And once more ...... desert

[ThinkPink]

a new picture of mine ...... but i'm not statisfied .... how can i get a more photo-realistic effect ... it looks very 'artificial' 

[zionner]

I think its your sand and fake stone Shaders..

How did you make your sand..and what quality was the picture?

[old_blaggard]

I like the clouds right now.  The sand looks pretty good too.  I would recommend working on your rocks to try to make them less pointy and maybe brighten them up a bit too.  I like the foreground plant, but it would add a lot of consistency and realism to the image if you created a population of them scattered about.

[ThinkPink]

Thanks for your comments!
@zionner: i've the free download version of TG2 (1.8.76.0).  The quality settings of the render were 0.8 (Render time was 8h 40min) but i can't render larger than 800x600 pixels. Is it even possible with this free demo version to render images photo-realistic?
@ old_blaggard: i placed a pop of the grass right in front. i could see the rectangle and the instances of the pop in the preview but not the population in the rendered image i changed the values (x,y,z) several times - but no chance. The other way would be to place 3 or 5 single objects of the grass in the foreground. The other thing was: TG2 crashes always (3x) during the rendering when it comes to the left bottom of the picture. So i have to crop the render that TG2 doesn't render the bottom of the picture.

[zionner]

Yes it is possible..I've Produced a Few on the Free Version...(thats what I use) the only Diffrence is Less AA (which is a big loss since we have it there anyway) and that you cant make Huge Pictures..Of which i have to admit I would Like to Do

[rcallicotte]

ThinkPink, the line between the foreground and the background divide what looks realistic (and very well done) and something that need extra work.  Try finding some good grass.  I think there's a file floating around here somewhere that uses some rye grass that looks very real.  It's a TGO.  Another think would be to find the [recent] post by someone about how to use an image and a Power Fractal to create a good looking stone.  This particular post came with an example.

I'll attach something I found useful in the File section.  It's second-hand work on a previously created package and I can't remember who created it.

Good grass --> http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=769.msg6716#msg6716
Good rocks --> http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=1781.0  (this was from this post http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=1553.msg15444#msg15444 and is from bvcastilho)

[Mavcat]

Your desert looks very grainy,did you use fake stones shader? if so,try lowering the size of them. The clouds are very good but could use a bit more detail.

[Volker Harun]

The grain might be due to the resizing from 800 to 960 px width (at least a bit).
Else the AA is not that important at all - I cannot remember that I ever changed the default. The AA settings in the free version are fine enough.

Another point of the grain is the mentioned above size of the 'sand'-stones or their density. Sky is good (!), you could add some yellow or even green tint to the atmosphere - das könnte knallen ,-) Even in the hottest desert you will almost never have a lack of haze (due to humidity, hot air or sand). Thatswhy a blurred horizon is another idea.

You should not overdo the foreground - now the eye is drawn into the image and is kept there.

Volker

[ThinkPink]

Thanks a lot for your help, the comments and the hints (and the links !!!)

@calico: the link to the grass generator doesn't exist anymore.
@Volker: ich will's hoffen. Langsam überwiegt der Frust 

[rcallicotte]

http://www.lvshost.com/users/student/Terragen/calico_Week_6/Grass7.zip

I'm not sure how long this link will be good, but this is a TGO.  Good stuff.

Thanks a lot for your help, the comments and the hints (and the links !!!)

@calico: the link to the grass generator doesn't exist anymore.
@Volker: ich will's hoffen. Langsam überwiegt der Frust 

[ThinkPink]

  Thanks!