I am to make a new series of images, starting with an ice age valley. No ice, that's way up north, but a gravelly valley with a broad wild river (actual heightfield). Hardly any veggies. I hope to make this a bit more photo like. Any suggestions are welcome, as this is only a WIP.
The ants are mammoths :P
Hmmmm, from that view if that's what's required, it's a matter of colour and subtle displacements I'd say, and you're a master at both of those. Haven't researched the era so I can say naught but good luck pal...gonna be another fun one for us spectators.
Mammoth? Oh sorry, I see you told us....should be a good one! I supposed they have burned all the old books I had in school, but I remember the hand drawn illustrations, fascinating!
Actually, you need to add a lot of Forbs! Those big guys needed literally tons of foliage, and during their span on Earth the environment was not the same as the Tundra of today. So, not so many grasses, but lots of Forbs. I guess this is one of your scientific re-creations of a specific period, so your Enviro-Historians should know about this:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/woolly-mammoth-diet-mystery-solved-by-dna-analysis-1.2524015
;D
I am sure it will be one of your great scenes ones again Ulco :)
forb...found on road blooming, heh heh heh
That's interesting Doug, thanks. The problem with this series is again that I have to use the same camera position for 5 images. About 200m to get enough overview. But that makes it bloody hard to make it interesting, especially when no veggies (we'll discuss the forbs) are around and the landscape isn't higher than 130m. With tree cover later, it might get more interesting, but then this valley was 15m higher and all sediment, with just the one stream. Well....
Now you may have to revert to the old method with scattered noise layers to simulate vegetation. Fake stones can be green and yellow, haha.
Exactly that.
:)
now that looks more 'lived in'
Lowered the camera. If this holds out for the rest of the series I prefer this height. You still won't see the neanderthalers, though :(
Quote from: Dune on October 02, 2016, 02:28:29 AM
You still won't see the neanderthalers, though :(
you might consider that a bonus, hee hee hee. Really liking where this is going.
Great adventure amd neanderthalers are on the trip too, I like it! ;D ;D
Yeah, that's looking really good Ulco.
- Oshyan
This is starting to get good
Ulco, I might be completely wrong, but to me the land shapes are too clean. There should be more cuts and scattered pieces of rocks (due to erosion). Nature rarely gives you neat lines. But what do I know? :)
Thanks for thinking along. The underlying ground is not rocky, but consists mainly of of sand, clay, some sandstone banks higher up and silex/flint (the fake stone accumulations). So quite soft, and I think the water may erode it quite smoothly. I did use a little smallscale warp on the maps though to give it some more 'erosion'. We'll have to see what the experts (University profs) have to say.
Very interesting project, Ulco.
The last ones are already looking very good!
At first glue I would have said the same like otakar but fortunately I saw some documentaries on TV last weekend. They showed some aerial photography eg. of the amazonas. So I know now that you're close to the reality.
Thanks Nils. I consider this my final concept to send in, and await their remarks. I hope it's anywhere near what they need.
You can just see the 2 neanderthalers waiting for their prey ;)
Sumptuous and believable, great work Ulco
Been watching this as well. Wondered what latitude this area represents. At first I thought your lighter color was snow, but it is sandlike? My area, central USA is full of large field stone, so I am assuming this is more like Florida or South America? Very interesting representation!
It's the latitude of Belgium/Southern Netherlands. It's sand indeed and some silex rocks (small, perhaps up to 30-40cm max). I don't know yet about the colors, might need more grey. That's for them to decide.
This is really a hard to do scene because of the lack of kinda hero landscape features.
I think you made it look very nice Ulco. But as an animation it would look even better probably.
Just a basic lowering camera move to the neanderthals would be great :)
I think there will be no animation?
Pretty amazing work considering there'd little or no pictorial evidence to work from
No tracks in the sand? That's a fairly large herd, you'd expect some visible 'trail', no?
There's a slight wind blowing, so any tracks are immediately filled up with sand (eolic processes) ;) Anyway, I doubt if that would be visible from so high.
