Various WIP

[Dune]

Very fine work, efflux! Inspirational.

[Jo Kariboo]

Experimental with excellent results. I like much these images here. Very beautiful render too.

[freelancah]

Very neat experiments! Nice work

[efflux]

Seems I can't stop. I'm intending to take a break from TG2 soon but I'm determined to at least partially explore the inverted voronoi idea that I mention on the Terrain Altitude Blend thread. I've extended that a little here by layering several voronoi 3D As and subtracting them from the main terrain. The altitude blend method is not exactly used here, just something similar but I intend to bring in the proper altitude blending to create beaches. Both these techniques have massive potential.

[TheBadger]

Hi efflux,

I have looked through your threads in file sharing, I find them a little over my head. As with everything TG I know it takes some time, but I would love to be able to recreate the scene you just posted here, or something similar. Have you thought about an in-depth tutorial? Its one thing to explain your theory and then post a beautiful image like the last one. But I think I have no hope of recreating an image like yours without seeing how you do the work along with the theory. I guess I just see that you have a teacher in you, And I for one would love to take full advantage of your incite.
Suppose you did a step by step on this last image, including the theory discussion, You could easily sell that to us.

[AP]

Agreed, even though a macro node would help here, however a simple visual tutorial may be a nice idea.

[efflux]

The last image essentially follows the voronoi thing in that other thread. However, obviously that's not all of it. I've used strata and outcrops which is fairly obvious but I've also stepped the terrain. This will require another thread to explain. I'm not even sure I've done it the best way but I can't think of any other way. Apart from the technique to step the terrain (reasonably straightforward when you know how) the problem is that it takes a long long time to tweak around to make it look natural. This just takes a lot of time adjusting all the values.

[TheBadger]

Thanks efflux, for responding.
Anyway, I know that as long as these forums are here I can always come back to your posts and try to understand them when I am above my current user level. Still, if there is any part of you that wants to make a tutorial, this subject is the one. Those images are truly inspiring!

I also would like to know about the black and whites on page 1. They are not really black and white, are they? That is a very interesting color trick you have played (I think)!
What are you doing there? I would venture a guess that you used multiple PF(s) for color, but that you drew from a grey pallet. Something like this:
http://minimumwageforeclosure.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/ext_house_colours01.jpg
Is that correct? Or is it all post?

Also, what kind of render times are you seeing
And, you mentioned light zone, It is still maintained here: http://lightzombie.org/ for anyone who is interested.

TY

[Dune]

There's a adjust saturation (blue) node in the node list. You can feed it with anything (it very hungry  ), like distance shaders, PF's, distribution shaders, constant color, etc, etc. Remember it kills your displacement, so use it wisely.

[efflux]

TheBadger.

The black and white images are simply that way because I usually start work in black and white. My default files are set this way. It's so I'm concentrating on values rather than colour. When you use a B&W atmosphere setup and then stick in a new default atmosphere with blue sky, suddenly your scene starts to look more realistic and impressive. However, if it looks good as B&W then it will certainly look even better when you add colour. At least, as long as you choose good colour schemes.

With the Forbidden scenes I kept trying to add colour but it didn't suit the feel so that remained quite monotone right up to what you see here. I only intend to add slight colour.

[efflux]

I've added a file to file sharing that can create steps. Some of you will understand what that is doing. For others it might not be so clear. It depends on how much you've played around with fractals. This is not an easy technique because tweaking steps to look natural is very difficult. There is also no curve graph in TG2 which would make this much easier.

The file is a very simple smooth terrain to let you see the steps clearly. I'll add another example image with more roughness after I've played with it.

[efflux]

I deleted this message. It was really meant to go in the other thread about stepped terrain but never mind. Look there if you want.

[Xynedia]

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[TheBadger]

When you use a B&W atmosphere setup and then stick in a new default atmosphere with blue sky, suddenly your scene starts to look more realistic and impressive. However, if it looks good as B&W then it will certainly look even better when you add colour.

efflux

Ha! This is basic art school stuff, but I would never have thought to apply fundamental principles of design to the technology its self! I guess I have been just been getting so obsessed with the how, I completely forgot about thinking in terms of an artist. This is what happens when you make the jump from paper and chemicals/hand applied color to a 3d package. Thanks efflux! lol That is really useful info you shared, you just changed my way of thinking about the software. 

[efflux]

Yes, people do this in 2D apps when they paint. Of course you can colour an image digitally after you create a B&W version but you can also apply a layer to make a colour image B&W to check the values. Why should TG2 be different?