Alps study

Started by FrankB, December 05, 2010, 10:25:03 AM

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FrankB

Hi guys,

the following is a scene I'm working on, but it's more a research / learning thing for me. So this image is in no way meant to be an art piece at all.

What I need is others have a look at it and tell me how natural or artificial the mountains shapes and snow cover is appearing for you. I've been tweaking alpine fractals and adding to them a little bit too long, and I'm afraid I don't have good judgement about the outcome anymore :)

Here's what I like about the image to far. The procedural (fake) erosion and the associated snow cover in the crevices, primarily on the right hand, shadowy side of the mountain. I also like how the snow piles up on the slopes in the foreground.

Still it's not quite there yet, would you agree? Where in the image would you point your finger at for improvement? How should this part look differently?

Scene has been post-worked slightly on colors.

Cheers,
Frank

Tangled-Universe

The first thing which came in my mind was "Frank, why again this huge contrast in surfaces :)" lol
I think the mountain shapes look really good and if I'm correct you also blended some strata shaders nicely.
In my eyes the first improvement you could make is the bare rock surfacing. It's kind of featureless and dull at the moment.
The snow piling up in the foreground is pretty cool indeed :)

Cheers,
Martin

dhavalmistry

oh man....nice snow!....I agree with TU about base color....good start tho..
"His blood-terragen level is 99.99%...he is definitely drunk on Terragen!"

Goms

great!

the snow distribution is nearly perfect imho (for summer?), but the rock needs some improvement in my eyes.
A little bit of billowy displacement might do it - i uploaded some photos i took on the jungfraujoch last year mid June for reference. Link

this is one of my favorite examples :D
Quote from: FrankB
you're never going to finish this image ;-)

FrankB


Goms

this quote just fits perfectly ;)
Quote from: FrankB
you're never going to finish this image ;-)

FrankB

 ;D

It's a perfectly usable, general purpose quote :)
I should know, I've invented it :D

Henry Blewer

Frank, I think Goms nailed it. There are lateral outcrops, some large, most small. It's hard to get them right (for me anyway). I think you'll get this just how you want it to be. You are much better scaling details than I.
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domdib

#8
It's very impressive Frank. I think a question I have is whether it's truly realistic to have really tiny spots of snow distributed quite so evenly on the steeper slopes. Maybe it is, but something about it feels wrong (and Goms' image seems to confirm this), so you'd have to find some way of turning off the minor displacements that are snagging the snow by slope. Also, there may be just a little too much repetition of the striated feature which slants downwards to the left. But these are minor points. What I would be interested to see is making the rock much lighter (again, like Goms' image), as then you could apply some of your excellent rock surfacing, which might draw the eye away from these minor points, and make the gestalt more convincing. Also, if you were able to add some billowy displacement as Goms suggests, that might indeed enhance things.

MacGyver

Hello there! Great picture. @Goms: you got me! Thought first that was Terragen...
I would lighten up the rock a bit, like in Goms picture and on the left you have an almost perfect pyramid-shaped mountain, looks artificial to me, but I think that could be because it's TG2 and not a photo. On a photo I wouldn't mind I guess  ;D
What you wish to kindle in others must burn within yourself. - Augustine

FrankB

I've hit a rat hole with attempting to get better and smoother snow cover here. I just can't get the snow to cover larger gaps.

Try this: make a flat planet and add a crater shader, no rim. 5m deep, diameter 20m. Try to cover the crater with a snow layer.

well, I'm failing. I can get the snow layer to close in on the gap, but it looks funny and it's not really covering it.

Anyone?

Regards,
Frank

Tangled-Universe

Ha, I don't even know how to create a flat planet :)
But in case that's not necessary: I can get a 20m wide 5m deep crater filled with snow with using favour depressions. BUT, only when I increase the patch size of the compute terrain to something ~2x as big as the crater I'm trying to fill.

FrankB

thanks. I'll check that out on the mountain tomorrow.
:)

Frank

Dune

QuoteHa, I don't even know how to create a flat planet
Just sit on it for a while  :D

rcallicotte

Frank, I like it and am looking for the skiers.  Maybe the contrast is a little bit too dark for the shadows.  I could see you matching the photograph in another try or two.
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