@Kadri: no animation, it's for a 'coffeetable' book. And yes, these kind of commissions always give me the creeps, as there's no nice depth to be had and it's merely about processes that have to be shown. So I made a detailed look somewhere in them hills in B&W (they didn't have color film back then) ;) I might give them something like this as a bonus for the book (if they treat me well).
Looks fantastic Ulco! No crits from me!
Looks great Ulco.
But just be careful they may want always more for free maybe ;)
As much as i like this render,....when I first saw the left Neanderthal, I thought perhaps he was a demon god....then I saw the caribou, reindeer? so..............maybe shift em a little :) :) And more to the point...are these the guys who thought of painting cave walls, haha...early film?
Matts' relatives.................. ;D
Great journey explained, Ulco... good luck with the commission too!
:)
Thanks, Jason. First reaction to this was quite positive, some minor stuff to change.
Yes Ulco, good luck!
And the last render is somhow touching and exciting! I think I must give up TG and go outside in the fog hunting - now! :D :o :D
...with your bare hands!! ;D ;D ;D
;D These guys were pretty tough.
OK, here's the first iteration of phase 2, same area, same POV, different ground structure. I'm having a bit trouble with the internal grass, used here to fake sedges in the low areas. Where they light falls on them they are too light, where the light is a bit from opposite they are pretty dark, but kind of like I need it (left bottom). I might have to try and make some narrower polygons.
Reindeer are still too light for summer, but now at least you see them.
Any comments are welcome.
Quote from: Hannes on October 06, 2016, 03:43:03 AM
...with your bare hands!! ;D ;D ;D
Too late... I found some flintstones ;D ;D ;D
Ulco, that's already looking quite good. Good luck with the grass trouble.
I'm liking where this is going...and the client?.....
They haven't seen phase 2 yet, I want to 'perfect' it first, so hope for some feedback from you guys ;) There will be more variety, some small willows, stuff like that. Still a very cold era.
The first one was received well, streams needed some adjustments.
And speaking of flintstones; that's indeed what is in that basin, layers of super hard knobs of silex, of which these Neanderthal people made their tools.
Latest iteration phase 1 (without clouds) and another of phase 2 (ditto). I'm going to have the reindeer moved, for one.
Is the 2 different seasons? The first one looks much colder.
Wow! Gets better and better!
Colder, well seasons might be the same, but indeed, the first is the big Ice Age with ice sheet just 400k to the north, the latter the last smaller ice age, less cold. Perhaps I should try some snow remains somewhere.
Quote from: Dune on October 07, 2016, 11:14:26 AM
Colder, well seasons might be the same, but indeed, the first is the big Ice Age with ice sheet just 400k to the north, the latter the last smaller ice age, less cold. Perhaps I should try some snow remains somewhere.
Yeah, just a hint would help establish the brrrr factor.
Working on the hair stuff for elk, mammoths and neanderthals, pretty nice work in ZB. Not perfect but for some distance it'll do. This was a neanderthal morph in DAZ, but it's only for a woman, so I had to do some cosmetic surgery 8)
Quote from: Dune on October 09, 2016, 02:30:22 AM
Working on the hair stuff for elk, mammoths and neanderthals, pretty nice work in ZB. Not perfect but for some distance it'll do. This was a neanderthal morph in DAZ, but it's only for a woman, so I had to do some cosmetic surgery 8)
A trans neanderthal...how current...LOL But really, nicely done.
Nasty intermezzo 8) while I'm here.
That corpse has some baaaad arthritis in their left knee...betcha they're glad to e dead, hee hee hee
Phase 2 wasn't correct, so here's an update, still basic. Nothing dramatic, just needs to show how the landscape evolved as accurately as possible.
Wonderful effect of the ice shelf melting!
Slowly getting there.....
Quote from: Dune on October 17, 2016, 11:34:31 AM
Slowly getting there.....
everything looks better in this one...don't know if your client will approve but I see great improvement...
Dito. Better and better!
Is that big amount of animals intentional?
