Smoke Render Problem I don’t have time to add an image to show what I mean, so I’ll have to do that later, but I’m having an issue rendering out an animation of smoke in Cycles. Every time I do it, I’ll set the necessary frame that smoke is visible during the animation, hit the Animation render button, and the smoke looks barely visible. It’s thin. Whispy. Transparent. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve checked a few tutorials, but they all seem to be for a single frame render rather than an animation. I set up the smoke using the Quick Smoke effect, so it has an emitter and domain etc. I even tried adding a plane behind it and gave it an emission material, but the same thing happens. What am I doing wrong?

Save file

Thanks.
Thanks for the .blend file @DustyShinigami it really helped me answer the question.

To create a more dense smoke sim, you need to select the domain, then go to the node editor. There should be a Multiply node, ramp up the adjustable value. I set mine to 50 and got some good smoke. I also upped the Anistrop to 0.2.

I also recommend expanding the domain up and out as the simulation is hitting the sides and makes it look fake.

As for the waterfall, I recommend using a fluid sim if that is what you are trying to make. It is there for a reason, use it :D.

Rendering in open GL should work fine. It may be something to do with your save location so double check it. Also, make sure you have run through every frame first.

Your project looks good BTW. :P

Good luck with your project and I hope I helped,

BFB