Patagonian Desert

[RArcher]

Here is my interpretation of the Patagonian Desert in Argentina.  In my opinion these are by far the best clouds I have come up with yet.  They were created by merging together four cloud density shaders of varying scales.  Thanks for taking a look!

[moodflow]

Pretty sweet!  However, I think it would look even better without the blurring in the clouds.  And I agree, those clouds are pretty nice.   

[old_blaggard]

Very nice work!  The clouds look very good.  My least favorite part of the image is the image map used as a texture in the foreground - those white stripes are irritating.

[FrankB]

the sky indeed looks good, but I'd turn of invert profile. In the end, this looks pretty unnatural, with the cloud shapes turned upside down.

Cheres,
Frank

[inkydigit]

dunno....I like the clouds alot...upside down or not....the shapes are very good...(tutorial/node shot please!:))the ground is also very interesting!

[Phylloxera]

Beautiful render I like it !

[Tangled-Universe]

Ah nice work Ryan, again!
Interesting terrain and features. The fake stones and surfacing look very good. The DOF-effect is a nice touch and works well I think.
Did you render a DOF-pass in TG2 or is it just postwork in photoshop?
I like them clouds too Would you like to post a screenshot how you did those cloudfractals?
I can imagine how you did it, but you probably used different mix ratios etc.?

Martin

[rcallicotte]

Agree with everyone.  I don't see how you find time to do so many good renders. 

[RArcher]

Thanks for all the comments!  Lets see what I can do to answer them.

Moodflow:  Not sure exactly what you mean by the blurry clouds?  Were you thinking that they should be somewhat noisier?

O_B:  The foreground is not an image map, that was just my fault in the processing, somewhat overzealous with the dodging.  I have uploaded a reprocessed version that is just a levels and curve adjustment for comparison.

FranK:  Amazing eye catching the invert profile!  I can't say I would be able to tell just by looking at an image.  I know the invert is there but except for one cloud in the background it is not too noticeable to me.

Martin: I used a distance shader to render out a seperate distance file then used depth of Field Pro in photoshop to add the blur just to soften the close edges.  I think it works nicely, but this version here doesn't have it for comparison.

I will add this and a second file coming soon to the cloud library.

[RArcher]

I have added the clip file for these clouds to the cloud library.

http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=3691.45

[RArcher]

Reworked things a little bit.  Giving DandelO's fake stones a try.  I probably should have merged his stack with my own stack from the previous render. Unchecked invert clouds and rendered as a panorama.

[Mr_Lamppost]

Oh that's very good. 

The stripes in the desert have gone; (I have commented on this in three places so can't remember what I said where. So F*k it you'll have read the relevant post    ).  Not evident in the previous versions is the Totally cool negative God-rays, Cloud shadows in the atmosphere, shame about the sliht bleed through of the actual sun.

[inkydigit]

super renders(again!!)

[moodflow]

Thanks for all the comments!  Lets see what I can do to answer them.

Moodflow:  Not sure exactly what you mean by the blurry clouds?  Were you thinking that they should be somewhat noisier?

Well not really noise, but more detail on the edges, especially top right.  I am also suffering from this same issue (with clouds), so I know how difficult it is to add it. 

Either way, a very nice image!   

[Saurav]

I like the panoramic version. Cloud and fake stones details are excellent.