Stats:Res: 1024x768
Render time: 65+ hours on a quad core 2.4GHz with 3.25GB of RAM (windows XP)
Quality: 1.0
AA: 10 (corrected as I had stated GI: 10)
Post work: very minor contrast/color correction, very minor selective sharpening/blurring all in Photoshop. A 100% TG2 render.
This image took quite some time to create and render. I spent a few weeks of off and on dialing in the scene file, and then had to render the final in quarter sections at about 18 hours per section. My PC is also unstable at times and will blue screen after hours of rendering at the worst time (like when a render is 90% completed). A real bummer. To top it off, I realized there was a flaw in the grass models I was using, so I had to replace the bottom section with new grass, requiring more rendering and more time out. This image would have been done a week ago or more. If I had a dedicated render server, it would have likely rendered in about 30 hours.
But, the good news is, the image is nearly exactly what I was aiming for! I wanted to feature some backlit trees, a new mountain and rocks technique, as well as a dialed in version of the GI lighting technique I've been working on for a while now which gives a misty ambience to the scene. I think it came out nicely. Still a few more things to dial in, but I am very satisfied with the result. My overall goal for my images is realism, with still a ways to go, but getting there.
For the scene elements:
The terrain is a standard TG2 power fractal with a few tweaks I've been developing. I plan on doing future tutorials on some of these techniques.
The surfacing is a mix of custom micro displacements, with stacked power fractals and reflective shaders dialed in just right. The rocks feature a blend of one custom image map for color variation, and power fractals for a unique look.
The pine trees were created in Onyx tree, and the grass is a modified version of lighting's long grass. I had to use an additional compute normal (separate from the surfacing chain) to keep the grass matching the slope on the rocks. I didn't think this would even work, but it did! If I had kept this additional compute normal in the surfacing chain, it degraded the look of the rocks.
The lighting and atmosphere is the GI technique I've been dialing in. I've found its very unpredictable, giving great results one time, and marginal results the next. It seems to work well on this image.
Many thanks for looking and for all your inspiration. Let me know if you have any questions.
