15 miles on the Erie Canal

[bobbystahr]

Stunning progress. As you say you're still tweaking the ground cover might I suggest trying adding the stones preset as a child to your ground as the I'm guessing, fakestones you have look rather uniform in size and distribution and the stones preset is a network of 3 sizes nicely distributed and easily tweaked. I use it as a stones starter often.

[masonspappy]

Wow! That is coming along very nicely!

[sboerner]

As you say you're still tweaking the ground cover might I suggest trying adding the stones preset as a child to your ground as the I'm guessing, fakestones you have look rather uniform in size and distribution and the stones preset is a network of 3 sizes nicely distributed and easily tweaked.

Thanks, Bobby. And yup, those rocks definitely need some TLC. I'll look into that preset. Is this the one you mean? https://planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=21511.0

Wow! That is coming along very nicely!

Thank you! Inch by inch . . .

[bobbystahr]

As you say you're still tweaking the ground cover might I suggest trying adding the stones preset as a child to your ground as the I'm guessing, fakestones you have look rather uniform in size and distribution and the stones preset is a network of 3 sizes nicely distributed and easily tweaked.

Thanks, Bobby. And yup, those rocks definitely need some TLC. I'll look into that preset. Is this the one you mean? https://planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=21511.0

no, that's a for sale item from Luc, the one I men is in a preset package available from the page you get Terragen along with the free trees and a file of simple objects.

it's here:
https://planetside.co.uk/free-downloads/

[bobbystahr]

lots of stuff in there that I continue to learn from

[sboerner]

no, that's a for sale item from Luc, the one I men is in a preset package available from the page you get Terragen along with the free trees and a file of simple objects.

Thanks for the reminder, Bobby. I think I downloaded those presets once upon a time and poked around, then (as these things go) got busy and forgot all about them. I'll take another look.

[bobbystahr]

no, that's a for sale item from Luc, the one I men is in a preset package available from the page you get Terragen along with the free trees and a file of simple objects.

Thanks for the reminder, Bobby. I think I downloaded those presets once upon a time and poked around, then (as these things go) got busy and forgot all about them. I'll take another look.

for me as a pretty much full red green colour blind afflictee I find them indispensible. Till that pack happened I'd been relying highly on image maps but the presets give me accurate starting points and things for me turn out better.

[Dune]

It all fits very well together. Really fine work, Steve! And I see you've already got the hang of Speedtree too.
I have a small suggestion regarding the waves on the canal. You may consider concentrating those on the central part, as the banks often shield the water from wind. We have a river at 300m from here and I often notice how smooth the shore areas are, while central river is more choppy. But it's really minor.

[DocCharly65]

Really impressive progress and a marvelous view so far! I love watching this project growing, all the details and the realism!

Please be careful with the planned fog - It could destroy the mood and the fascination of the picture if it's used to obtrusively. I think it will be a masterpiece if there are not too much clouds or things like this distracting from all the lovely details.

[sboerner]

I have a small suggestion regarding the waves on the canal. You may consider concentrating those on the central part, as the banks often shield the water from wind.

Thanks, Ulco. There was something bothering me about the water surface, and that might be it. I'll give it a try.

I'm finding SpeedTree to be very intuitive and quick. It's really good at mimicking natural growth patterns. I've been taking lots of tree photos to use as references, building up a library of leaf and bark textures in the process. Interesting and good fun.

Please be careful with the planned fog - It could destroy the mood and the fascination of the picture if it's used to obtrusively.

That's good advice, Nils. I was thinking of a shallow, light layer of vapor just over the canal . . . though I don't want to lose the reflections. So it might be too much.

[sboerner]

So I did a little investigation and learned that, in fact, the waves on the canal do extend from berm to berm.

[attach=1]

At least in this section, where the canal is on a steady east-west course and the prevailing winds are out of the west. But, this just goes to show that you shouldn't take anything for granted and that you should check every detail. Thank you for raising the question, Ulco.

New rendering with tweaks to haze and bluesky densities. More of a painterly early morning look, I think, which is what I'm aiming for here. Comments? Water surface is now a reflective shader which cuts the rendering time by more than half – necessary now because the times are becoming much more significant. Surface needs work.

[attach=2]

[bobbystahr]

Gobsmacked by this iteration man...mind completely blown!

[sboerner]

Thanks Bobby. I've been looking at this for far too long, so I'm mostly seeing things that need to be added or fixed. Several more weeks to go I think. But at least things are starting to add up.

[DocCharly65]

So great watching this growing!
Looks already so good that I'd like to visit that place

[Dune]

There's so much detail in this work that you could easily render and print it very large for a museum. What's your purpose anyway, private goal, commission?