Spring Snow

[RogueNZ]

Yeah agreed, what AA settings would you expect to have to render this scene, or what is typical for scenes with lots of grasses? I still have a lot to learn in this area

[TheBadger]

Holy cow that is a big difference between 1 and 2! I Like number 2 better, obviously.

[Dune]

I agree it's too sharp/crisp. What filter did you use, or did you sharpen it? Michel Netravali is nice, and AA6 minimum, but 8 will do great. There's a lot of testing done on this and several threads worth a read (use the search function). Soft shadows may help with the crispiness of shadows between grasses, but you'd have to croptest the effect.
I also think there should still be more variety in trees (one or two species extra and a little patchiness, like storms collapsed certain areas, where other species take over. Same with the grass; more species in patches intermingling. And indeed some more color variation within a population.
But it's getting better and better!

[choronr]

The foreground is good. Maybe add some taller vertical plants; not too many but just to make it look more interesting.

[RogueNZ]

Using catmull-rom filter, at 1 detail and 7aa. Slight sharpening in post work, so I will flag that next time as it looks pretty bad especially with the jpg compression on top. Soft shadows have always been on, and I have a feeling they might be what is causing the horrendous render times in the foreground.

Thanks for the feedback! Keen to nail this image to be as close to perfect as I can

[Dune]

You should test whether soft shadows makes much difference, otherwise use it locally and comp together crops.

[zaxxon]

Some nice work.  For such a panoramic vista a bit more haze might help soften the image as well, even at altitude the air still has some density. This one is headed in a fine direction, keep going!

[Oshyan]

I think your shading/texturing on those mountains is fairly excellent, it struck me as very realistic even in the first image (and I actually liked the odd warping, though I agree the newer version is much more realistic at first glance). I do think compositionally the foreground expanse of grasses is a bit boring, it would be nice to see some more interesting foreground element(s) there, perhaps a rock as well shaded as your distant mountains. But honestly I'm really just impressed with that mountain texturing, something about it is quite evocative to me...

Color the sky seems a bit odd though, and overall lacking in atmospheric haze?


To improve render times drop detail to 0.75. It's not having any positive effect on 50% or more of your render as it doesn't affect the raytracer (which I'm assuming you're using for the plants), but will still affect render time as the terrain renders before plants render on top. AA is best in multiples of 2, so 6 or 8, but your overall level is fine. I'd just skip the sharpening step. Also add (back?) in some haze to soften things a bit.

Let me reiterate though, overall this is a very good, promising scene.

- Oshyan

[RogueNZ]

I made some big changes to the point of view and foreground a few days ago, which I think helped reduce the boringness of the grassy area. In my images I like having the camera close to the ground to bring out the small details in the models and for a more photographic likeness, but it comes at an expense of how much of the rest of the scene you can see. I am pleased with the changes, but I have put rendering on hold until I finish building my new PC which should help cut render times significantly.

Interesting info about your suggested render settings, but does tie in with what I have been observing. Interesting about using AA in multiples of 2, because that definitely not a rule I have been always following!

Cheers

[RogueNZ]

I need a bit of technical help - I am doing a test render on my new PC (i7 4790k with 16gb RAM), and my cores are all sitting above 69 degrees and have hit a max of 76 - Is this something I should be worried about? I haven't really tweaked my fan settings at all, but it sounds like they are going full tilt and I'm concerned I might have something incorrectly setup in the case. Just seems pretty hot to me, and it is quite cool in my room. Cheers

[Oshyan]

Those temps are a bit high, but well within tolerances. Do they get up to that temp quickly, or does it rise over time? What cooler are you using?

- Oshyan

[RogueNZ]

All four cores idle around 28 degrees, but as soon as render starts they shoot up to around 72. As soon as render stops they drop back down. I am using a Hyper Evo 212 air cooler. I'm not too worried but as it is a new build I put together my self I'm scared if something like the cooler power cable comes loose in the middle of a render it might overheat.

[Dune]

If I use a higher performance setting (Asus board), fans turn harder, but my temps rise to that amount as well, quickly when rendering and dropping to 30 after. If I use the normal setting temps rise to about 55º. So if you're worried you might check the bios settings and lower performance.... I wouldn't really know if that has significant impact on render time.
Too hot may also mean the cooler doesn't sit properly on the cpu, or not the proper amount of silver paste has been used (not too much).

[RogueNZ]

Next iteration, I am quite pleased with some of the changes made. Upped the haze density but might put it up a bit more for next time. Still not 100% happy with some of the surfacing on the mountain (snow included), I might try re-render the terrain out of world machine at a higher res now I have a PC that can handle it. I think that will help to get a more accurate flow map.

I'm not sure about the rocks either - I quite like the shape of the ones on the right, but not so much the left ones.

Render only took 4.5 hours, although I did forget to put soft shadows back on. That is compared with 20+ hours on my old PC! Pretty stoked with that.

Cheers

[Hannes]

All I can say is WOW!!!
That looks insanely good. What an evolution!