TG Classic Remake ¤ NWDA Contest WIP ¤

[Mohawk20]

Well, at least here is the full render. I'm working on a poser figure, getting out of the water, looking at the oncoming rain... Better put a coat over that bikini 

[Tangled-Universe]

I really like the new lighting and I still hope you'll be able to do something about those mountains in the back.

Since the theme of the challenge is realism I really would like to encourage you not to import a Poser figure, unless it is at least of the same decent quality of your Moses picture.
It was then nicely blended into your picture, but since this image looks a lot more realistic than the other one I think it will look like plastic/fake.
Just my honest thoughts on that idea.

At what settings did you render this and how long did it take? And, at which settings do you intend to render the final? I think this one will only look better and better when upping some settings.

Martin

[Mohawk20]

Well, here are some lines copied directly from the tgd:

   <camera
      image_width = "1024"
      image_height = "768"
      detail = "1"
      anti-aliasing = "8"
      GI_relative_detail = "2"
      GI_sample_quality = "2"
      GI_blur_radius = "8"
      supersample_prepass = "1"
      GI_surface_details = "0"
      pixel_filter = "2"
      anti-aliasing_bloom = "1"
      detail_blending = "0"
      displacement_filter = "1"
      microvertex_jittering = "1"
      detail_jittering = "1"
      do_ray_traced_shadows = "1"
      ray_trace_everything = "0"
      soft_clip_effect = "1"
      soft_clip_softness = "1"
      compensate_soft_clip = "1"
      contrast = "1"
      contrast_adjust = "0.25"
      gamma_correction = "2.2"
      size_of_subdiv_cache_in_Mb = "100"
      preallocate_subdiv_cache = "1"
      ray_detail_region = "2"
      ray_detail_region_padding = "0"

   <planet_atmosphere
      gui_use_preview_patch_size = "0"
      gui_preview_patch_size = "1000 1000"
      haze_density = "2.71267"
      number_of_samples = "64"
      enable_ray_traced_shadows = "0"

   <cloud_layer_v2
      cloud_altitude = "2371"
      cloud_depth = "2959.29"
      edge_sharpness = "11.3077"
      cloud_density = "0.02025"
      coverage_adjust = "-0.85"
      quality = "1.050428475"
      number_of_samples = "186"
      sample_jitter = "1"
      acceleration_cache = "2"
      enable_ray_traced_shadows = "0"

So settings are already pretty high...


I'll play some more with the displacement on the mountain, and I'll only add the poser figure if it improves.

[Mohawk20]

After a lot of fiddling with powerfractals I gave up, increased border blending and added another heightfield.
Poser figure is just as a test to see what you think.
I'll get rid of the remaining hill with border blending...

So please comment on this!!
(This is a lower quality test render, so no need to comment on that  )

[Seth]

she should be wet^^

[PG]

na. What she needs is a good power fractal

[Seth]

na. What she needs is a good power fractal

yes !
and be wet too !

[Mohawk20]

Actually, both! I'll check the settings of the bump maps first, those could be stronger...

[Mohawk20]

So I finally have a full size next version!
I have been doing endless test renders to get the better mountains (finally settled for better textures than other mountains, as those disrupted the balance of the image), and I tried to get red clouds, bottom lit by a second sun close to the horizon. But the red is barely noticeable because of the ambient occlusion...
I also added a water shader to the girl's textures, so it seems this is as reflective as she'll get.


So what should be improved? Or should I enter this in the contest as-is?

[Tangled-Universe]

I still think lighting and atmosphere are very good. So are the grasses.

The biggest improvements which can be made in my opinion are:

1) get rid of the girl
2) try to add some strata (using stretched PF's or strata shader self) or voronois to the mountain to make it a bit more interesting
3) don't touch the rest, it's fine

Martin

[tee]

This is a really nice piece but as above I don't think the girl is necessary.

[Mohawk20]

Ok, whatever you say! 

But I do need some help with those strata thingies. I never get those right, and I don't want to disturb the rest of the terrain when adding fractal displacement. So any specific suggestions?

[Tangled-Universe]

Ok, whatever you say! 

But I do need some help with those strata thingies. I never get those right, and I don't want to disturb the rest of the terrain when adding fractal displacement. So any specific suggestions?

I'd go for stretched fractals because they can be easily masked. The strata shader tends to liften up your terrain as you mentioned so if that's not desired then PF's will be your game.
Add a powerfractal somewhere between your surfaceshaders (in this case not really necessary to put before compute terrain, I do that too often)
Stretch the fractal on X and Z by a factor of 10 for starters. Give it a bit of color so it will blend/fit your current colorscheme nicely. You should already see a slight stretched pattern.
Now start playing with the displacement-factor. Not the way around! This approach gives you better control for color. Your displacement factor depends on your color, that's why.

You might try a very simple approach by just painting a mask in photoshop on your existing picture and project that through camera with an image-map shader, but you can of course also use the painted shader. Both offer a direct and easy way to break up the pattern.
For breakup you can also use a highly contrasted PF with low octaves.

This should get you started

Martin

[inkydigit]

get rid of the girl...I've heard that before!...addiong stretched pfs, for strata banding...now why didn't I think of that?....I like how this scene has progressed...looking real good!

[Walli]

I liked the scene without the girl. And sometimes its a good idea to have an open ear if people tell you to get rid of a girl ;-)

If you want to keep here in the scene, then you need to give us some more hints I guess. The landscape looks very peaceful and lonely. So its hard to believe "this kind of girl" in that area. She looks very "dressed up", more as she would come out of a luxury pool or the like.

- give us some clues, why someone is out there (a road with a small parking place, a track with a sign, something that tells us that there really might be sopme people around
- probably move here more to the back, to the shore just coming out of the water
-the cloth looks strange, is this a towel?
-the pose looks very "stiff" to me.

The easy way would be to get rid of here. The hard way would be to "blend" here in the scene.

best,
Walli