Epic failure

[AndyWelder]

A couple of weeks ago I saw a reference to the models by Luca Rodolfi here on this forum. I found a couple of buildings that did look interesting, especially the "Naboo Palace", so I downloaded them and started playing with the latter. The attached image is the result. Now "Where is the epic failure?" you will ask. Well, it wasn't untill this render was almost done that I realized Naboo was a reference to a planet from Star Wars and that this palace (The Theed Palace) played a prominent role in some scene's at Naboo. And that it is located at the top of a huge cliff.... 
A still from the movie is added as reference.
Luca Rodolfi's site and models can be found here: http://rodluc2001.blogspot.com/

[Markal]

I would'nt call it an epic failure. The building is superb, just not the Naboo type image you were striving for. I'm a contrast and saturated color freak and I feel a bit more contrast and saturation would make this image special. Perhaps a Roman palace in the woods....anyway....keep on man!!!

[Oshyan]

In my opinion it looks quite nice where you have it with the bright trees that themselves look rather ethereal and a little bit other-wordly. Fits very well.

- Oshyan

[DannyG]

Nice render Andy, its your world here, very nicely implemented.

[otakar]

Nicely done! The model is cool, but it won't import into Poseray for some reason and pretty much all the textures need to be hand-assigned, which is quite a chore. It's also heavy.

The setting's good. Why having to replicate the movie? I had no idea where the design is from - and it does not matter much, though seeing the original shot is a treat.

[Dune]

Great shot, Andy! Nice light and a very good terrain. Perhaps some nice gravel road leading through the woods would give it something extra.

[choronr]

Looking very good Andy. Looking forward to you progress here.

[AndyWelder]

"Epic" was more a reference to the epic Star Wars movies and I failed in reproducing those scenes... The render itself is quite OK, just needs some improvement. At the moment I'm concentrating on the terrain elevation so the terrain "snuggly fits" the building. (Read that expression long ago in an instruction manual for a Stax tone arm; never forgot it) The way I do it is pretty straight forward but time consuming: I use several Painted shaders, each connected to a Displacement shader. With a separate camera I circle the building and paint the terrain underneath it. With the values for the displacement I can raise or lower the terrain where needed. It's a rather crude method IMO but I do rely on vegetation to mask any imperfections.

[TheBadger]

Hi Andy,

First off, beautiful colors - Very nice feel and I agree with Oshyan about the trees... Its like a mid afternoon dream And the render is of very high quality.

But I have to say, in my opinion the composition fails your obvious technical abilities and talent. That is, the image is very symmetrical from the placement of the primary subject in the center of the composition to the terrain's highest visible peak pointing to close to the center of the top portion of the image (rules of thirds).
On the other hand the architecture is based on the Eastern Orthodox line of thinking as in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople So symmetry is very important... But since none of that is your point, why limit the composition?

I realize its a 'WIP' and you probably are saving last for last... but I really enjoy these critiques, they are the one thing I miss about school , well, that and coeds

Also,

...At the moment I'm concentrating on the terrain elevation so the terrain "snuggly fits" the building. (Read that expression long ago in an instruction manual for a Stax tone arm; never forgot it) The way I do it is pretty straight forward but time consuming: I use several Painted shaders, each connected to a Displacement shader. With a separate camera I circle the building and paint the terrain underneath it. With the values for the displacement I can raise or lower the terrain where needed. It's a rather crude method IMO but I do rely on vegetation to mask any imperfections.

Why not just move parts of the model below the terrain by a few inches to a few feet? Or am I missing the point?

Lastly, the statues of the two figures in the center far left of the image should be taken out, I think. They are not working.

Hope I'm not being to forward with my thoughts. Feel free to tell me to back off if I am.

Great work so far, very inspirational!
   

[AndyWelder]

Why not just move parts of the model below the terrain by a few inches to a few feet?

The model is build with the different levels integrated, one could say it's designed to droop around the terrain. Maybe, with third party software, it would be possible to dissect the model and place all the parts on one level, I don't know. So, taking the statues out is not an option either: It's all or nothing.
If my approach on raising/lowering the terrain works out I already have a POV in mind where the statues aren't visible.
And no, no need to back off: I wouldn't post here if I had a problem with critique. "Oooh's" and "aahh's" are not what I'm after.

[Dune]

Unless the statue has its own default shader (part) inside; then you just set opacity to 0.

[AndyWelder]

Unless the statue has its own default shader (part) inside; then you just set opacity to 0.

That's cheating but nevertheless a good idea! And possible with this object.

[AndyWelder]

Here's a new version: Different POV, Judas trees out, Peach trees in, some terrain sculpting and a small lake added. Oh, and choronr's "Off the map" clouds, slightly tweaked. Thank you , Bob!
All in all a very different render: More secluded, the terrain doesn't play a big role in this one, except for the view through the tree tops on the right side. Took some fiddling with seeds to get that one.
The problem with this POV is that the seams in the object's texture maps do show. Masking that also did take some fiddling with the vegetation and some luck. This would be a good candidate for the final render IMO.

[choronr]

You're welcome Andy. I think those clouds were the result of the use of a cloud file by dandelO. This is looking great Andy. Just one little adjustment you might consider Andy and that is to change the horizontal FOV from 60 to 50 in the camera settings. I think you might be pleased with the result ...give it a try.

[AndyWelder]

Bob, the horizontal FOV for this render is 81, reducing it to 50 does cancel out most of the landscape and I have to take the camera way back to see something more than the castle.