Springtime in the Barrens

[zaxxon]

A mix of scanned and procedural rocks. "Easy" clouds and World Machine terrain modified with painted displacement shaders. All vegetation made with Speedtree except for the two "hero" bare trees from Megascans.

[fleetwood]

Great textures and arid look. 

[Kadri]

Looks great.

[Lady of the Lake]

Great assortment of rocks.  Very realistic.

[J_Con]

Cool Image. looks real.

[DannyG]

Nice

[Dune]

Terrific piece, but you already heard that of me. Your sense of composition and subtlety is (always) very inspiring! I see you also slightly improved the grass cover in the shallow gully at front, and I think you added the branch.

[mhaze]

Wonderful!

[bobbystahr]

Barren Beauty   a stellar scene...well done.

[luvsmuzik]

Excellent mix. 

[Oshyan]

Gorgeous terrain and subtle, well balanced texturing. Your composition is, as always, nicely understated and highly realistic. I only find the rocks a bit green-tinted (especially vs. the terrain) and also a bit "soft" in some cases, i.e. lacking in a bit of expected fine detail. This is most true of three larger rocks across the center of the image, starting with the two closest together dead-center, and then the one on the right just below the other two that are close together. All 3 seem a bit soft, compared to the one on the far right (large hero rock) for example, or the one in the center at the very bottom in the foreground. But as always, these are minor complaints in an otherwise excellent image.

- Oshyan

[zaxxon]

Fair criticism, Oshyan. Indeed the three center rocks are from the 'Granite' series of scans and the hero rock on the right is from the 'Volcanic' series. Mixing assets from different biomes is not without it's downside.  There are some rocks that are part of  an assembled object that would have been better served by an 8k map (I think). There is a current 'quirk' in the Megascans delivery system that makes it very difficult to 'upgrade' assets already purchased. Initially 4k was the highest map resolution offered for the 3D assets. If, like me you purchased virtually all of them then it is almost impossible to go back and obtain the 8k maps for existing purchases. My upgrade from an Indie account at $29 a month to 8k assets was a modest bump to $39, but that only applies to purchases after the upgrade and prior objects are not available with 8k maps. Quixel customer service has been great and they acknowledge the issue and are working on a fix, but that may take awhile.

I'm a little surprised that no one mentioned the clouds. Not to seek approval, but that element represented the most work and render time spent with the image. To my mind the atmospheric tools of TG4 are what sets it apart from some pretty fantastic programs and renderers. The 'Easy' cloud set-up while time consuming at this point is capable of some really stunning results. Imho, these are the best ones I've done.

I've had a few post looks at the image and I think this crop may serve the composition a bit better. It's subtle for sure, but seems 'right' to me, what do you think?

[bobbystahr]

"I'm a little surprised that no one mentioned the clouds."

possibly because they are so appropriate to the scene and perfect for it they're not so much seen as accepted.

[Oshyan]

Hmm, yes I think I like that alternate crop. And, well, I definitely noticed and liked the clouds quite a lot. I suppose I was more focused on critiquing the parts that didn't quite measure up to the whole though. But indeed I agree these are some of your best, most realistic clouds!

- Oshyan