choronr WIP Roadside

Started by choronr, March 22, 2013, 12:11:51 AM

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FrankB

you're right Oshyan, I thought exactly the same. Just fix that road surface and we'll have a very competitive image, and certainly a very spectacular scene overall.
Come on Bob, one more iteration, just on the road surface!

zaxxon

The 'ominous mood' is really well portrayed. Perhaps in the spirit of the competition and 'photorealistic' it could be pushed a bit further, but as is it's pretty darn effective!

choronr

Thank you Oshyan, I needed that look from you. I'll wait and see what others say during the next day or two. Really appreciate your comment. I see one other area that could need improvement as well.

choronr

Thanks Frank and Zaxxon for the push. I'll try the best I know to remedy the issues.

Dune

I agree of course with the observation about the road. If you want some wet areas, you'd better use a quite large (very hard=black-white) perlin or billowed fractal, minimum size 50cm, or some warped simple shapes, which you use to blend a no color surface shader with a RT reflective shader as a child. That on top of the road shaders. Restrict it to the front area, in the distance it might look too patchy.
I would also add another fill light or use more GI to fill in some very black shadows. And consider dumping the car and guy. It might even be more photo-realistic without them (and less of a story, more like a quick snapshot), as if the viewer is alone on that road, watching that quiet ufo appear. You might even consider using some blur and a tilted angle, as if the viewer hastily and frightened (shivering with fear) took his proof snapshot.
Good luck, Bob.

choronr

Quote from: Dune on March 30, 2013, 03:00:36 AM
I agree of course with the observation about the road. If you want some wet areas, you'd better use a quite large (very hard=black-white) perlin or billowed fractal, minimum size 50cm, or some warped simple shapes, which you use to blend a no color surface shader with a RT reflective shader as a child. That on top of the road shaders. Restrict it to the front area, in the distance it might look too patchy.
I would also add another fill light or use more GI to fill in some very black shadows. And consider dumping the car and guy. It might even be more photo-realistic without them (and less of a story, more like a quick snapshot), as if the viewer is alone on that road, watching that quiet ufo appear. You might even consider using some blur and a tilted angle, as if the viewer hastily and frightened (shivering with fear) took his proof snapshot.
Good luck, Bob.
Thanks all. Here is a 'quick render'.

Ulco, think I'll forgo the road wetness before I screw up what I now have. I did increase GI and lowered the road roughness. Doing so appears as an improvement - hope you agree.

I wanted to retain the car/guy in that it is a part of the triangle: UFO at the apex; Saguaro at the right; and, the car/guy on the left. I feel this setup augments the scene. I'll hold off the final render for a few days and continue some final tweaking.

Bob

Dune

The road is still quite rough, maybe use smaller sized tarmac 'stones'. And how about some more rock structure on the right? It's too smooth. Maybe some voronoi/ridged erosion channels (stretched perpendicular to road) and some rock debris at bottom.

choronr

Quote from: Dune on March 31, 2013, 02:37:11 AM
The road is still quite rough, maybe use smaller sized tarmac 'stones'. And how about some more rock structure on the right? It's too smooth. Maybe some voronoi/ridged erosion channels (stretched perpendicular to road) and some rock debris at bottom.
Thank you Ulco, you are a true taskmaster. I will be trying to enhance the scene with your suggestions. Each item shouldn't be too difficult to achieve ...we'll see.

choronr

A quick render with the latest adjustments for the road and the mountain on the right adding some stone and additional plants. Will make one more adjustment on the final hopefully improving the lighting.

gregsandor

Nice image so far.  I would suggest you modify the color of the road.  It looks like fresh asphalt that has been swept clean of dust and washed thoroughly of all the red dust of the surrounding landscape.  The rocks around it are eroded and bleached and dusted, it should be too.  It can still be a new road, but put some dust and effect of sunshine on it.

Dune

That's good advise, and I still think the road should be smoother on the whole. And add a non-RT reflective shader with a little reflection.

choronr

Thanks Greg and Ulco. I'm playing with those ideas now.

choronr

Seven days to go; and; tweaking goes on. Most going on this last session included some improvements to the roadway including some dust scatterings and adjustments for better 'road-rash'.

In all, I'm feeling this is ready for entering - your thoughts please; and, thank you.

Oshyan

Looking really good! I like the subtle dust on the road, color of the surrounding land. And the road looks appropriately worn, but still realistically smooth. My only remaining comment is that cactus on the right looks rather over-saturated and bright, especially as most of it is in shadow. I would make sure it has no (or very little) translucency, and certainly no luminosity. In a previous image there was a bush in front of it and I thought that helped break up its very straight profile, which was also good.

- Oshyan

choronr

Quote from: Oshyan on April 08, 2013, 12:40:21 AM
Looking really good! I like the subtle dust on the road, color of the surrounding land. And the road looks appropriately worn, but still realistically smooth. My only remaining comment is that cactus on the right looks rather over-saturated and bright, especially as most of it is in shadow. I would make sure it has no (or very little) translucency, and certainly no luminosity. In a previous image there was a bush in front of it and I thought that helped break up its very straight profile, which was also good.

- Oshyan
Thanks Oshyan, I'll have a look at the cactus settings. Interesting you mention the bush on a previous image. Why it is no longer there is a mystery to me. In the earliest images, it wasn't there either; then, it appeared in that last image you are referring to. Once again, in this latest image, it disappeared again. An anomaly of too much tweaking I think.

This image took a little more than 20 hours to render. I'll go back and see what can be done with the cactus settings.