Inspiration at 10 o' Clock...ish.

[PG]

Well I had a go with your suggestions, I focused on clouds as that's my strength. I'm still working on it, I don't really like the left hand side, looks like some weird plasma goo. Lemmie know what you think.

[Matt]

Which version of TG2 is this? Or did you use some unusual GI settings?

Matt

[PG]

I'm using the latest 2.0.3.1, but my detail and GI are a little..emm, high. The GI options are both set to 4 with supersample prepass checked, detail is 1.8, AA is 8, pixel filter is Mitchell Netravali and cloud samples are 6579 with raytracing on and acceleration cache off. Oh yeah and the atmosphere has 62 samples with raytracing, and soft shadows are on too. Took just over 80 hours.

[aymenk2003]

Hi PG ...
I followed this discussion from the beginning...
me too I m waiting for the Inspiration to come ... and it doesn't

NKAID..
PS Good Cloud (it needs work but it's good)

[RArcher]

I would be really interested to see if you could notice a difference if you rendered it at 0.8 detail, 1/2 GI, max 1000 cloud samples, ray tracing off in both the atmosphere and cloudlayer.

[Tangled-Universe]

I would be really interested to see if you could notice a difference if you rendered it at 0.8 detail, 1/2 GI, max 1000 cloud samples, ray tracing off in both the atmosphere and cloudlayer.

Exactly my thoughts. Especially 1.8 detail. Rendering (sub-?)sub-pixel detail in clouds doesn't sound very useful.

I'd like to add something in general: please stop mentioning cloudsample-levels but use the quality-setting number. Samples change because of different parameters (depth & density primarily). The quality setting is way more informative and really tells you about the expected quality.

[Seth]

Ok I jump in !

Here is my way :

First, I almost never have an idea before beginning to play TG2.

So, I start with the terrain and try 1 or 2 simple fractal terrain. Then I try to find a nice pov with that simple terrain.
Now that I have this simple start, I create 2 surface layers (one for flat areas and one for vertical areas) and i connect 1 powerfractal on each ones with different colours and displacements to have a "taste" of what the scene might become... No need to be precise there, it is just a start.

Now, I have a starting scene with a colour flavour (if I may speak like that).
All I have to do now is to.... errr... improve the feeling of these colours with atmo.

And, as Volker said, I play with atmo (a lot) and then i go back to my colours to "adjust" them to my atmosphere values.
Then I add some details like stones (yeaaaah) or vegetation or water, etc...

I think there is a point that people don't work enough on : the POV !
I must say that finding a good POV can take me a lot of time...

You understand now, that I don't really have an Inspiration thing before I come on TG2...
Inspiration comes while I am having fun...
So I guess my advice will be : HAVE FUN (and maybe try something you never experiment before, it sometimes gives very good looking renders) ^^

[aymenk2003]

Ok I jump in !

Here is my way :

First, I almost never have an idea before beginning to play TG2.

So, I start with the terrain and try 1 or 2 simple fractal terrain. Then I try to find a nice pov with that simple terrain.
Now that I have this simple start, I create 2 surface layers (one for flat areas and one for vertical areas) and i connect 1 powerfractal on each ones with different colours and displacements to have a "taste" of what the scene might become... No need to be precise there, it is just a start.

Now, I have a starting scene with a colour flavour (if I may speak like that).
All I have to do now is to.... errr... improve the feeling of these colours with atmo.

And, as Volker said, I play with atmo (a lot) and then i go back to my colours to "adjust" them to my atmosphere values.
Then I add some details like stones (yeaaaah) or vegetation or water, etc...

I think there is a point that people don't work enough on : the POV !
I must say that finding a good POV can take me a lot of time...

You understand now, that I don't really have an Inspiration thing before I come on TG2...
Inspiration comes while I am having fun...
So I guess my advice will be : HAVE FUN (and maybe try something you never experiment before, it sometimes gives very good looking renders) ^^

thanks Seth ...
I will try your advice every time I lunch TG2 ...

[Henry Blewer]

Seth's on the same page I am. The terrain 'tells' me what to do.

[PG]

Well I've rerendered at the settings suggested by Rarcher, seems to just be more blurry and the shadows lack the definition they had before so it looks bizarre. Other than that no different really, other than the fact it took 1 hour instead of 80. I guess increasing GI and soft shadows would fix the blur and shadow issues.

[domdib]

I think that, for me at least, the cloud now looks a bit more natural, precisely because the shadows aren't so defined. And I'd like to see a wider (or deeper) shot. But as has been said many times before, it's your vision of the scene that's important.

I'm with Seth on the POV thing - and I usually have multiple cameras in a scene to give me a choice.

[Matt]

Don't ever enable ray traced shadows in atmosphere or clouds unless you know what it does  Seriously, it's not worth it until you find that you need it.

Ray traced shadows in atmosphere or clouds are only needed if you have a hard surface (e.g. a terrain or an object) casting a shadow into a part of the atmosphere or cloud that you will be able to see. In most situations this doesn't happen.

Apart from obvious situations where shadows from hard surfaces would be present (e.g. a cloud sitting low in a valley with terrain casting a shadow onto it), you will probably also need it if your sun dips below a mountain and you're looking towards the sun. That's because the mountain needs to cast a shadow into the atmosphere to stop the atmosphere glowing around the sun direction. (The sun showing through the mountains is not a bug, it's just the lack of correct shadows.)

That settings should probably be renamed to "receive shadows from surfaces".

Matt

[Jack]

I would like to have a sculpt terrain tool It wood be nice to create soom odd impossible terrain lol!
Terragns atmosphere and lighting you can do pretty much whatever you want The colours you can produce and mix is just amazing

[Dune]

I work differently from Seth and njeneb. I sometimes get to do commissioned work, which is bound by strict rules (like an exact topography, and placement of objects). So I make a lot of masks first, for terrain, vegetation, etc. Then find the best angle, render a rough preview for the client, then work it out with increasing detail and complexity. Which sometimes takes weeks!
The fun renders grow out of curiosity, testing behaviors of nodes, trying to achieve more difficult things to realize in TG (such as breakers and waterfalls, lately). Just trying to push my own limits or trying out ideas, and from a simple test a nice landscape grows.

[Seth]

oh yes, if you do commissioned work, you can't do the same way I do ^^
but, well... that's different inspiration i think