WIP - Moravian Sky

RArcher · May 28, 2009, 12:58:53 PM

I guess that depends what you think extremely high AA values are.

My final rendering settings are usually 0.8 detail, 10 AA and either 1/3 or 2/3 GI detail. I've been mostly using the mitchell-netravali or Cubic B-spline filters, though I wish you could hook the filters up to a distance shader so you could use the sharp filter up close and the smooth filter for distance.

Personally I think sometimes adding too much sharp detail on the vegetation can be a bad thing, but maybe that's because I rarely wear my glasses anyway and everything is a little fuzzy

old_blaggard · May 28, 2009, 01:04:46 PM

That sounds reasonable to me. I've been working with similar values for my final renders as well, but I've been having difficulties finding the right balance between unrealistic sharpness and ugly, soft blobs.

FrankB · May 28, 2009, 03:56:34 PM

I second what Ryan describes as good practices. I am using pretty much the same values.

I am very happy with the "last thing I saw" render with regards to the mix of softness and detail. It was rendered at 0.85 quality and GI 1/3 + SS, narrow cubic AA and AA 8.

However, the important finishing touch was achived in postwork, but carefully balancing out levels, and equally important by applying the glow filter from paint.net. Awesome filter for vegetation - and it's free.

Regards,
Frank

old_blaggard · May 28, 2009, 04:42:19 PM

Again, sounds similar to what I do. I guess it's just a matter of balancing all the settings for the specific scene. I always add a slight diffuse glow to my images in Photoshop to try to get that extra bit of flair to things

old_blaggard · May 29, 2009, 12:42:38 PM

Pretty satisfied with it now. Thanks for the comments!

buzzzzz1 · May 29, 2009, 12:51:22 PM

I like that Tree! and the Grass distribution and mix is very nice. Just a thought, the flowers look rather low quality, especially in the foreground and perhaps the image is a bit over sharpened. Also sky is a little blotchy, perhaps increase the atmo samples if you intent to continue with this project. Yeah, I know, Shut Up Buzzzzz.

RArcher · May 29, 2009, 12:55:05 PM

Seems to be a problem with the yellow flower, it is lacking any sort of detail and just turned into some yellow blotches. Not sure whether it is because the translucency is too high or the model just doesn't have much detail anyway. The tree and the grass mix are really nice though.

MacGyver · May 29, 2009, 01:18:51 PM

The lighting's really great but for my taste it's a bit too saturated

old_blaggard · May 29, 2009, 01:34:47 PM

Thanks for the input. The only comment I'm not clear on is Jay's about the blotchy sky - it looks pretty smooth to me. Could you elaborate a little?

There was no sharpening on this image, although a little more AA might not hurt. The saturated colors are deliberate: the landscape I am trying to recreate from my trip through Moravia was really popping with color.

buzzzzz1 · May 29, 2009, 01:41:15 PM

Quote from: old_blaggard on May 29, 2009, 01:34:47 PM
Thanks for the input. The only comment I'm not clear on is Jay's about the blotchy sky - it looks pretty smooth to me. Could you elaborate a little?

There was no sharpening on this image, although a little more AA might not hurt. The saturated colors are deliberate: the landscape I am trying to recreate from my trip through Moravia was really popping with color.

Yeah, sure. It's as if you have a dense haze colored blueish and rendered with a low atmo quality or lost quality in jpeg compression. Not a big deal, if you like it that's all that counts. In a perfect world all our monitors would be calibrated the same so we all see the same thing.

old_blaggard · May 29, 2009, 01:49:38 PM

Hmm... looks like I'm seeing a little bit of .jpg compression, but not a whole lot. Looks like you've got picky eyes

. I'll try to improve it for the next version.

rcallicotte · May 29, 2009, 01:56:57 PM

As you should be o_b. The rock could look a little more realistic, but this final image looks like it would fit in with the film "Up" no problem. What do you think?

buzzzzz1 · May 29, 2009, 02:00:47 PM

Quote from: old_blaggard on May 29, 2009, 01:49:38 PM
Hmm... looks like I'm seeing a little bit of .jpg compression, but not a whole lot. Looks like you've got picky eyes . I'll try to improve it for the next version.

I guess I should put my Magnifying Glass away.

EoinArmstrong · May 29, 2009, 02:04:32 PM

Nice shot - that tree is cool. I'm currently rendering something like this, but er, yours is better

old_blaggard · May 29, 2009, 02:48:24 PM

Quote from: calico on May 29, 2009, 01:56:57 PM
As you should be o_b. The rock could look a little more realistic, but this final image looks like it would fit in with the film "Up" no problem. What do you think?

Heheh, any tips about the rock? Also, I'm "stuck" in Europe until the 10th, so I probably won't be able to see Up before I start my internship over at Pixar because I head straight over when I get back to the States.