El Capitan

[Harvey Birdman]

The water is pretty simplistic, but anything more complex that I came up with looked even less realistic (and took a lot longer to render). As Sethren will point out (  ), it also needs manzanita on the lip of the canyon wall... maybe some along the riverbank, too. I have fmtoffolo's bushes and I'm thinking of blending the leaf texture of the round one with an underlying blue-gray color - I bet it'll make a passable manzanita.

Other than that, go ahead, be your usual merciless selves.

[nvseal]

You've got the makings of a really great render here. Just needs some more surfacing and fine tuning. Nice trees too.

[old_blaggard]

I really like the foreground.  I think the canyon walls could definitely use a little more variety though.

[Harvey Birdman]

Damn, guys - thanks! Yeah, the river needs work. I just used a plane shaded with a water shader and tilted so it maintains position relative to the land. It needs to be lower in the very foreground and have more of the bank exposed. Trouble was that when I lowered it the riverbed dried up a bit upstream - my 'river' isn't lying in the lowest point of the terrain at that spot, apparently; I need to tweak the mask I use to create the riverbed.

nvseal - kind of funny you pick on the surfacing. I was really working on that this time but it's the first thing you point out. Figures. 

[Sethren]

I wonder if the guys at Xfrog have a Manzanita shrub? If i had more time i'd try to make one myself. Darnit! Need more hours in the day.

I can imagine the real challenge here would be the chipped pattern in the rock faces themselves. I have no idea how this type of pattern would be made. It would have to be some kind of displacement or a series of stone shader layers with a clamped chiseled surface of greys, some red and a bit of brown. The rock patterns are long going vertical along the Y axis.

[Harvey Birdman]

Yeah, one of the best photos I ever took is of El Cap and really shows the faceted nature of the rock. I think I have the general granite tint/texture right - the 'Gunsight' formation opposite El Cap in the render looks about right. El Cap itself is darker because of the shadow, but it needs a more faceted appearance, and mottled areas of redder/browner/whiter rock.

Manzanita actually grows in a variety of forms. In the foothills it grows as small trees, maybe 20 feet high or so. At higher elevations it grows as an extremely tough ground-hugging shrub. The wood is really strong and has a very smooth red-brown bark. (It's used a lot for perches in quality bird cages).

[Sethren]

Huh, that is interesting to know.    I found some nice sized photos of Manzanita up close on the internet a few days ago. You know the rock reminds me of flaky driveway concrete with rust stains scattered here and there.

[bvcastilho]

As other noted the mountains could have better shading and as you tell
the river can be improved, but the foreground trees and the overall scene
is very good.
Cheers.

[rcallicotte]

Really nice.  I'd like the mountains to have more coloring/texture.  But, this is great.