Rocky Hills

[TheBlackHole]

Render Time: 17:57 (minutes and seconds)
I think it's some of my best work so far. I started this morning but had to quit at 9:45 (?) and started working on it sometime after 3:45. (those times are approximate)

[Henry Blewer]

This looks good. A few minor tweaks and this will be great. Keep at it!

[Malcolm79]

It looks pretty! But I would have changed the Grey 'Base color' to brown (IMHO)

[Linda McCarthy]

Lovely scene.  I like the color of your grass, though it could use a bit of bump, in my opinion.  Great sky- I like the understated moon/planet.  Nice rock terrain, but I think it would look more interesting if you added more features via an additional power fractal (displacement shader-->power fractal)..and possibly a bit of strata.  Have you checked out John Robertson' (schmeerlap) 'Ben McDuff TG2 Tutorial?
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=7733.0

Linda

[TheBlackHole]

Sorry, but I CAN'T work on it anymore. Once again, my computer quit on me. First, the C drive disappeared (Windows is installed on the E drive) and Windows refused to admit its very existence. That started a couple days ago. Now it starts fine but after loading XP, the screen just goes black and it stops. It doesn't even show the Welcome Screen! No BSOD either! Not even a DOS prompt! AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE THAT COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheBlackHole]

Got it working again. I've been told not to shut it down until a permanent fix is figured out because it might do that again. Might work on it some but you still won't see much dirt because the soil layer that's already there is limited by the rocky surface. Probably won't add any strata.
EDIT: Rendering slightly modified scene...

[domdib]

It certainly has promise. One thing I'd like to see is a little more variation in the rock colour. Hope you can get your hardware problems sorted!

[TheBlackHole]

Here ya go. More dirt and grass.

[Henry Blewer]

It's better. Now I would increase the cloud samples and add some more edge hardness to the low clouds. If the edge hardness is 5 try 14, that should be enough. You might also try a population or two of some trees, I think this is ready for that. Good work!

[Linda McCarthy]

Realistic rock colors and textures.  Nice!  Linda

[TheBlackHole]

Here's a screenshot of the 3D Preview. Just to show how epic the scale is. Yes, that's the default 10kmX10km heightfield there. It's not being used, I was just too lazy to delete it.
EDIT (forgot to ask this in original, didn't want to ask in separate post): If I add trees, what kind of trees should I add?

[Tangled-Universe]

Here's a screenshot of the 3D Preview. Just to show how epic the scale is. Yes, that's the default 10kmX10km heightfield there. It's not being used, I was just too lazy to delete it.
EDIT (forgot to ask this in original, didn't want to ask in separate post): If I add trees, what kind of trees should I add?

Doesn't matter, don't look at the number of the scales, just do it by eye. You can add any trees you like, just up the scale of them to match the scales by eye.

[TheBlackHole]

v3 is now rendering! I haven't added any trees, but I did bring the Distance Shader in the cumulus layer in a bit. I'll post it when it's ready.

[TheBlackHole]

And here it is! I moved the clouds farther in and increased Noise Octaves and Roughness. Decreased Lead-in warp effect. Changed cloud color and scattering color, as well as the noise type.

[Henry Blewer]

Excellent! I would use two types of trees. Pines and maybe chestnuts. A third pop. could be a bush of some kind. This one has really come along. Good work!