15 miles on the Erie Canal

[sboerner]

Thanks. No path tracing here, I'm still using TG 4.1. (Is the path tracer available for the Mac?)

[WAS]

Thanks. No path tracing here, I'm still using TG 4.1. (Is the path tracer available for the Mac?)

Oh really? Are you using post processing? Definitely much darker shadows than TG creates under sunlight.

And I'm not sure if Frontier is on Mac or not.

[sboerner]

I render everything to 32 bit and do as much image correction there before converting down to 16 or 8 bit. I just like the room it provides when adjusting highlights and shadows. In this case it's a pretty straightforward conversion – as straight as Photoshop's HDR Toning panel allows – and the shadows are boosted slightly (lighter) than they are in the original.

They are still a little dark, I think, but maybe that should be fixed in the render. I tend to slightly underexpose my renderings, so maybe it's a lighting issue. GISD (global illumination) is also enabled. Let me try a couple things.

[WAS]

I render everything to 32 bit and do as much image correction there before converting down to 16 or 8 bit. I just like the room it provides when adjusting highlights and shadows. In this case it's a pretty straightforward conversion – as straight as Photoshop's HDR Toning panel allows – and the shadows are boosted slightly (lighter) than they are in the original.

They are still a little dark, I think, but maybe that should be fixed in the render. I tend to slightly underexpose my renderings, so maybe it's a lighting issue. GISD (global illumination) is also enabled. Let me try a couple things.

In general, I think it looks nice, very realistic. The Photoshop HDR does well with shadows as it brings out some of the dark values over lighter ones.

[sboerner]

OK, good. I did check the exposure and it looked fine, and GISD definitely enhances the shadow detail. So perhaps tweaking those settings might improve things. But I'll trust your eye on this.

Definitely looking forward to path tracing.

[sboerner]

Latest iteration. Foliage is in place and surface details finished, aside from a few inevitable tweaks. Just need to add a few more models and clouds, and make final adjustments to lighting and atmosphere.

This is beginning to look like the final camera angle. I'll know once everything is in place.

[attach=1]

[bobbystahr]

Oh my, this has turned out more real than almost any CG I've ever seen...extremely well done mate...

[archonforest]

This is a very well done render! Great job everywhere.
There is only one thing calling my attention and it is the ship. When I looking at it it looks like a model without textures as the whole thing is overall one grayish color. I think IMHO some colors would help there. Perhaps flags on the ship?

[Dune]

Terrific work. I can't wait to see this a little bigger, if you ever plan to post such.

Perhaps some bushes/shrub up against the sheds, some dirt and crates and general (railway) stuff lying around? But you may have thought of that already.

[sboerner]

Oh my, this has turned out more real than almost any CG I've ever seen...extremely well done mate...

Thanks, Bobby. I want this to be as photorealistic as possible, and as the renderings get larger I'll probably add more detail in the surface displacements, etc. It's getting to the point where rendering times might be an issue, though.

There is only one thing calling my attention and it is the ship. When I looking at it it looks like a model without textures as the whole thing is overall one grayish color. I think IMHO some colors would help there. Perhaps flags on the ship?

That's a fair comment, but I'm pretty sure this is a fairly accurate depiction. The names on the sterns were usually painted with colorful scrollwork (not visible in this scene) but otherwise these unpowered barges were strictly utilitarian, pretty drab and poorly maintained. Here's a closer rendering from earlier in the project.

[attachimg=1]

Part of the problem is that all the historical source images are black and white, so it's hard to know what colors they were painted. Modern-day replicas and models generally depict them as being whitewashed. But you've made me curious so I'll dig some more.

There are two more barges to add and a steamer. (The steamer to push one barge and tow two in line.) Maybe I'll give the steamer a flag! Why not?

Perhaps some bushes/shrub up against the sheds, some dirt and crates and general (railway) stuff lying around? But you may have thought of that already.

Yeah, there's going to be barrels and crates stacked in the terminal area in the lower right, maybe some abandoned railway or farm equipment. Plus (getting ambitious here) a horse-drawn wagon loaded with produce (large fruit warehouse nearby) and several human figures, people waiting for the trolley, etc. At the rate this is going that means several weeks of modeling yet, but the end is in sight.

The great thing is I'm building up hours of experience and good collections of clip files, foliage, buildings and other assets. The next scene should go much faster. (That interurban passenger car is going to see some use again, too. Too much time spent on that to use once and file away.)

Edit: I'll post higher resolution renderings as soon as I can get them done.

[Dune]

Great to see the ship up close as well. May I add another idea; make a wet waterline on the ship, a bit darker, perhaps dirty green from algae, and a bit of (RT) reflection. Easy to add in the object with a distribution/surface shader (use Y) under the default shader for the hull.

[DocCharly65]

Wow! That looks unbelievable real  -  and beautiful! Great work!
I like Ulcos idea with the waterline on the ship.. will you give it a try?

[sboerner]

Good thought. Duly noted and added to my to-do list.

It's been several months since I've looked at this model, so the entire shading network will probably get updated anyway.

[Dune]

Only RT reflection under water will increase rendertime, so I always add another layer for the actual reflection with a minimum altitude (water), as child of the max altitude surface/distri layer with the darkening stuff.

[archonforest]

WOW I just love the details of the ship on the close up render. Stunning work man!
I agree with Dune about the water line. That is a great idea. Otherwise if you need help with cpu power for rendering I might able to help. Got 2 ice-cold hexacore Xeon here doing nothing.