"Cumulonimbus and Anvil" Revisited - Final page 2

[FrankB]

Hey guys,

I'm revisiting and revising the Cumulonimbus Pack V2, specifically the cumulonimbus and anvil scene.

The ground is just a placeholder, the focus is on the sky. Open the thumbnail preview and let me know how do you like it (or not)! ;-)

Cheers,
Frank

[Tangled-Universe]

This short Facebook conversation sums it up pretty much for me

Yeah! This looks really nice Frank How much pw did you perform, has it much changed compared to the raw render?

I haven't done much PW at all. Just loaded the exr, converted to 16bit, added a bit contrast, that's it.

Fantastic. I love it as is, but knowing it's almost like this straight from the renderer is a real TG hard on lol

[FrankB]

hehe, yah! 

[cyphyr]

Lolz
Great image Franck

Richard
Ps, that's a big image, how long to render a 1280x720 version, for animation you understand?

[choronr]

Looking real fine!

[FrankB]

Ps, that's a big image, how long to render a 1280x720 version, for animation you understand?

26 minutes at the format you mentioned, with slightly tuned settings.

[gregtee]

 I like the lighting way better here.  Raked low angle side lighting always looks better in my opinion for anything landscape oriented.  Pulling down the gamma also works wonders for the image as well.  Really makes the darks rich and pops the highlights, giving the image a lot of depth and more of a photographic sensibility. 

I was trying to make clouds like you've got here this past weekend, and I thoroughly succeeded in making something that resembled an overly wiped lemon meringue pie.  Back to the drawing board on that one...

Good job!

[FrankB]

I like the lighting way better here.  Raked low angle side lighting always looks better in my opinion for anything landscape oriented.  Pulling down the gamma also works wonders for the image as well.  Really makes the darks rich and pops the highlights, giving the image a lot of depth and more of a photographic sensibility. 

Thank you for the comment, Greg. I agree that a low elevation sun, coming from the side, really brings out the nicest possible looks for clouds. Pulling down the gamma is an artistic choice, but in my opinion almost imperative for the amount of contrast we need in images like these.

I was trying to make clouds like you've got here this past weekend, and I thoroughly succeeded in making something that resembled an overly wiped lemon meringue pie.  Back to the drawing board on that one...

Good job!

LOL for the funny analogy
Don't give up trying, success lies in the little details and often tiny tweaks in the parameters. Or, you take the shortcut and get the Cumulus Pack V2. I will soon update the pack with the latest scene. It will be for a cost, but anyone who buys between now and then will get the updated pack for free.

A little critique on my own image: I am not content with the billowry shapes. I can do better. I should say this is not a final render. I think the lighting and the overall shapes are final, though.

Cheers,
Frank

[gregtee]

I will probably in the end pick up your cloud pack, just so I can see how it was done.  I spent all of Sunday messing with settings and while I enjoy the challenge, sometimes it's just better to see what someone else who has already spent 100s of hours working on it did and then take it from there.  God knows where I work none of us typically go it alone.  We all feed off each other's work and learn a lot in the process. 

I'd say with regards to post processing that it's essential for a good image.  Rarely does one produce something that's of the quality they want right out of a render.  It almost always needs some sort of color correction one way or another. 

[FrankB]

I'd say with regards to post processing that it's essential for a good image.  Rarely does one produce something that's of the quality they want right out of a render.  It almost always needs some sort of color correction one way or another.

That is very true. Except here, I didn't have to do much. The 32 bit output of the exr format provides for a lot of dynamic range, it was mostly a matter of curves adjustment. I have already rendered with a reduced gamma, though.

[freelancah]

Well it's damn good work. That's all I can say, lol

[TerrMite]

Beautiful cloudscape Frank!

Reminds me a bit of Independence day.

Cheers

[Oshyan]

Looks great Frank. A little noisy, but I know this isn't final render quality. And an impressive render time at that resolution, it must be a nicely tuned scene already. Perhaps an animation is indeed possible...

- Oshyan

[gregtee]

After making more lemon meringue cloud pie this evening I cried uncle and just bought Frank's cloud pack. 

[choronr]

After making more lemon meringue cloud pie this evening I cried uncle and just bought Frank's cloud pack.

You'll love it, especially if you get the distance shader where you want it.