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General => Contests => NWDA 2018 Theme Challenge - Cliffs => Topic started by: zaxxon on January 22, 2018, 12:44:07 PM

Title: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: zaxxon on January 22, 2018, 12:44:07 PM
Here's my initial efforts. My inspirations are from the majestic and monumental rock walls of Yosemite. I've spent countless hours craning my neck looking upwards at the massive granite walls and it seemed a natural theme to work with. Aspect ratios are a bit of a problem; to show the verticality a portrait aspect is more impressive, but the monitor real estate is then compressed. So a slightly squarish vertical rectangle seems to work best (at this point). I've attached a couple of references to show the color scheme of the Yosemite granite and to display the rock spire known as "Lost Arrow".  Additionally the scattered trees and shrubs living along the steep inclines are always inspiring at several levels, the example shows the famous "El Cap Tree" that clings along the side of El Capitan, one of Yosemite's most iconic rock faces. I don't know if I can build the spire in TG, but I've been messing with 3D Coat and that seems up to the task, the BW image shows the scale of the climbers and is in line with my overall thinking here. As a fun exercise in creating a 'back-story' for the WIP I've asked my oldest daughter's boyfriend to sit down with me to plan what sort of climbing route could be planned along this virtual wall. Andrew is an elite rock climber and has numerous ascents of Yosemite's most formidable routes. Thanks for looking! Good luck to all!
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Hannes on January 22, 2018, 01:40:10 PM
Wow, that looks mighty interesting! Brillant!
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: archonforest on January 22, 2018, 01:46:21 PM
hell of a start! Great!
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: cyphyr on January 22, 2018, 02:15:09 PM
Good start. I think you got the colours very close. I like the idea of focussing on the lone tree.

You might be able to get something close t the "Lost Arrow"  by isolating a cell from a Voroni Diff and using that as a displacement.

Keep em connin' :)
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: zaxxon on January 22, 2018, 02:46:13 PM
Thanks folks!  Cyphyr, I probably won't be focusing on a lone tree, though I had thought of that. My problem so far isn't so much as in creating the spire (and that's actually a pretty good sized problem  ;)), but more so getting it placed where I want.  A bit easier for my current skill-set is to create the object externally and place it exactly in the scene. I'll probably model a few brightly clad climbers for both the spire and for routes further up the cliff, we'll see. Certainly the spire may grace a few weather worn trees and shrubs as well.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: cyphyr on January 22, 2018, 03:02:48 PM
I'm not sure creating it in an external program is allowed (it may well be so don't take my word for it).
I was thinking about saving out a .ter (Terragen terrain) of the spire model and re-importing that to your desired location.
Actually thinking about it you could probably do this with a couple (or more) of simple shape shaders ... lots of options :)
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: zaxxon on January 22, 2018, 04:18:41 PM
Hey Richard, as I read the rules, the actual "Cliff" needs to be done in TG. Which this one is. Supporting objects from Megascans, Speedtree, Zbrush, etc are allowed. Additionally, Pilgway, the makers of 3D Coat has generously provided a prize of the Pro version, so some usage of the product might be appropriate. As a personal project I'm looking forward to expanding my toolset and have already roughed out some decent spire objects. Perhaps Danny could provide some insight here. Of course I'll conform to the rules  :).  I have some versions with inverted crater shaders that had some major conflicts with displacement influences and I never achieved the shapes I was looking for.  I've managed to combine two heightfields, but never tried two .ter files, so I may give that a go. And to my thinking the 'spire' is not a part of the cliff, but we'll see what the official take is. In the meantime this is a fun challenge and and has my creative juices flowing.  :)
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: DannyG on January 22, 2018, 07:01:59 PM
Quote from: zaxxon on January 22, 2018, 12:44:07 PM
I don't know if I can build the spire in TG, but I've been messing with 3D Coat and that seems up to the task,

Per the contest rules this is not permitted. Your cliff's main Structure and Displacements must be Terragen made. If you want use stones or distant mountains created in 3d-Coat or a similar 3rd party application that is fine, as a supporting object, your main Cliff or Cliffs must be TERRAGEN made, that means the generated HeightField, base Cliff Shape or structure and all additional displacements have to be made by TG.

Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: DannyG on January 22, 2018, 09:25:28 PM
Contest Guidelines

http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,24017.0.html (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,24017.0.html)
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Oshyan on January 22, 2018, 09:46:32 PM
Why not try the inverted crater trick for the spire? Then you could place it fairly easily...

- Oshyan
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Dune on January 23, 2018, 01:42:14 AM
I'd go for a single fake stone, masked in by painted shader. Or even a displacable object. Good luck Doug!
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: zaxxon on January 23, 2018, 10:23:34 AM
Oh Drat!  :)  8)  ...Looks like it's time for a plan B

Came up with a few options as well. Thanks Oshyan and Dune for the suggestions.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: bobbystahr on February 06, 2018, 01:24:28 AM
Quote from: zaxxon on January 23, 2018, 10:23:34 AM
Oh Drat!  :)  8)  ...Looks like it's time for a plan B

Came up with a few options as well. Thanks Oshyan and Dune for the suggestions.

