Just Outside Las Vegas

[Urantia Jerry]

Years ago, while on a trip through the Desert, I seen a place that looked a lot like this.  This is still a WIP, and I have tried to be mindful of the advice that I have been given before.  There are 4 pop's, 2 of Dune's Heather's and two dead bush pop's etc.  However, the Cliff area seems not to be as anti aliased as the sky, and the foreground seems to me to be even worse.  The plants just don't look very good to me.  The detail just isn't there.  I used some higher render settings - Micropoly detail: 0.65 - Anti-aliasing: 8 - but I did customize sampling to 1/64 first samples.  Was that my problem?  Any ideas on how to achieve more detail, while it being more smooth - and matching the sky?  Thanks for looking - and for ANY comments or advice and/or criticisms.  It is appreciated.

[luvsmuzik]

I do not know what your haze level is.....but I popped this image into an image editor and autofix really crisped it up. Detail shines right through! .....I do not know, but I get that same milky look sometimes...Very  good render elements!

[Urantia Jerry]

Thanks!!!  I'll check that out.

[Kadri]

I like the rocks. They look interesting.
Which Pixel filter did you use?

[bobbystahr]

Amazing cliff y got going there...have no advice to pass along other than Keep on Tweakin....

[Oshyan]

The rocks look really cool. Interesting shapes there. Curious what you're doing on that...

The word "detail" seems to me by now to be very non-specific. Even in this thread people seem to be taking it differently. Is it "sharpness", "perception of features", "contrast", "not being washed out"? There are many interpretations. So what does it mean to *you*? In this case I think the image is a bit washed out and low contrast but that's little or nothing to do with render (detail/quality) settings and much more likely to do with your lighting and exposure, or a possible need for a bit of post processing.

- Oshyan

[René]

The rocks look great. Are they procedural or based on a photo?

[Hannes]

amazing and very unusual rocks. Great image! Are the clouds TG clouds?

[luvsmuzik]

I also had a thought about object shaders for your vegetation. I find I often have to play with those if an image texture is used. Question for anyone: Does the color value have to be at 100% when using an image texture on an object or does the image texture itself set the stage?

[inkydigit]

Cool looking place, looks like a perfect place to explore!

[Urantia Jerry]

The pixel filter is just narrow cubic.  The cliffs up top were created by mixing and blending power fractals (two of which are warped and stretched along the x axis).  The clouds are Easy Clouds - StratoCumulus.  Thanks everybody for the feedback and advice

[Dune]

Yes, I can now see the and stretching in X (especially on the right side it gives one spot that is very clearly stretched). But on the left side it gives very nice eroded overhangs.

[bobbystahr]

I also had a thought about object shaders for your vegetation. I find I often have to play with those if an image texture is used. Question for anyone: Does the color value have to be at 100% when using an image texture on an object or does the image texture itself set the stage?

In short no, I use that to control the saturation of the map. You can also alter your image map by dialing an actual colour(not black white or greyscale)in that spot I've found.

[Marcos Silveira]

Oh God, this is awesome in so many ways but that cliff, You nailed it!!! Incredible!!! Congrats!!

[luvsmuzik]

This is what I mean by detail. All I did to this wonderful render was autofix in Windows 10 builtin image editor. I will remove this image if you like. I do not mean to hijack your image or post.