Woodland toyings

[ajcgi]

After a bit of toying about with walli's pine and fern, plus some fake stones etc.
Really needs a focal point.

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[Walli]

thats a good start. Probably some rolling hills in the back, a reddish/yellowish population of trees (only in some areas)...or a castle...or a river crossing through the land....

[ajcgi]

Went for a combo of things here. Moved Edinburgh castle onto a precarious hill, hills in the back.
I'm thinking of putting in individual brown trees rather than whole swathes of them. Either way that's something for another day.  [edit] Saying that just remembered the back population is a redder colour.
Kinda slammed this through photoshop at high speed. Stopped just short of lens flare.  

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[Henry Blewer]

I like the atmosphere's look. The castle seems a little too small. Maybe a closer viewpoint would solve this. It looks like a good model. I would show it off.

[ajcgi]

Hmmm I'm wondering if I should just scale it up to be honest. Couldn't make my mind up earlier as to whether it was too small or too large etc so left it be.
Also, the model is a rather cunning vfx cheat.

It's a very low poly model, front faces only with a texture projected onto it from a photo taken at a similar angle. I've airbrushed much of the lighting out of the texture so that terragen does the lighting for me. The original photo of the castle has the sun the other side of frame see. That way it's similar to matte painting with the advantage of 3d lighting.

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[Oshyan]

The effect is surprisingly given considering the limitations of the model. I would have also suggested maybe a different perspective, but given the model detail limitations, getting closer doesn't seem like the solution. I wonder if it wouldn't feel more like I was *in* the scene with a lower camera perspective? As it is it's an odd view to have, I think, unless the viewer happens to be on a tall-but-not-too-tall hill or rock without trees on or around it. Maybe catching the castle well framed through the trees with some more foreground interest would give the image a better balance. As it is there's an awful lot of featureless sky, I think.

All that being said all the elements look very good and realistic so I think it's just a matter of finding your camera framing now.

- Oshyan

[ajcgi]

I see what you're saying. Perhaps it sits badly as the camera itself is sitting awkardly. I'll have another tinker with it tomorrow I think.
Thanks guys!

[freelancah]

Thats pretty cool! Waiting forward for the upgrade =)

[ajcgi]

Ok, larger castle, lower viewpoint, grassy rocky bit in foreground, fake DOF.
I've taken out the strata shader on the hill now. It was bugging me a bit. Also altered the rock shading to match the castle's stone somewhat.
May need more detail on my castle model looking at it now, plus the AA is a bit low. I did it on 4 for the sake of speed, plus 0.5 detail.
Took 30something minutes to render on my ageing q6600.

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[otakar]

Nicely framed. The vegetation is a bit sparse, seems like a short couple of years after a forest fire. Good quality of the castle, fits the location now much better.

[Tangled-Universe]

That's cool work Nice castle and integration!
I agree the vegetation looks a bit sparse.
It could also do with a bit more optimizing on the shaders and rendersettings.

Looking forward to your next iteration!

Cheers,
Martin

[ajcgi]

Yeah bringing the camera down broke the illusion of dense forest. It's the same settings as before for the pine population, just a different seed. Will add in more vegetation both tree-scale and smaller.

[Kadri]

Looks very nice , Ajcgi !
Nıce to see that very good images can be made with such low poly objects

[Henry Blewer]

The castle looks very good. The DOF is well done. I think the tree population is fine. I would use more brush and add some flowers perhaps. Maybe some farms or a village.
Fortifications would not have forests nearby. They would want to see the enemy.

[Oshyan]

This is a much better camera perspective, definitely makes the whole scene more interesting. I agree about the sparse vegetation. Also not so sure about the DoF myself. But otherwise it's really nice looking.

- Oshyan