Richard Fraser Cliff Challenge WIP

Started by cyphyr, January 12, 2018, 04:12:15 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

cyphyr

I'll be posting my work in progress for the Cliff Challenge here over the next couple of months.
Before I decide on a specific scene I want to explore cliffs quite a lot more.
There are of course many different kinds of cliff (sandstone, granite, eroded, ice to name just a few) and different techniques will be appropriate to each. I also want to explore various camera angles and aspect ratios since these can both greatly emphasise or detract from the power and impact of an image. I would also like the image to tell some kind of a story so I will be exploring these ideas as well when they come up.
It will probably be quite random to start off with trying out various ideas and going off at tangents along the way.

So here are my initial attempts and experiments. I think one of the most effective is CliffPlane-02 although it has a somewhat "cartoony" look to it. All of the displacements are based on Smooth Voroni 3D Cell shader noise and CliffFace-07 also has some square noise courtesy of Hetzen and mhaze (See here).

The WhiteCliffs-01 is an obvious choice but other than dropping a Spitfire into it I don't really see where to go with this one.

Feedback very welcome although there is probably not much to say at the moment.
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
/|\

Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)

DannyG

#1
01 has my attention for certain ! Great start on all of them that's for certain
New World Digital Art
NwdaGroup.com
Media: facebook|Twitter|Instagram

Dune

Mix between 02 and 07 I'd say. It's paramount to get the 'repetition' out and make the rock natural and logical, but you got really far already. Worthy adversary, that's for sure  ;)

Hannes

I'd say a mix between 01 and 07. Great and interesting stuff.

cyphyr

Further updates.
I have been experimenting with using Vector displacement.
Creating VDM (vector Displacement Maps) looks to be beyond my scope for the time being but there is still a lot that can be done within Terragen itself.
I used  a bright green Simple shape shader with a bevelled fall off to displace in the y axis and a turquoise copy of the same shader displacing in the z direction to turn the 45 degree bevelled edge into a vertical cliff face.

I'm still basing the fine detail on the square noise (see above) although it has been heavily modified to provide more irregularity. I think I need to break up the cliff face so there are large sheer faces with minimal displacement (very hard to climb) and other much more broken areas with lots of detailed displacement.

No texturing at all as as yet.
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
/|\

Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)


DannyG

New World Digital Art
NwdaGroup.com
Media: facebook|Twitter|Instagram

Dune

Thanks for sharing your workflow, Richard. Looks really good.

cyphyr

Quote from: Dune on January 14, 2018, 10:18:08 AM
Thanks for sharing your workflow, Richard. Looks really good.
Thanks :)
For me it's an essential part of the challenge, for others less so but "vive la difference" as they say.

A larger version, VectorCliffFace-12. I'm not happy about the rounded shapes to the right and on the far left there is a very obvious repeating pattern.
There are also many torn/stretched areas which look kind of weird, almost melted. They are not everywhere so I'll have to figure what part of the displacement is causing them.

I'm not concerned about the large gap at the bottom for the moment

www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
/|\

Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)


inkydigit

 8)
Very cool stuff Richard...
These all look awesome,
Especially the vector displacement
I hear strains of Dame Vera, no? ;)

cyphyr

I think I managed to get rid of the rounded aspects although I suspect this will be dependant on the PF's used to do the large scale displacements and re-directs.

Quote from: inkydigit on January 15, 2018, 05:43:26 AM
...
I hear strains of Dame Vera, no? ;)

I may go in that direction just for the "Blighty" of it but I don't want that to be my final submission. Could be fun though :)
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
/|\

Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)

Artice-3d

#12
Mmm... It's really, really good.. Best picture and technique in this challenge so far  :o 8) ;) ;D
------------------------------

But in the race to get good sharp angles you've got too many artifacts, not only at the bottom, but at sides of cliff too.. The rest is well done, shapes is very promising  ::) ;) ;) Guys you're so talented and amazing  ;) :-X

cyphyr

Thankyou :)

Quote from: Artice-3d on January 15, 2018, 08:43:45 AM
...
But in the race to get good sharp angles you've got too many artifacts, not only at the bottom, but at sides of cliff too.. The rest is well done, shapes is very promising  ::) ;) ;) Guys you're so talented and amazing  ;) :-X

Yes I agree.
And it will probably get worse before it gets better. Once the cliffs are put in a scene with more landscape, rolling hills etc they will no longer be an isolated entity. The displacements of the rest of the scene will have an impact on the cliffs too (unless I can isolate them).
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
/|\

Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)