Learning Curve

[Mohawk20]

I upgraded my monitor from 17" to 19", and it came with an increase in resolution (from 1024x768 to 1280x1024) which is always nice.

While looking for render that were large enought to fit the desktop without obvious pixelation, I came across a relatively old render of 1600x1200.
I used id a few days, but now I think it looks a bit low on realism and quality, so I decided to render again with some upgrades.

So first is the downscaled old image, rendered 26-04-2007.
And below it is the new render I did today 07-06-2008.

[rcallicotte]

Cool.

[Seth]

much better

[joshbakr]

I like the 2nd one best.  Here's the However though, the sun disc looks good but the light spread on the water needs to be spread to match the diameter of the sun or even a little bit wider. Keep up the good work!

[Mohawk20]

I like the 2nd one best.  Here's the However though, the sun disc looks good but the light spread on the water needs to be spread to match the diameter of the sun or even a little bit wider. Keep up the good work!

Yeah, I thought I had increased that value enough before rendering... It turns out to be otherwise.

[Mohawk20]

And the last improvement...

The reflection on the water is wider, and after tonemapping I brought it into Photoshop, duplicated to an extra layer, hightened exposure, blurred it, and set blending mode to Overlay. Made the effect 50% transparent to soften it.

I like the end result, large version for myself is rendered at 1600x1200, but here you have the 1024x768 version.

[Sengin]

Wow.  I need to get back into this.  I definitely like the final one best.  Great colors.

[Tangled-Universe]

Wow.  I need to get back into this.  I definitely like the final one best.  Great colors.

Yeah certainly I agree. Fantastic clouds, water, atmo and lighting.
This image also shows, at least for me it does, that the lighting on models can still be a bit problematic in TG2. In this case the models are too dark in comparison to the foreground, but I bet that the models were not made darker by purpose. To match the lighting you'd have to 'cheat' and I mean to use luminosity or reflectivity which naturally doesn't occur or not in that extend on tree-bark and/or leaves naturally.
So I think your work is very good and like I said shows to me a weak point of TG2 so far. Not an artist's weak point

Martin

[inkydigit]

stunning scene!

[Oshyan]

Wow.  I need to get back into this.  I definitely like the final one best.  Great colors.

Yeah certainly I agree. Fantastic clouds, water, atmo and lighting.
This image also shows, at least for me it does, that the lighting on models can still be a bit problematic in TG2. In this case the models are too dark in comparison to the foreground, but I bet that the models were not made darker by purpose. To match the lighting you'd have to 'cheat' and I mean to use luminosity or reflectivity which naturally doesn't occur or not in that extend on tree-bark and/or leaves naturally.
So I think your work is very good and like I said shows to me a weak point of TG2 so far. Not an artist's weak point

Martin

If you took a photograph of a sunset like this any "objects" in the frame would likely appear as dark, unless you exposed for those objects, in which case the sun and sky would be overexposed.

- Oshyan

[Tangled-Universe]

I don't agree Oshyan. The shadows on the ground should be as dark as the shadows on the model. The model should also be as lit as the ground. They look completely 'off'.

[Mohawk20]

Martin I have to disagree... if you look at the angle, the ground is loping towards the water, which means it's slope is facing the sun and thus catches light from it.
The trees are facing completely away from the sun (at least the parts we we see in the image), and so they should be a bit darker...
If you look closely, some bumps in the terrain are darker as well.

[Phylloxera]

I love the second atmo ! Good work !

[joshbakr]

I don't agree Oshyan. The shadows on the ground should be as dark as the shadows on the model. The model should also be as lit as the ground. They look completely 'off'.

The way I see it is, the models are probably colored much darker than the ground surfaces, hence the contrast difference. If the colors of the Palm Trunks were lightened up and the Palm Leaves had some translucency the controversy would be solved. 

[Tangled-Universe]

Yes you have a point there, though on the left side the slopes aren't really facing the sun, but I see what you mean.
I still think it doesn't look the way as it is supposed to be naturally. I know, I'm stubborn
Another thing I see is that it looks way better on my tft here at work, which has lower contrasts, so that's also something to keep in mind for me next time.