Long Way from Home

[choronr]

Precipitous cliffs in a would-be place somewhere in southeastern Utah. At the suggestion of Martin (TU), I tried finding a good point of view wherein I could use a portrait format for a scene. As most of you know, while navigating for that perfect focal point, you find a position that is hard to pass up ...so, this is the result. Martin, next one will be in the portrait format for sure.

The preset Canyon terrain file by Tangled_Universe is available from NWDA. After navigating forward to what appeared to look like a good shot, the right wall was moved farther to the right and concentrated on the vertical wall. The sun was elevated to 54 degrees and moved to the right. The sky was darkened; and, the granulated clouds used are from a preset file from NWDA. Additionally, The Noble One trees and Dry Shrubs by Walli were used and are also available from NWDA.

Bob

[Henry Blewer]

Very cool render. I would have made the ground line a bit higher at the cliff base. But that's up to you.  The only thing I see which is weird is the strange disk at the top of the cliff on the left side.

[choronr]

Very cool render. I would have made the ground line a bit higher at the cliff base. But that's up to you.  The only thing I see which is weird is the strange disk at the top of the cliff on the left side.

Thanks Henry for visiting and your comments and suggestions. What appears like an oblique disc is a ledge (one also appears near the right). While exploring the CanyonLands area, you'll see these Navajo sand stone ledges in many areas. Sometimes, the Navajo sandstone is called 'slippery rock' since it is calcified sand. While walking on it, it is like you're walking on ball-bearings - very slippery.

The only thing I would have done different here is darken the foreground and added more small stones and sand texture. 

[Linda McCarthy]

Hi Bob,
What a magnificent point of view for this awesome canyon terrain.
In my opinion, all the elements of such a scene are here, and you have brought them together beautifully and adeptly.
You've established scale nicely with the sizing and positioning of the vegetation, and the lighting and overall atmosphere is superb.
Nice work!
Linda

[Henry Blewer]

I did not know about these Navajo stones. That's very interesting, and a detail I would never have thought to include. My appreciation of this just increased!

[EoinArmstrong]

Stunning sense of scale and awesome lighting - one of your best, Bob!

[domdib]

Looking very good. Are the clouds intended to have that pinkish tinge?

[inkydigit]

great scene Bob, I agree with Linda and Eoin, (I thought the 'disc' was a crashed UFO!!), seriously though, I love the cliff face surfaces and texture....well done, would be a great place to climb!

[Thelby]

Very photoreal also Bob!!!

[choronr]

Looking very good. Are the clouds intended to have that pinkish tinge?

Sometimes, when sandstorms pass through, the atmosphere is mixed with the reddish dust increasing the decay. I think that is why the clouds take on a pinkish cast.

Thanks to all for visiting and your comments. I'm replying here on my wife's Mac. Got up this morning and found my PC has crashed. Was not rendering anything; suspect it might have been the power supply ...here we go again. I may be off line for quite awhile.

[Henry Blewer]

Sorry.

[Tangled-Universe]

Hi Bob,

Nice POV I'll keep you up to your promise though

The bushes look good, but I'd find a replacement for the ones closest to the camera.
They have a bit wrinkled paper look and not much detail.

In the terrain group where all the displacements are made you'll see a distribution shader which limits the height of the displacements to the top of the canyon-walls.
You'll have to slightly lower this number (say increments of 5m for starters) to get rid of those disc shapes. I thought/tested it was alright, but seemingly not everywhere.

In a case of this kind of direct lighting you might decrease the addition of AO to the scene, maybe even completely delete it.
I'd love to see this rendered a bit smaller and then with more atmo samples and maybe increased GI (if you ditch the AO).

Very nice work nonetheless and I'm really happy you're using this at the moment and having fun with it
Thanks for showing!

Cheers,
Martin

[Markal]

What appears like an oblique disc is a ledge (one also appears near the right).

Darn....burst my bubble....I thought it was the diving board into your backyard pool...LOL
Super nice Bob...agree that the shrub line seems a bit too linear....it needs some chaos or random rises.
Still, cool image....can't wait till I can achieve something like this!

[TheBlackHole]

For some reason, I think that a sky with few clouds and no objects needs a moon to fill the void. Try it; I use one in almost all my renders.

[choronr]

Thanks to all of you for having a look and sharing your comments and suggestions. Regarding my PC, my guess was right; the power supply pooped out. This is the second time - each a different brand. Now, I must go the route of enforcing the 5 year warranty. See you soon ...hopefully.