Mountain Side

Gannaingh · February 03, 2016, 11:49:39 PM

It's been a while since I've posted anything and it's been even longer since I started working on this scene. The start of this one has been sitting around for nearly four years if the last edited date is to be believed. I left the POV relatively intact but changed the surfacing, vegetation, talus slopes, lighting etc to be up to date with what I've learned. The color variation on the trees in the mid ground is not as noticeable as I had hoped so I'll have to keep toying with that. I also want to improve the water's appearance. I don't know how I want it to look, but I know I'm not there yet. I also think I'll zoom out a little to add some more sky into the image to balance things out with the ol' rule of thirds. Thanks for taking a look.

yossam · February 04, 2016, 12:57:20 AM

Nice one..................I think backing the camera up is a good idea. Waiting for next one.

Dune · February 04, 2016, 02:33:04 AM

Very good start. I agree about changing the POV slightly, even lowering camera and tilting upwards may help, without losing a stretch of water between 'island' and mountain. I would also add some (lighter/greyer, freshly broken off) rubble/rock/boulders on the talus slopes to give it a bit more color variation in the whole scene. And work a bit on the shoreline.

archonforest · February 04, 2016, 03:34:46 AM

yes very nice start! Great mountain. Agree with changing the pov to get more sky.

Tangled-Universe · February 04, 2016, 04:24:48 AM

Lowering the camera a bit, like Ulco suggested, could work for improving the POV.
I do like that stretch of water in between though, so I'd be careful with adjusting the camera position.
What you could also try is to make the camera angle a bit wider (~5-10mm wider) and tilt it a bit more down.
If the mountain and the flow into the foreground is the subject, then don't use the wider shot to include more sky, but use it to include more foreground. That's my idea.

If I consider the render so far the water would be the least of my concerns.
As you said vegetation variation and surfacing probably deserve most attention I suppose.
Do you work from a reference or just the 'good old' mind?

Anytime you're online here I'm thinking "will he post a new one"?
So I'm keen on seeing where you're taking this one.

Martin

mhaze · February 04, 2016, 05:09:16 AM

I agree with changing the POV and developing the shoreline - you may find adding some clouds may help the water. My main concern though is the rocks which to me need more break up as, at the moment, they look more like a pile of earth than rock - sorry. Trees and tree placement are nice, don't go overboard with the colour variation as confers are pretty regular in colour.

TheBadger · February 04, 2016, 06:35:56 AM

Nice! can't wait to see it with all the little finishing touches; boulders, rocks, little plants, ect...

Maybe a bit too brown mountain? Is there a real world inspiration source for this image?

Oshyan · February 04, 2016, 03:21:14 PM

All good comments from everyone, but just to say, I definitely like the basis that's here. Very promising. My main question echoes mhaze and Badger: the mountain looks more dirt than rock, certainly a possibility in this varied world, but I'm just curious if that's intentional or not. Either way I think the talus slopes need to be a bit rougher/rockier. That being said somehow I absolutely love the subtle dark surfaces in the upper-left part of the mountain where there is finer ridging. There is something about that specific detail that somehow really works for me, very evocative of unusual surfaces I've seen before in the real world. I suppose it appeals to me a lot because I've seldom - if ever - seen such things pulled off in TG...

- Oshyan

Gannaingh · February 04, 2016, 08:02:50 PM

Thank you for the input everybody, I'll certainly your suggestions a try to see how they impact the image. The terrain is based off of Heavy Runner Mountain in Glacier National Park although I'm not being completely faithful in creating a reproduction. I used the attached image as a little bit of a reference for colors and initial (very early) POV.

Oshyan · February 04, 2016, 08:06:17 PM

In that case I say fairly well done! I guess yours needs a bit more strata and grays, but overall you've done a good job. The reference shows a mountain that does look like rock, but less like the more common granite that we often see. It seems a bit harder to depict perfectly.

- Oshyan

AP · February 05, 2016, 12:21:53 AM

That is a fantastic mountain to see. I like the deep and long fluvial erosion cutting through. A very good source of inspiration there.

Dune · February 05, 2016, 04:12:35 AM

It would need some of those square outcrops in the strata, and then you're really close.

Gannaingh · February 12, 2016, 10:17:56 PM

Progress has been slow. I've spent most of my time working on making the foreground more interesting and adding better definition to the shore stones and talus fields. I think I'll lower the camera elevation a bit more since I kinda like the little forested area I've got going on. More work needs to be done on the rock surfacing, especially strata and more outcrops, but I've always been a little slow with the blue nodes so I'm putting that off haha.

fleetwood · February 12, 2016, 11:54:15 PM

Despite the great shallow water effects now, to be honest I think the composition of the first is far better. The cut off mountain peak reflection and new shore seems distracting in the new one given the vertical format. If the render is not about the reflection then maybe it could be reduced. If it is about the reflection maybe it should be a complete reflection.

Dune · February 13, 2016, 02:11:26 AM

I agree with fleetwood. Also I find this reflection too soft, the reflection in the first one, with the differences in waves, is much nicer, more interesting.