Ice Age

[Dune]

I think these shapes a more like a real glacier, but I also liked the '8' shapes. But it's fairly easy to put them together...

[choronr]

I like the glacier here best based on your lighting. The surfacing and water suit the conditions perfectly. No hints of warmth here anywhere.

[Dune]

I had trouble getting the snow to work with displacement intersection; a sharp line occurred at the base of the glacier (quite logically actually), so I figured out a way to avoid that. Here I put it all together differently again; the big displacements of the glacier after the displacement intersection of the snow. A big difference in coloring, and I wouldn't know why.

[Dune]

And something else I tried...

[Oshyan]

Quite honestly the last 2 do the best job of conveying the look of ice. cracktest-2C is I think pretty successful, you just would need to change the color of the glacier now to be more blue. I personally felt all along that the "stretched image map" look in the glacier was the biggest fault, and this latest image avoids that while at the same time seemingly achieving a more "translucent" ice look. So see if you can change the color, then I'd say it'll be pretty top notch.

- Oshyan

[Dune]

Hey Oshyan, thanks. I'll spend some more time on it.

ps. How about the Garden of Eternity 

[Oshyan]

How about it indeed! You wouldn't want to be in my shoes right now - massive data recovery efforts. May need to get the source files from you again TBH.

- Oshyan

[Dune]

That doesn't sound hopeful, so you got a virus or a breaking down pc? I've been there. Contact me if you need anything! Good luck.

[Oshyan]

RAID melt-down (ironic). *sigh* I'll let you know if I need to get the files again. I'll know what I'll be able to retrieve in the next few days (hopefully everything!).

End of off-topic.

- Oshyan

[Dune]

I'm having a hard time with this one. The colors seem to react differently depending on where I put the glacier. Glacier as a child of a surface layer somewhere in line after the snow patches, or as main displacement and color of a copied planet. The blue nodes I used for the banding (get altitude in texture and get position) also react differently. Mixing them with some ice (Ryan's slightly altered default ice shader) makes all gray, so I had to ADD color by factor 2. Which makes the snow patches (same linking) a bit bleached out. I am getting confused, so if I have time (this already took me days) I'll get into the Ice Age again.
Anyway, here's a bit bluish ice, but I'm not yet satisfied and another one is cooking...

[Oshyan]

The ice is looking better in this one, though scale is thrown off a bit now perhaps. Needs some more surface shadowing I think somehow. That may just be down to the soft atmosphere not throwing more hard shadows though. The snow is also thrown out of whack, as you said (was perfect in the earlier versions). It's definitely hard to balance all these aspects in a scene like this!

- Oshyan

[Dune]

Not all glaciers have this old bluish sheen I've noticed, some are fairly white, with layers of dirt and rock, others just white like plain snow, others like transparent ice cubes. I think this bluish ice is too icy, and I will try for more 'packed snow', with occasional patches of ice, or glistening layers. Fresh snow on top anyway, as this will probably be the case in the Ice Age.
So I've tried a different venue; no Photoshop mask anymore but a set of masks produced by distance shaders. And the glacier end will be lower, which is more appropriate than this wall of ice in my last tries. Here's the first try. The glassy stones are really weird, they need to shift. Will be continued...   

[Oshyan]

Interesting new approach. I agree with this version at least that more white is appropriate. Even with the previous version (which I honestly liked more), a whiter surface would probably be better.

- Oshyan

[Henry Blewer]

This is bringing back memories from a past life...
I think this approach to the glacier is much better. I think that the top of the glacier would be whiter. The translucent blues would be near the bottom.

[Dune]

Exactly, and that's what I'm working on right now; snow on top, bluish in the cracks...