Precipitation (rain; falling and settled snow)

Paint rain and snow as falling particles and settled forms that respond to depth, light, weather, and the surrounding scene.

What it is

Precipitation includes what falls through the air and what has already landed. Rain can appear as streaks, drops, and sheets between the camera and subject. Snow includes flakes in space and soft, piled masses on the ground and objects.

Rain uses direction, transparency, varied length and thickness, and depth. Foreground streaks are sharper and stronger, while distant streaks are softer and fewer. Beads on edges, rivulets on glass, wet hair and clothing, and highlights on metal, stone, and asphalt show how rain affects the scene.

Falling snow uses soft dots and out-of-focus disks at different scales to show depth, motion, and density. Settled snow forms a soft layer that rounds forms, fills crevices, sags under gravity, and responds to light with mostly matte, high-value surfaces, colored shadows, brighter rims, and occasional sparkles. Rain and snow also overlap more near the viewer, soften distant contrast, and catch strong light along their paths.

Why it matters

This skill helps precipitation support mood, scale, distance, and the connection between characters, surfaces, and atmosphere. Weak control can make rain look like random lines, snow look like flat caps or noisy dots, and near and far space share the same mark density and sharpness.

You can check it when

• ✓Paint a rainy version of an existing scene while preserving its lighting, materials, and depth. The rain should occupy the same space as the scene.
• ✓Show drizzle, downpour, blizzard, and light flurry conditions by changing particle density, scale, sharpness, and contrast.
• ✓Place settled snow on rooftops, branches, shoulders, and steps. Check that it wraps around forms, fills space, sags with gravity, and maintains consistent thickness.
• ✓Add moisture to nearby objects, clothing, and ground surfaces through darkened values, reflections, rivulets, or splashes that match the precipitation's direction and amount.

Related skills

• Atmospheric effects (scattering, volumetric light, caustics through water and glass)
• Wet surfaces
• Reflectivity at glancing angles (Fresnel effect)
• The edge spectrum (hard, soft, lost, found)
• Atmospheric value compression
• Depth staging (foreground / middle ground / background)
• Atmosphere (skies and cloud forms, fog and mist)