Oh hey Oshyan, sorry, I was editing. Yes I saw your post and agreed with it.
QuoteWhat I'm interested in is if this project is intended to have a more literal "integration" of the different time periods across the image space. In other words, rather than being a simple fade, or any other kind of work you could easily do on an image masking basis, to instead have the elements of different epochs *literally* blending into each other left-to-right. To give you a simplistic example, let's say there is ice age on the left and modern times on the right. In the middle is the blend. On the left you create large glacial terrain shapes and color them white and blue. You have a camera-projected mask that causes this texturing to fall off around the middle, blending into green texturing on the right. You have trees covered in snow on the left, in the middle they are intermixed with barren trees with no snow, which gives way to fully leafed treas on the right. These are not simplistic fading image blends, but unique instances of objects with these characteristics. Does that makes sense?
Now I am *not* sure if such an approach would be notably superior to a more simple image blending technique, in fact it might end up looking worse. But from a technical standpoint it's far more interesting, and I think that's what Ulco is attempting here. So I'm quite curious to see how it goes!
Oh yeah! Now were getting to the meat of it!:)
For me, I am assuming that Ulco will give a ton of attention to the facts of the time periods, just because his historical renders always seem to me to have that information. Of course I am NO expert ecological/geological history, and less so when it comes to Ulco's part of the world. But the renders appear to have all the literal facts of nature in them.
So if its then just a question of masking later, or building the information into as few renders as possible, I have to support the masking. THere will be nothing simple about it. I am thinking in terms of matte painting now. And final output. So while I must agree that "
from a technical standpoint it's far more interesting" because it is. I think that will require a ton of complex experiments with-in TG2. While masking is a proven method for panorama making. Where also the final esthetic can be more easily pre-visualised, since there is already a ton of work out-there to reference.
Maybe I am mistaken now, but it sounds like the choice is between building a world with all of the elements in one place (sort of), and painting the elements into one place from several TG2 worlds (sort of).
building it would be, like your suggesting, AMAZING. I often sit here with my jaw dropped open in awe of the technical genius of many of you guys. But I would be terrified to attempt something so complex *after* the Commission began. I would want to know how thats going to work from the start.
On masking the transitions, I am not suggesting anything simple. Definitely not some kind of gradient of one age to the next. But rather a painting in of the visual facts at the meeting points of the time periods.
Imagine the space on a print where one period of time meets up with the next. What is happing at that point? Its it a hard transition? Or is there a representation of the period of time between the two major ages? But going the mask and paint method there is a lot more options. All of which can be more easily changed and modified in photoshop.
I guess now after reading and writing here with you. The *ideal* would be to do both, and then have the freedom to mix an match.
But like I said I would be terrified to try the more complex technical approach without first having done successfully before. Then again, I don't deny for even a second that Ulco's and your (Oshyan) technical knowledge of TG2 and rendering is vastly above mine. I am just interested in the ideas here. Its very cool that your getting paid to do this stuff Ulco, and everyone else who earns while having fun!;)
*edit
Oops sorry, when I say painting, I am thinking in "matte painting" terms. Just to be clear.