I wish they had you doing stuff like this for the Mesopotamia region, Ulco. What you showed of the bodies made me think of the Conan movies. Always interested in city level culture from the time periods you get into.
As usual I watch your bigger projects. I like the braided river at the beginning too.
Well, point them to me and I'll do some Mesopotamia region ;)
Yes, Nils, it's intentional; huge herd required, and this is not even that huge.
Terrain detail just amazing! Yes, in herd movement reinactments I have watched, the critters are crowded together, head to butt and knocking into each other. Don't know how you will do it w/o losing detail of terrain, but sure you will figure a way. :)
Looks great. I like especially how you made the look of the water in this one Ulco :)
Now I found out, what I was missing:
Could you perhaps try to give the herd a bit of dust. According to my experiences, a big herd of animals produces a light dust cloud even with slight dampness.
That's a nice idea. It's also cold, so some damp may well be in place.
Quote from: Dune on October 20, 2016, 08:38:55 AM
That's a nice idea. It's also cold, so some damp may well be in place.
maybe nostril steam as well if they're on the mooooove.
In the meantime, I've moved on to phase 3, and they are quite happy with this version. Some final tweaks, but veggies are okay. Only some trees suck.
A great version!
Only thing disturbing me are the birds (ducks?). Somehow they are very sharp in a strange kind and extremely saturated. Will you keep them?
But a Canada Goose, hmmmm. Is there a Euro version or do ours fly over there as well?
Looks fine, wonderful!
They're black storks, and I had to add a little (invisible) luminous plane near them to lighten up their initially totally black shadow side. A bit too much, perhaps. Thanks.
Quote from: Dune on October 26, 2016, 02:35:20 AM
They're black storks, and I had to add a little (invisible) luminous plane near them to lighten up their initially totally black shadow side. A bit too much, perhaps. Thanks.
I understand..neat trick that invisible luminous plane
Update with some more views. This is what the eagles were for. Some deer in them as well, but hard to find in this small version.
Unbelievable! Especially the first one is a geat panorama!
Brilliant work!
Very nice work Ulco.
Like the second one. Reminds me of Hudson River School paintings.
Great stuff Ulco, I especially like the "euro teepees" in the 2nd image but the eagle shot is beautiful as well.
Wonderful! The panorama is deep and and detailed with some great foliage work, with the low hanging mist adding even more depth. I think that the color values of the flying birds makes it problematic to separate them from the the foliage below. Too much saturation and they 'pop' un-naturally from the scene, too little and they 'blend' in to the foliage beneath. I suspect some sort of DOF wouldn't be acceptable to your clients. That 'top down' viewpoint displays so much terrain and distance I'm curious to see how you combine that and a sense of soaring height to the eagles. Beautiful artwork Ulco!
Thanks, guys. What do you mean by "I'm curious to see how you combine that and a sense of soaring height to the eagles", Doug? You are right that they blend in, but in nature that is often the case too. That's why I have one up against the sky. The 'problem' with this series is that I'm stuck to one POV and one FOV for every era (except for 2 detailed/zoomed in shots).
Here's a clip that kind of shows what I'm seeing. Granted the eagle is in motion which helps separate it from the ground foliage; however I'm seeing a higher albedo/specularity of the eagle which also adds to the separation. I realize you probably have some good references to work from, so I believe the image is accurate, but to my eye the eagle could use a bit more 'differentiation'.
http://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-13995020-stock-footage-ws-ts-aerial-view-of-bald-eagles-flying-over-mountain-and-dense-forest-fraser-river-british.html?src=rel/6258224:0/3p
Small quibble about a masterful scene, Great work again Ulco!
I see what you mean. The trees there have a darker, duller color variety, which makes the eagle stand out more. I might do something about it, thank you.
For us eggheads who watch those Nature series, and I am sure most of us here are, we remember that most species have a natural disguise against predators. Sure you know this with your experiences Ulco. Videographers are very fortunate to catch some of the fantastic footage available today. You are doing a wonderful job here!
Thanks.
Update. The camp is no good yet, but getting there.
