15 miles on the Erie Canal

[sboerner]

Thanks, Bobby. That's something I learned the hard way some time ago. I try to remember to copy all related assets to the new directory when saving a .tgo file. Fortunately Terragen is very good about flagging missing pieces and helpful when it comes to tracking them down.

[Dune]

Wonderful test, Steve. You got the hang of ST real quick.
You could try adding an empty surface layer after the default flower node, pull another line to a desaturation node plugged in as child, add a PF and a transform shader set to world as mask for the desaturation node and/or the surface layer. If desaturation node is not masked by PF + transform let it have a constant white.
These settings look okay to me, maybe a bit more translucency, but that wouldn't do much I think, as seen here from above without much light passing through. Did you lower opacity?
Detail setting can be lower, as there's not ground visible.
Oh, and textures for tgo"s don't need to be all in the same folder, as long as they stay where they are.

[luvsmuzik]

Not only a builder, but a naturalist as well, excellent stuff! 

[sboerner]

You could try adding an empty surface layer after the default flower node, pull another line to a desaturation node plugged in as child, add a PF and a transform shader set to world as mask for the desaturation node and/or the surface layer. If desaturation node is not masked by PF + transform let it have a constant white.

This is exactly what was needed here. Thanks so much for sharing – I can see where this technique can be applied to many situations, not only foliage. I took some green out of the leaves and reduced the opacity of the blooms slightly.

[attach=2]

You got the hang of ST real quick.

ST has a short but intense learning curve. I've been pretty much living there for the past few weeks. But holy cow you can make anything.

[Dune]

 

[bobbystahr]

You could try adding an empty surface layer after the default flower node, pull another line to a desaturation node plugged in as child, add a PF and a transform shader set to world as mask for the desaturation node and/or the surface layer. If desaturation node is not masked by PF + transform let it have a constant white.

This is exactly what was needed here. Thanks so much for sharing – I can see where this technique can be applied to many situations, not only foliage. I took some green out of the leaves and reduced the opacity of the blooms slightly.

[attach=1]

You got the hang of ST real quick.

ST has a short but intense learning curve. I've been pretty much living there for the past few weeks. But holy cow you can make anything.

This as I've noted before, the very best and most helpful forum I've ever learned anything from...

[sboerner]

This as I've noted before, the very best and most helpful forum I've ever learned anything from...

Couldn't agree more.

[Oshyan]

Hard to do a fully direct comparison as the render size is not the same, but the foliage adjustment definitely seems to be an improvement. The flower change is more subtle, but definitely not a bad thing, an improvement if anything. Might still need a tad more toning down, but of course it's tough to balance as many of these kinds of flowers *are* quite bright - almost unnatural seeming - even in real life.

As for detail, AA6 seems fine, as Ulco said it's the terrain (MPD) detail that's not necessary here since almost all the terrain is completely covered by plants (which are ray-traced and thus not affected by MPD but by AA for quality). MPD of 0.5 is probably fine in this case and should save you a little render time.

- Oshyan

[sboerner]

Whoops – I should have checked the image size before uploading the second one. I've gone back and updated the posted image so the dimensions are now the same. There's a slight difference in overall density as I'm just eyeballing the conversion from 32 bit.

Took another look at my reference images and I believe you're right – the blossoms need to be more pale and less saturated. We'll give it another go.

[attach=1]

[Oshyan]

Ah yes. I can see it was already a notable improvement though.

- Oshyan

[sboerner]

OK, I think this one's getting very close. I went back to the original aster models and tweaked the materials and displacements. Overall they blend in much better. If anything the saturation might be bumped back up ever so slightly, but I'm leaving it here for now. Thank you, Oshyan and Ulco, for the feedback and suggestions. This is much improved over the first render.

[attach=1]

[bobbystahr]

I agree to much improved and I'd leave the asters as they are as they seem to blend in nicely as in real life.

[sboerner]

Thanks, Bobby. They're very "showy" flowers, so it's good to get them right.

Have to say I never paid much attention to wildflowers before. Much more tuned in now after spending a few weeks trying to identify them. Amazing how quickly they come and go. Quite a show here from late August through the end of September.

[bobbystahr]

Thanks, Bobby. They're very "showy" flowers, so it's good to get them right.

Have to say I never paid much attention to wildflowers before. Much more tuned in now after spending a few weeks trying to identify them. Amazing how quickly they come and go. Quite a show here from late August through the end of September.

for sure, kinda blink, and y miss a whole species heh heh heh

[WAS]

Very rich and natural distributions, I like it. These are rendered with path tracing? I don't think I need comparisons when it comes to my attention to detail. Shadows in TG have always been a nitpick for me.