The Landing *V4* and Final

FrankB · April 15, 2009, 09:13:56 AM

Hi guys,

I've been playing around with a few technical aspects of TG2, and out of that came the following image.
Rendered in 3000x1714 pixel, in 3 hours. This is a downsized version, of course. Unfortunately even the downsized version was heavy on the jpeg algorithm, so I had to reduce quality a lot.

Appreciate your comments.

Thanks,
Frank

FrankB · April 15, 2009, 09:14:47 AM

and here is a crop from the original size.

RArcher · April 15, 2009, 09:26:33 AM

Frank, the foreground is simply amazing, you really packed a lot of great detail in there. My eyes are having issues with the rest of the image though. The scale (though I am sure it is technically correct) seems to be totally off. I think the problem for me is that it is not immediately apparent that your camera is up on a hillside and it is difficult to distinguish where the crest of the hillside is. One solution may be to slightly darken the areas below the ridge so that it gives enough of a contrast that my eyes don't become lost. I hope that makes sense.

FrankB · April 15, 2009, 09:37:00 AM

Thanks Ryan :-)
I am having the same problem that you described. I should probably choose a different POV.

Regards,
Frank

Hetzen · April 15, 2009, 10:11:25 AM

The stone scree is absolutely amazing, and I like the population of grass tufts sticking out.

I've shown this to a couple of the lads in the office, and we all agree that the island arridness looks wrong, fine by the beach, but we reackon you'd have an island covered in vegitation, be it a lot more grass or tropical forrest. Also thought the green shore translucency should be more of an aqua colour in this environment.

rcallicotte · April 15, 2009, 10:22:58 AM

Picture-book setting, but the tufts of grass (though a cool idea) aren't working for me - there's a repeatable pattern that is clearly CG. Otherwise, I like this. The rocks on the hill are well setup and the lighting is very good. I like the ship in the water.

domdib · April 15, 2009, 10:30:58 AM

The stone scree, as others have said, is impressive. Also like others, I have a slight problem with the grass - it seems like it either should be denser or even more sparse, but given the trees near the shore, I'd say go with denser.

Mohawk20 · April 15, 2009, 11:12:12 AM

I don't like the sparse foliage, way to barren for my taste. But other than that great image, lots of detail.

neuspadrin · April 15, 2009, 11:18:21 AM

It would be cool if the vegetation perhaps was in patches instead of randomly yet perfectly distanced from one another.

also something just seems to get lost between the foreground and the background making the scales seem different.

maybe moving the view closer to the edge of the hill i'm assuming we are on? or perhaps make a change of ground cover between the hill close foreground and the foreground around the forest.

schmeerlap · April 15, 2009, 12:13:11 PM

I think this is a great scene, and it has the potential to be even better. I don't have such a problem with the barrenness. Scale issues may be aided by having some nearby bushes to look over. A couple of other suggestions to futher enhance the scene might be to have some darker (wet) sand at the water's edge, and reduce your wave size in the sea. I like this pov.

John

(So, no need for me to respond to the gender thread)

FrankB · April 15, 2009, 12:30:49 PM

Ok, so here's another attempt. How do you like that?

A little render info: 1.5 hrs, 2000x~1400 or so, GI 1/2 + SS, Fake Stone Pack (extended), 5 plant species, flock of birds from ashundar, free ship somewhere from the web (didn't come with a credits file).

The technical bit I have started this image with was to have the layer of sand cover the small pebbles, and gradually leave out the larger stones. After that, a real render scene started to form in my mind, and I started adding things to the image.
The scene is roughly based on the island of Fuerteventura, which is part of the Canary Islands. Great place for beach holiday. The landscape is totally barren, just rocks and sand, but it has its own fascinating beauty, and the climate is perfect all year.

Thanks,
Frank

neuspadrin · April 15, 2009, 01:08:03 PM

looking good, one small little thing,

id like it a bit more if the boat was rotated just a bit more to show a little more of its side.

Seikojin · April 15, 2009, 01:56:18 PM

Quote from: FrankB on April 15, 2009, 12:30:49 PM
Ok, so here's another attempt. How do you like that?

A little render info: 1.5 hrs, 2000x~1400 or so, GI 1/2 + SS, Fake Stone Pack (extended), 5 plant species, flock of birds from ashundar, free ship somewhere from the web (didn't come with a credits file).

The technical bit I have started this image with was to have the layer of sand cover the small pebbles, and gradually leave out the larger stones. After that, a real render scene started to form in my mind, and I started adding things to the image.
The scene is roughly based on the island of Fuerteventura, which is part of the Canary Islands. Great place for beach holiday. The landscape is totally barren, just rocks and sand, but it has its own fascinating beauty, and the climate is perfect all year.

Thanks,
Frank

The thing that is getting to me is the scale to distance for the trees. At the bottom of the image the terrain slopes into the forested bit. And the perception I am seeing is that we are close to the edge of the forest patch. If this is true, then the trees should be much bigger. It almost looks like you've scaled the closest trees size down to make the patch of trees all the same size no matter the depth in the picture.

I hope that makes sense.

cyphyr · April 15, 2009, 03:27:50 PM

Looking good, I agree with the other posters comments. Nothing to add other than, has your palm population (I think its the palms) got its max and min rotations values set at default.
Theres a repeat angle, top left to bottom right thats distracting from an otherwise great image. Hope that helps

richard

FrankB · April 15, 2009, 03:42:14 PM

thank you for the comments and good advice.

The trees and the sizes.. they work for me, but maybe because I have been moving around the scene with the camera, and know that everything is at the right scale - at least roughly. However, I understand why you all think that something appears wrong here. I think the downhill view is the main problem here.
Maybe I should remove the tree populations completely, and resort to bushes and shrubs instead, and give the land formation and the beach more focus. By doing so I may also choose yet another viewpoint, that is not so much downhill, to help with a better impression of depth... I shall see what can be done here :-)

One more iteration, and then I'll take a (non-voluntary) break from TG2 for a little more than week.
... I'll be back

Frank