Claw of the World Beast

[Njen]

Deep in the desert, there is a rock formation known as the Claw of the World Beast...

I have worked on it enough to know to stop working on it now.

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There are some technical problems due to TG2 not drawing the terrain properly, and I was considering in waiting to show this image once the problems have been fixed (I read in another thread that it is being looked into). But I decided to show it anyway and move on to something new.
(Image below has areas labeled as follows)
A = Terrain not being rendered in the bucket (or the TG2 version of a bucket, I guess)
B = Self shadowing stops at random heights on different pillars
C = Similar to B, but more clearly shows the tops of pillars not casting shadows
D = Light dots in the shadow, which appear to be geometry holes. You can't see it clearly because I used soft shadows to minimise the effect, so see the next image as a better example of it.

Any idea when these issues will be fixed? Just wondering...

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[Buzzzzz]

I knew you were up to something cool. This is sweet!    Of course I'm overlooking the TG flaws for the time being. 

[nvseal]

Wow!! Three questions. How? How? How?

[cyphyr]

Wow cool image you got there. Are the "claws" an imported object or a manipulated terrain?
richard

[Seth]

really great !
it's a wonderful view !

[efflux]

I like this a lot. At first you don't sense the scale then you see the trees which completely throws you. Very effective.

[rcallicotte]

Very nice work.  And thanks for standing up and asking a question like this for all of us, njen.

[sjefen]

I agree with everyone. Very nice.

[dhavalmistry]

damn thats BIG!!!......but to me the scale seems kinda off.....but thats just me.....

adding a planet in the background would give more depth....

[Saurav]

This is very cool. Agree with efflux. Some very good renders to come out lately.

[Lucio]

njen, putting apart all the technical problems, this is a truly impressive work. I'm looking forward to see it completed somehow! Congrats

[old_blaggard]

Very nice job!

[NWsenior07]

This is one heck of a render, I love the way the sense of scale plays with your preception of the scene! Honestly I didn't even notice those problems you picked out so I wouldn't worry too much about them. Very nicely done!

[inkydigit]

wow...a scary place for sure!!...excellent work!

[Njen]

Thanks for all the kind comments

nvseal: I used an image map of a radial gradient to displace the terrain, I then merged a number of these displacements together and positioned them around the edge of a crater. To curve them I used a Twist and Shear shader in combination with a Distribution shader. Each pillar had a different Lean Direction in the Twist and Shear shader.

cyphyr: It's all 1 terrain, only the trees are imported.

efflux: I am happy to hear that, it's the effect I wanted to give.

I will be rerendering this scene in the future when the problems I have mentioned have been fixed.