The Salt Flats

Started by WAS, November 04, 2018, 05:34:48 PM

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WAS

Yesterday's work re-rendered.

4 easy cloud seemed to cripple the render so I reduced it to two.

Not too happy with the high-level clouds. They seemed more patchy in the preview but came out pretty uniform in coverage.

My inspiration came from the second image, which is unfortunately over exposed but just looked so nice.

Ariel DK

#1
That 2 cloud layers make the work without doubt
With more refinement this should be a cool render, even better that ugly over-exposed original image
Just keep the "calid-sunset" feel...
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

WAS

#2
Thanks, yeah clouds need work. I am working on a meta layer v3 cloud layer which will have high level, mid, and low level, and just using a v2 for all their haze's, since a 4 meta layer with haze sampled from the cloud noises crippled my system. V3 and haze don't mix which I forgot. Not really worth it anyway since it's a dramatic overkill on resources for the same look v2 can provide.

I think I'll enrich the cloud and sun colours too.

Was thinking of a second erosion limited to the rocky Alpine buildup with some heavier strata as well. I liked the Alpine look you can see In the distance in the ref image more than the canyon mountains near the salt flats. But a balance between the two may look better??

Oshyan

I think it's a pretty excellent image already! That foreground cracked salt flat surface shading is superb IMO. It looks rather like Death Valley or the Black Rock Desert. I agree the clouds aren't quite there yet, but not bad either. Honestly I'm not sure you need the 2 layers, and 4 definitely seems like it would just fill up the sky to not much benefit. I'm not sure if you're trying to emulate the clouds in the reference image as well as the ground, if that's the case then my thoughts may not be relevant, but personally I think the impact of this scene and overall aesthetic would be enhanced by *less* clouds, not more. I'd be tempted to see what it looks like with just the lower, bigger clouds, or if you do keep the upper ones then very thin and patchy there.

Anyway I think without much tweaking this could be a superb finished scene.

- Oshyan

WAS

You're probably right with the clouds. Initially I was going to try and mock the clouds, but the shapes were proving difficult to mimic. Additionally fighting with seeds to get a nice lit foreground and some light on the mountains is boring and takes forever. Lol

I have spent all day though trying to remedy my realistic cloud layering of types in a more optimized form using a single v3. Will be posting it shortly as I hope to get some help testing it from the community.

Dune

Nice scene, and the salt crust looks very good, but I miss that whiteness from the photo (though that has some peculiar artistic postwork done to it). In other words; it could be mud. I know the light is low, yellowing stuff, but still, I wouldn't know it being salt if you don't say so.

WAS

Quote from: Dune on November 05, 2018, 01:41:38 AM
Nice scene, and the salt crust looks very good, but I miss that whiteness from the photo (though that has some peculiar artistic postwork done to it). In other words; it could be mud. I know the light is low, yellowing stuff, but still, I wouldn't know it being salt if you don't say so.

I did add the every so slightest amount of yellow to the salt deposits which was probably a bad choice. Looking at another shot in broad daylight it is pretty solid white.


mhaze

This is going well - looking forward to a final.

WAS

#9
Here is a update since last night. I made the deposit colour shaders grayscale and much brighter so the only real colour is produced by the sun and clouds, but I did add some post processing to de desaturate that effect some. For some reason even faint colour added to direct lighting on clouds effects the surface colouring a little too much for what colour is even visible in the sky.

I like these clouds, which are the WIP17 clouds in the sharing topic I started last night.

Hannes

Amazing! Your salt surface almost looks better than the real thing! ;)
I prefer the raw one. Looks more natural to me.
The clouds are cool!

luvsmuzik

Makes you just want to reach for the water jug!  :)

Ariel DK

Quote from: Hannes on November 05, 2018, 01:43:43 PM
I prefer the raw one. Looks more natural to me.
The clouds are cool!
Echo, the raw one is little bit more natural for me & that clouds really add deep to the background :)
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

bobbystahr

Brilliant Jordan, and I'm with Hannes on the raw one.
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

Dune

So am I. Very good surface work. I'm never one for (over)saturated colors.