Dust to Dust

[choronr]

Been rather dormant lately, much going on personally. But, having some interest in combining recent files by others into a composition.

Here we have file by Jo Kariboo, efflux and FrankB's tornado file, his Hero Rock combined with Mick's distorted sphere and Walli's dry shrubs, XFrog cactus and dry grasses.

Appreciate your crits...

Bob

[Dune]

Here you go: I really like the background, keep it that way, the dust etc. But the foreground... mmm... Are the ridges supposed to be a very sandy ploughed field, I don't think so, so the size of these ridges should be much smaller and much more warped, smoothed in patches by 'warped wind'. At some spots the sand may also have another tint. The cactus is very grey, I don't know if that's normal, but it's not really nice. I'd make it green or bleached beige, whatever these things are, but also add PF for rotten/dried patches/spots, dirt, damage by birds... take the cleanliness off. The rock may as well be a small patch of smaller rock + some more veggies right around it, not just one shrub.
But I think this can be made into something very nice, Bob! Go for it. 

[choronr]

Here you go: I really like the background, keep it that way, the dust etc. But the foreground... mmm... Are the ridges supposed to be a very sandy ploughed field, I don't think so, so the size of these ridges should be much smaller and much more warped, smoothed in patches by 'warped wind'. At some spots the sand may also have another tint. The cactus is very grey, I don't know if that's normal, but it's not really nice. I'd make it green or bleached beige, whatever these things are, but also add PF for rotten/dried patches/spots, dirt, damage by birds... take the cleanliness off. The rock may as well be a small patch of smaller rock + some more veggies right around it, not just one shrub.
But I think this can be made into something very nice, Bob! Go for it.

Ulco, you give a true and very good crit here, I appreciate that. Agree about the sand ripples. Their height and width should be greatly reduced - don't know how to make it that way (need some some suggestions here - you may want to see the .tgd). Yes, color variation of the sand would help.

The purple/gray 'Opuntia' cactus is common here where I live - what you see is true for this variety of plant. These seem to pop up in my landscape sometimes.

And, agree about the sole rock. A small mass of smaller rocks would be better.

Thanks Ulco, this one could be better.

[Dune]

Just pull the outcome of your ripples through a transform shader and reduce size, then (or before) pull it through a warp shader with a vector displacement + PF with appropriate sizes)  attached as warper. And blend the whole line by a soft PF for some variation in intensity of the ripples (and maybe add a 50% coverage surface shader with a color variety, blended by the same PF). Easy as pie.

[choronr]

Just pull the outcome of your ripples through a transform shader and reduce size, then (or before) pull it through a warp shader with a vector displacement + PF with appropriate sizes)  attached as warper. And blend the whole line by a soft PF for some variation in intensity of the ripples (and maybe add a 50% coverage surface shader with a color variety, blended by the same PF). Easy as pie.

Thank you, will ponder your suggestion and try to accomplish improvement. Getting ready to call TG2 work for a rest tonight ...need to get some sleep.

My brother is in from Chicago visiting with us. Have not seem him in 25+ years. He goes back on Saturday.

Will get back to this project soon. 

[choronr]

Except for not adding color variation to the sand surface, added the transform shader and PF shaders, the ripples disappeared.

[Dune]

What strange combination of nodes  I don't think the get altitude takes any input, and the transform shader has a function input which you should use. And if you want to warp sinuses you'd have to use get position in texture, not the get position.
For ripples use a 'get position in texture', then an 'x (or z)  to scalar', then 'divide' by a number to determine size, then a 'sinus', then warp this.

[choronr]

Thanks Ulco, will play with this. The sand modulation is the one Jo Kariboo shared earlier this year called 'the beast'.

[choronr]

Well, I thought I had reasonable patience; but, so far, I'm getting nowhere with this. Its time to move on.

[Dune]

I made you a (very) quick setup. Hope that helps. You can attach all sorts of stuff to this, fake sand, duny ridges, colors, etc. Good luck.

[choronr]

Ulco, much appreciated. I need to reconstruct this scene. I've had many diversions over the past weeks and look forward to getting back to normal. When I start to have few successes with TG2, I begin to question my own limited abilities.

Thank you for this spark; no doubt it will get the fires going again ...really appreciate this. Hopefully I'll get a better understanding of this process; and, have a more presentable scene to post in the near future.

[choronr]

Well Ulco, I appreciate your help very much; but, don't expect any further spoon feeding to me on how to get the sand ripples to work on this image. Tried many different connections; but, the ripples won't show up. I also tried other terrains with the same negative results. Will continue with this with hopes that some other ideas kick in.

[Dune]

Maybe they're too small. You can send me your tgd if you wish, or put it here, I'll see what I can spoonfeed in 

[choronr]

Maybe they're too small. You can send me your tgd if you wish, or put it here, I'll see what I can spoonfeed in 

Thank you Ulco, we were out most of the day today. I will e-mail the .tgd to you.

Bob

[RichTwo]

What catches my eye, Bob is that dust cloud.  I like the looks of that.  As for the sand ripples, they are a tad regular.  I did something with dunes - didn't come out perfect, but kind of got where I wanted to go, and it involved a generous warp.  Well I have to side with you - when I leave Terragen alone, I find myself not able to start over very easily.  Hope you make the comeback you'd like!