Definitely getting there. Seeing your stuff feels like I am attending an art school. Always learning something about presentation, colors, balance...etc! 8)
Very nice work !
Nice progress. How big is the original Ulco?
Very nice progress.
If you wouldn't have told I wouldn't have recognized but after you said it I see that the camp looks a bit artificial.
On the other side the birds are much better than I saw in an older version.
The original(s) will be A4 size @ 300dpi, meant for a (mostly picture) book.
Quote from: Dune on November 08, 2016, 03:23:59 AM
Update. The camp is no good yet, but getting there.
but the fore ground eagle fairly jumps off the page...well done on the bird!
It's the ground and foliage distribution that has changed, not the bird. But good that it's better now. Both will be changed I just heard though :(
I like that. The bird is much more noticeable against the foliage. Once again - Great Scene!
I did a small testcrop in final resolution, and it's getting pretty nice. The murky marshwater is just a reflective shader on the ground, btw.
"The murky marshwater is just a reflective shader on the ground, btw."
Good trick, very effective.
Beautiful aerial view (or is it called a 'Drone' view nowadays?). The foliage variation and colors are superb. Simple or not, the water is subtle and very realistic. :)!!
Super. Great plant variety and shallow water effect.
Very nice!
Just excellent, the reflection is just sneaky! and brilliant!
Phase 5, same POV, first layout test. This is supposed to be the Roman period.
Quote from: Dune on November 15, 2016, 03:06:27 AM
Phase 5, same POV, first layout test. This is supposed to be the Roman period.
Slightly off topic but Ulco, did you see the post from the new user trying to figure out how to make that crops setup you have here? I wouldn't mind a clue as well. Have done it with image maps but there's always a problem with resolution from anywhere but up in the air.
Yes, and as you saw, I just replied to him. I use a series of masks here from a 16kx16k terrain in 4kx4k resolution, which is not very sharp, but good enough. The road is the hardest, but it works quite well. For little ditches in an upcoming close-up and such I likely need to make a detailed mask of just the central area, though (with the problem of getting it into the right place... a transform shader with a handle would be very helpful :P).
Quote from: Dune on November 16, 2016, 03:17:23 AM
Yes, and as you saw, I just replied to him. I use a series of masks here from a 16kx16k terrain in 4kx4k resolution, which is not very sharp, but good enough. The road is the hardest, but it works quite well. For little ditches in an upcoming close-up and such I likely need to make a detailed mask of just the central area, though (with the problem of getting it into the right place... a transform shader with a handle would be very helpful :P).
My problem was I was working from actual photos and they hadn't the resolution from anywhere but far away...and the masking I did for roads and ditches wasn't anywhere near that resolution....but now I have a big box and when my missing 24 G of RAM arrives I'll be able to work in PS at that size.
Update.
Was some days offline for business... great improvements since then!
Last of the series, WIP.
Great project. I've really enjoyed watching it progress and have had some really good ideas while watching it grow....
Terrific! Now we know what he did with his quilt!
After you marked some of the details to be improoved, I am especially curious of that result, Ulco ;)
Some of them are easy, others only doable in post, but there's more to solve, like how is that boat getting under that bridge.... building a new boat as we speak, with lowered mast and sail. It may even need some sort of harbor, more work to do.
Outch! I know such little evil things like that with the boat. I had this or similar problems so often in my film now that I can't count any more...
Folding bridge? Just an idea... :)
On the other side you need an additional house of wardens next to the bridge. And I really don't know if romans had already any kind of folding bridges.
They were smart enough....
8)!
Isn't history fun? :P
Yepp! They were smart - and obviously you're too, Ulco 8) :)
It's been a while, but in the meantime the series has been finished in hires. Book will come out later this year. Yet another era needs to be depicted before that, so here's a test. A lot of water, but the trees will be different, in zones along the river. Some ruins and new farms will be added too, replacing what's there now. Perhaps even an inundated bridge, or ice flows... who knows.
Now I'm trying to get fast flowing water in a shallow inundated depression, and a wintry sky.
