset.

You’ll notice the interplay between your volume settings and your main scene lighting—especially if you’re using a powerful sun lamp. The denser the fog, the more the light will scatter, creating dramatic beams or soft diffusion. If the volume appears too opaque or not visible enough, you may need to tweak both the Density and the sun lamp’s strength until you strike the right balance.

Suggested Starting Values

To avoid an overwhelming or barely-there effect, start with both Density and Emission Strength set to around 0.1. From there, you can decrease the Density to 0.01 or even 0.001 for subtle atmospheres, especially in larger scenes. Remember, small adjustments can have a big impact—so experiment as needed while observing the interactive feedback in Blender’s render view.

By pairing these settings with subtle tweaks to the sun lamp’s intensity and color, you’ll be able to achieve everything from soft morning fog to dense, cinematic haze.

Once you’re satisfied with your volumetric settings and have fine-tuned the lighting for your scene, it’s time to compose your shot. Position your camera to capture the most compelling angle and take full advantage of the atmospheric effects you’ve just created. When everything looks just right in your viewport, simply hit Render to see your scene come to life with a rich, cinematic atmosphere. Don’t hesitate to try out a few different perspectives—the interaction between light, volume, and your scene geometry can produce strikingly different results from various viewpoints.

Considerations for Rendering with Principled Volume

It’s important to note that adding the Principled Volume shader to your scene can significantly increase render times. This is because volumetric effects require Blender to calculate complex interactions between light and the participating media, resulting in much heavier computations compared to standard surface shaders.

In addition to slower renders, you’ll likely notice an increase in image noise, especially in areas of the scene covered by volume. Volumetric calculations often produce grainy results with low sample counts. To combat this, it’s recommended to raise your render samples in Cycles—aim for at least 512 to 1024 samples for cleaner results. Some particularly dense volumes or challenging lighting situations may even require higher sample counts or extra denoising in post-processing.

Keep in mind, balancing sample count, render quality, and completion time is key. If time is a concern, consider using Blender’s built-in Denoiser or adjusting the volume settings (like reducing density or the overall domain size) to optimize performance without sacrificing too much visual quality.