Hi All,
It's been a while since I've posted anything, mainly because it's been a while since I've been happy with any of my renders (don't know why but I seem to have been through a bit of a trough as far as quality is concerned!).
Anyway, I've just finished reading Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson and have just started Green Mars - absolutely fantastic books if you're into detailed and believable sci-fi with deep characterisation. Then, when this image was Wikipedia's image of the day a couple of days ago, I was inspired. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MarsEndurance.jpg
So here's my attempt at a martian landscape. I wasn't trying to match the colours (I did try, but somehow the more orange colour didn't look very realistic in my initial renders) so I resorted to a more brown/orange colour.
Let me know what you think, but please note that I wan't trying to recreate the image, merely to create a martian-style environment.
Inscrutable
Works for me, this is very believable. Remember the images we see from the Mars probes are all false colour so theres no reason why your colours should be wrong. The detail you've achieved is very good. Just a personal preference, maybe I'd add a lighter/brighter hue to the near vertical exposed strata layers. I also notice very small parallel lines in the bottom left corner, I think this is caused by "very" small fractal repetition, not sure though and the corresponding shadow area is also effected. I generally mess about in photoshop with a clone brush to fix this, not ideal but particularly with broken shadows I don't know of another solution. These are nit picky points as this is a damn fine render.
Richard
I love those books and I love your render!
As far as I know in most regions mars´ surface consists of dark rock coverded by reddish dust, so I wouldn´t brighten the steeper parts.
I am still working on my blue mars and I´d be glad if could achieve a surface like this on top of my mars-bumpmap!
I find it quite hard to make a believable crater out of a low-res "real" crater.
Best regards,
Jan
Pretty realistic.
how come you get to go to mats and take pictures and I dont...:(
lol...this is really good render....
damn ! very good !
Nicely done! On Mars there isn't nearly as much erosion as on Earth, so the stones could be a little sharper/spikier, but other than that it looks quite good.
Thanks for all your comments! I'm just rendering another version at the moment which I have "red-ified". I know none of you mentioned the browness as a problem but I just wasn't quite happy with it in the end.
As for the patterning in the bottom left, I couln't agree more. I tried photoshopping it out but it became too fiddly a job. Strange thing is that when I move the camera closer to that area, the patterning isn't there, so I don't know what's causing it.
In the new render, I've moved the sun which serves the dual purpose of removing this patterning (in the test render at 640x480, at least) and also, I think, making thr foreground a little more interesting.
I'll post it in the morning.
I like it very much. Great work.
Okay, second render finished earlier than I'd expected, so I can post it now before I head off to bed (hooray!).
I'm quite happy with this one, I think the forground looks a little better because the lighting coming from the left gives the stones shadows. I take what Old Blaggard says about the stones, but to be honst, I'm not really confident about messing around with the fake stones settings other than size and density, as I'm uncertain as to the effect.
Anyway, thanks again for you comments, and grateful if you could give me your thoughts on this version.
not bad at all....just a suggestion tho....it would be better if you could put "rover" or something...just to imply the scale.....
As already said, marvelous!
But as you ask for comments, you could add some contrast and realism by making the pebbles more grayish, perhaps with red dust on top.
like in this pic:
http://users.med.auth.gr/~tsikaras/astra/mars5.jpg
Ann Clayborne would love your pic!
Wonderful great job mate
Have a look at this site if you haven't already it has imagery taken by the HIRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/index.php
There is a lot here.
You may also wish to look at the Jet Propulsion Labs: Mars Exploration Rover Mission Page http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/ this also has great imagery of Mars and may help a lot in future.
Regards to you.
Cyber-Angel
outstanding job !
Cool work. I like the lighting.
I think you've achieved some really realistic results here. They're not necessarily "dramatic", but I think a lot of the pictures we see of the actual surface are fairly boring. ;D For the appreciator of nature in its purest form, and all its shapes both wild and tame, this is a beautiful scene. This would certainly be true of Anne (in Red Mars - fantastic novel, I agree!). I think the average viewer might want to see something more striking, a feature that stood out more, or some kind of focal point, man-made or otherwise. But as far as realism goes this is very good.
- Oshyan
Thanks again everyone.
Mahnmut, I spent yesterday playing around with the texturing and the colouring of the rocks, but because of the way I'd initially set it up, I can't get the grey to show up in a realistic way. Presumably it's because the red sand has displacement applied to it, but for whatever reason, the grey only shows up on a few of the rocks and then it looks too stark and out of place. So I've given up on that front - I'm weak, and I lack resolve :) (plus I have an exam tomorrow that I should really have been revising for!)
Oshyan, I totally agree. My initial aim was to just go for a very natural, intentionally boring image. For me, the images of Mars that are "boring" are, ironically, the most exciting. I think there's something really evocative about seeing something that is both seemingly normal and mundane while knoeing that it's truly alien.
Anyway, I've since been trying to explore dhavalmistry's recommendation of adding a rover, just to apply some focus. Unfortunately I can't find ANY free rover models, and I don't have the cash to spend out on one. If anyone has any suggestions on this front I'd be most appreciative.
Thanks,
Inscrutable
I did find this one: http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/257762 (http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/257762), but it's in max. format.
Anyways... Good luck on exam.