Just the right transparency and reflection. Nice little ripple too :)
good luck with the fast flowing water, I'm sure you'll conquer that soon'nuff. re: the boat bridge conundrum, wouldn't they have collapsing masts to get under bridges...seems logical to me.
Yes, I've changed the mast into a collapsable one. All done ;)
Next iteration and some location tests, but it can turn out quite different in the end.
I like the trees in the water very much.
Nice developement!
How do you get so accurate with your painted shader displace, or are these image maps?
Image maps, much easier.
Quote from: DocCharly65 on March 22, 2017, 04:13:35 AM
I like the trees in the water very much.
Me too, the mirror image in the water is kinda "magical" at least to me.
Quote from: Dune on March 22, 2017, 09:21:27 AM
Image maps, much easier.
I agree but I have a hard time getting them to real world scale and not being stair-stepped along the edges for smaller features....got a trick for that Ulco?...I'm all ears and eyes on that.
You can make any size image map (16 bit for much less stepping) and relocate and resize in TG by transform shader. Resolution must be taken into account of course. The ditch around the camp is a 1x1K greyscale (which is too big, but who cares) 8-bits, because it's only a meter deep. 256 grey tones means 1m divided by 256 = 4mm per step, you don't see that. Even it it were 10m deep you wouldn't see the stepping in 8-bit if you add some fractal.
Ditch is ditched anyway, it's a prickly hedge now.
Thanks Ulco, copied into my Ulco Tips folder. Makes sense...I often forget the utility of the Transform shader in all matters....
Final update and then it's mostly done.
Quote from: Dune on March 24, 2017, 11:50:13 AM
You can make any size image map (16 bit for much less stepping) and relocate and resize in TG by transform shader. Resolution must be taken into account of course. The ditch around the camp is a 1x1K greyscale (which is too big, but who cares) 8-bits, because it's only a meter deep. 256 grey tones means 1m divided by 256 = 4mm per step, you don't see that. Even it it were 10m deep you wouldn't see the stepping in 8-bit if you add some fractal.
Ditch is ditched anyway, it's a prickly hedge now.
Saved to my TG tips folder....
Quote from: Dune on May 05, 2017, 08:54:07 AM
Final update and then it's mostly done.
Very nice and natural. Love the little details like the guy in the boat :D
These renders of you should be done in Megapixel resolution, Ulco - and 360° Panorama... Then I would sit inside and explore the whole day :)
Masterful work again Ulco!
Very nice. Enjoying the color realism.
Thanks guys. I just heard the book (local archaeology, many images, but in Dutch/Flamish) will be published in September. For those interested I'll post a website.
Up to render them big now....
Ha ha, language doesn't matter, we just look at the pictures anyway. :) Very nice, scale is terrific, but not too minute. :)
Quote from: Dune on May 06, 2017, 01:18:57 AM
Thanks guys. I just heard the book (local archaeology, many images, but in Dutch/Flamish) will be published in September. For those interested I'll post a website.
Up to render them big now....
so your computer is cooperating then, good stuff...
Realism here is really tops Ulco, well done
Well, this project has been finalized and here's some info about it (scroll down one click for some images): https://archeologie-kerkhove.be/ (https://archeologie-kerkhove.be/)
And here: http://www.snoeckpublishers.be/usite/snoeckpub_nlbe/index.asp?p=875&i=627 (http://www.snoeckpublishers.be/usite/snoeckpub_nlbe/index.asp?p=875&i=627)
And here's a brochure: https://archeologiekerkhove.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/schelde-stroom-in-verandering.pdf (https://archeologiekerkhove.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/schelde-stroom-in-verandering.pdf)
I'm afraid it's all in Dutch.
Great work Ulco :)
Cool beans man big LIKE
Well, I don't speak Dutch I can still make out "Ulco Glimmerveen" in the image credits, so that's all that matters. :D
This was a great process to follow over the last year. Wonderful results you have a achieved here. Archeology made visible AND understandable. I`ll be sure to get a closer look at the publication when I am in Aken the next time. A little trip to Gent is nice, anyway ;) Very impressive!
Cheers, Klaus