Is there anyway that I can make a photo realistic cloud effects with real looking clouds that just move without buying AE plugins and/or using combustion?
Any way to make them in 3DSM6? Or even just AE?
If you have a wacom tablet I know of this tutorial site to paint realistic clouds.
http://www.idigitalemotion.com/tutorials/guest/clouds/clouds.html
Of course these are just basic clouds. You can get much more detailed given some imagination and alot of time.
if u have maya, you can use the fluid effects to make fantastic clouds 
edit// woops… just read that ur using max. nvm
if you want ultra realistic clouds use a 3d proggy that has particles or HV’s.
try terragen or vue 4 also
if u feel lazy just download a picture from google