End of Drought

[Tangled-Universe]

I tried to depict a dry scene with a coming storm/rain-cloud which will end the drought and will turn all the grasses green again.

It's also a little bit of a WIP in regard to the clouds. With a little help from Hetzen I've found a way to emphasize billow-shapes in clouds, but it is far from perfect, so that still needs some work. I'll continue with that after my next work, because I need to move on to something else
Rendered at detail 0.9, AA6 with AA8 for foreground grasses, 96 atmo samples and detail 1 for clouds. Took around 7 hours on my quad 2.4GHz.

Cheers,
Martin

[inkydigit]

very convincing scene Martin, the cloud(s) look great, any tips about the billowy shapes?

[FrankB]

great looking, as I said before, Martin. My only critical comment is that the cloud lighting is not quite there yet. I haven't had the time yet to look into it, but eventually will
In general this is a very nice scene, and that also goes for the great vegetation and foreground.

Cheers,
Frank

[Tangled-Universe]

Thanks Jason and Frank

Frank, what do you think is not right yet about the lighting so far?

[domdib]

Very nice, although it might have benefited from some tonemapping to reduce the area of over-exposure in the cloud, which tends to pull the eye.

[MGebhart]

I'm not sure I understand the cloud lighting observation as well. I would like to hear a detailed explanation concerning this topic.  

[Tangled-Universe]

Thanks Marc & Dom

[Kadri]

I am not sure if there is really a problem... This is a very nice image!
The clouds are maybe a little to much illuminated .
But you could say this was i was after and i had no problem with that 

[FrankB]

haha, you guys are funny - demanding a detailed explanation

Ok, here we go. It's obvious that the whites on the right side of the cloud are too blown out (if that's the right term). Relative to that, some areas on the shadow side seem a tad too dark or stained, which means the bright and the dark colors in this cloud don't go along with each other in an optimal way. Sorry this doesn't help you, I realize that, but I'll have a closer look later. This is already very good and it's not easy to optimize.

Cheers,
Frank

[Tangled-Universe]

haha, you guys are funny - demanding a detailed explanation

Ok, here we go. It's obvious that the whites on the right side of the cloud are too blown out (if that's the right term). Relative to that, some areas on the shadow side seem a tad too dark or stained, which means the bright and the dark colors in this cloud don't go along with each other in an optimal way. Sorry this doesn't help you, I realize that, but I'll have a closer look later. This is already very good and it's not easy to optimize.

Cheers,
Frank

Ghehe, exactly the crit I was expecting Funny though, this is kind of your latest cumulus-cloud setup. Didn't touch lighting that much, only heavy fiddling with fractals.
Anyhow, not really relevant.

It's not so obviously blown out as you think. Yes it's white, pure white, but that doesn't mean it is either over-exposed or not correct.
Google for clouds and you will see that they are *very* white in overall. Especially the thicker cumulus type.
If that doesn't convince you, then on a clear cumulus day watch outside and see for yourself.
The shapes in a cloud are very contrasty, but the colours aren't that contrasty.

However, I see your point and I know how to improve it, so I'll give a try.
It's mostly because of TG2's crappy glow system which makes it kind of impossible to not have (more) glow on the clouds nearby the sun.
Set both glow settings to 0 (also in atmo) and see what I mean. There's always glow from the sun on the cloud.
(same goes for specularity, disable it in the sunlight, but you can still see it a bit)

With a bit of luck I can post an update tomorrow

[Henry Blewer]

I think the glow can be controlled with a distance shader. The problem is getting the glow on the right side of the clouds...

[Tangled-Universe]

I think the glow can be controlled with a distance shader. The problem is getting the glow on the right side of the clouds...

Thanks Henry. I can't think of a way to do that actually?

[Henry Blewer]

Maybe a sunlight controlled by a distance shader with the camera located the same place as the sun? I may have to be a lamp type light...
I have seen images done that seem to use this method. They have spectacular color in the cloud layers.

[MGebhart]

You know, it seems to be a purely subjective observation. I wouldn't change a thing.  

[jbest]

It seems the edges of the clouds are a bit blurry. Do you think it would be better to make them a little sharper?