I liked cyphyr's suggestion, sounds very elegant
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: bobbystahr on February 18, 2018, 04:01:40 PM
Looking at this again I got a crick in my neck looking up your cliff...I really like that...screw the spires heh heh heh
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Jo Kariboo on March 09, 2018, 11:28:56 AM
I would like to see what you are working on. I'm sure we'll all be happy to see your pictures.  :)
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: zaxxon on March 10, 2018, 10:54:15 AM
Hey Bobby and Pierre. Thanks for the nudges  :).  I am working on an extension of this scene and currently lost in a maze of nodes and endless small tweaks  ;). Just not ready to post anything additional yet.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: bobbystahr on March 10, 2018, 01:30:26 PM
Quote from: zaxxon on March 10, 2018, 10:54:15 AM
I am working on an extension of this scene and currently lost in a maze of nodes and endless small tweaks  ;).


I hear ya man, I've got 3 ideas going and only hope I get one good enough to enter, some stiff competition already from the looks of things.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: zaxxon on April 11, 2018, 09:31:55 AM
Another last minute entry post. It wasn't what I had planned, but sometimes it just works out that way. I submitted this with 4 minutes to spare, talk about the 'eleventh hour'.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Kadri on April 11, 2018, 09:36:03 AM

Looks nice and i like the POV very much.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Hetzen on April 11, 2018, 10:22:11 AM
Wonderful fleeting glimpse of sun on the Yosemite rocks.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: bobbystahr on April 11, 2018, 10:48:36 AM
Great entry, glad this made it. Well done even though it wasn't your planned entry...
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Dune on April 11, 2018, 10:52:38 AM
It's very painterly, as I would have expected of you. Nice work, Doug.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: zaxxon on April 11, 2018, 11:20:56 AM
Thanks folks. I realized yesterday morning that the intended render wasn't going to be finished by the deadline, so I hurriedly set up a cropped render on another machine and it just finished 15 minutes before the deadline. It was a POV that I had considered prior, so not too much of a compromise. The main intended render finished about four hours after the deadline. This one was launched after a full earlier 'final' had a corrupted object file not revealed until the last part (sigh).  At any rate here's the real 'final' finished four hours after the deadline. I learned a ton, and killed a massive amount of brain cells along the way. There are some wonderful submissions shown (for now) and NWDA should be very proud of the contest and it's theme.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Dune on April 11, 2018, 11:48:21 AM
Top notch!
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: luvsmuzik on April 11, 2018, 12:16:28 PM
Another wow on all of your work here! Good luck and thanks for sharing.  :)
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Kadri on April 11, 2018, 12:18:41 PM
Sweet. Nice to see the full intended image.
I don't like doing rushed work, like as probably everyone, but i got some basic ideas because of this maybe.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: j meyer on April 11, 2018, 01:34:42 PM
Nice and moody. 8)
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: otakar on April 11, 2018, 02:15:11 PM
Beautiful. Love it. Rocks look very realistic.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: bobbystahr on April 11, 2018, 07:20:00 PM
Nice save Doug, think I like this even more.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Oshyan on April 12, 2018, 01:22:15 AM
This PoV and lighting are brilliant!

- Oshyan
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: J_Con on April 12, 2018, 02:32:52 AM
Really like this. Cool perspective. Feels ominous.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: cyphyr on April 12, 2018, 02:46:37 AM
Awesome sense of scale. Great image.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: mhaze on April 12, 2018, 03:48:15 AM
Superb
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Jo Kariboo on April 12, 2018, 09:23:16 AM
Very beautiful picture and light. I prefer the first grand cascade (close up) than the (full). In close up , beautiful mysterious atmosphere!
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: zaxxon on April 21, 2018, 06:22:42 PM
Now that the contest is over and the Judges are choosing I thought I'd add a few after thoughts and a couple of links. Win or lose it was a fun (and frustrating  ;)) experience. Thanks for the kind comments, they are always appreciated.  First link is a beautiful video of the recent world record ascent of Yosemite's El Capitan along the iconic route known as "The Nose". 3,000 vertical feet in two hours, nineteen minutes and 44 seconds... :
 
https://vimeo.com/264661267

The second link is to a video I made in November of 2017, before the cliff contest was announced. This was a study using a Megascans cliff scan that I made of a series of TG renderings with the lighting simulating a dawn to dusk movement:

https://vimeo.com/264628270

If you've ever stood beneath one of these formations you can appreciate the true meaning of oft over-used word: Awesome!  El Cap is a take-your-breath-away wonder. I feel fortunate to have stood in it's shadow so many times. These glacial walls are an unending source of inspiration!
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Kadri on April 21, 2018, 06:50:56 PM

Nice video (i didn't think i would watch until the end :) ) and animation.
Title: Re: zaxxon's cliff WIP
Post by: Dune on April 22, 2018, 01:39:50 AM
Awesome indeed. Not for the faint-hearted.