Hello all!
I'm currently experimenting with creating good godrays. I will use this thread to post the results: test renders, WIPs but also final renders.
Let me explain: 9 years ago, when I first began to create 3D landscapes, my ultimate dream was to create a misty forest with godrays, like
this one from
Digital Blasphemy (this picture was made in 2001!!)
But I had a slow computer (pentium 233Mhz), and I didn't know any software able to create it (or I didn't have the knowledge - I was 15).
During these years I tried Bryce, Vue, World Builder, ... but my computer was still terribly slow, I didn't have the patience to learn to use them enough to create my dream picture. The only software that was fast enough for my computer to create landscapes was Terragen 1, and believe me, I made a lot of renders with rays (first rays in
late 2001)... But no vegetation
Annnnd... Came Terragen 2. Which had the Power. But that was not the case of my computer (a Pentium 3 1.7Ghz), so my alpha tester years were not productive at all -_-
Now I am no more a student, and I have a work. It allowed me to buy a new computer four months ago and to be back to TG2, with the knowledge level of an almost-newbie.
But I still wasn't able to create those damn rays
I knew from the forums that I needed a low cloud to use it as fog, with raytraced shadows in it, but I couldn't manage to make object shadows to form visible rays in this fog.
A few days ago I saw the Moonmagic renders from cyphyr, and asked him some advices... With his help (thanks again cyphyr), and during the frenzy trance caused by an insomnia and a dicease, I managed to create my first f***ing forest god rays \o/
And a few tests later, here is the first test render that I want to show. The sun is a bit like disco lasers, but hey... It's only the beginning