Recent posts

#61
Terragen Discussion / Re: Pixel gaps in rendering
Last post by sboerner - March 29, 2024, 05:34:29 PM
I can understand why a filter or some other post process might product artifacts. Apparently, that is what is happening here. At least changing the filter has fixed it for now.

I also got similar artifacts when I tried to override the subdivision cache. (Just missing, black pixels, no strange patterns.) I've disabled the override and they too seem to have gone away.

One puzzling thing about the artifacts is that they always appeared in different locations. Sometimes there was just one, other times two, three or four. So they seem independent of any geometry or surface in the scene. The only constant is that they always showed up in the first 25 percent or so of the rendering.

Memory issue? My machine has 64GB of RAM, and it passed the Windows memory test I did when this all started. And the fact that they occurred on two machines tells me the problem isn't related to hardware.


#62
Image Sharing / Re: Canyon series 1
Last post by blattacker - March 29, 2024, 02:13:19 PM
Doing some quick experimentation on my end, the lambert shader does seem to take longer to render with the path tracer, but color seems to have a more pronounced effect. For reference, the experiment I did was just two simple shape shaders with no other displacement, and I tested rendering with the default "Base colours" pf shader, the default pf edited to introduce color rather than just greyscale values, a lambert shader with a grey value, and a lambert shader with a color value. All other setting remained the same. My results were:
  • Render Settings: 800 x 450; 0.5 Micropoly detail; 3 Anti-aliasing (all default settings); Path Tracer; Max paths per sample 144 (high value to approximate a "worst case scenario")
  • Greyscale PF shader: 54 seconds
  • Color PF shader: 2 minutes 43 seconds
  • Greyscale lambert shader: 2 minutes 30 seconds
  • Color lambert shader: 8 minutes 1 second
Perhaps a workaround to try it out with the path tracer would be to render it out in greyscale and then either add color in post or process it like a black and white photograph?
#63
Terragen Discussion / Re: Pixel gaps in rendering
Last post by pokoy - March 29, 2024, 10:53:44 AM
I've almost always had similar problems with sun producing pixel artifacts similar to these, and the only solution was to switch to a non-sharpening filter. 
My guess is that the places where the artifacts appear are super bright pixels produced by reflections of the sun and either the filter or the soft clip effect isn't error-free when it comes to HDR values.
#64
Terragen Discussion / Re: Pixel gaps in rendering
Last post by Dune - March 29, 2024, 02:43:37 AM
Never would have though a filter could have 'caused' it, or at least could heal it.
#65
Terragen Animation / Re: Cyan Eyed Biomes | Part 1 ...
Last post by Dune - March 29, 2024, 02:42:00 AM
Awesome. I really like the landscape and the quiet flyover. Very subtly you're getting aware that it's not a 'normal' world. Small details, such as the lapping surf are great too. It also appeals to me as I'm currently finishing a 100,000 word dystopic novel set in world after a apocalyptic drama.

Good luck with your other stories!
#66
Terragen Animation / Re: Cyan Eyed Biomes | Part 1 ...
Last post by Njen - March 28, 2024, 09:39:03 PM
Happy you liked it! It is set in a steampunk world that is long after an apocalypse, so society is getting back up and running again. I have more stories planned for this world.
#67
Terragen Animation / Re: Cyan Eyed Biomes | Part 1 ...
Last post by Doug - March 28, 2024, 08:35:39 PM
really cool

i like the broken building
#68
Terragen Animation / Cyan Eyed Biomes | Part 1 - a ...
Last post by Njen - March 28, 2024, 06:22:49 PM
It's been a while since I have posted work here, but I think this is worth the wait! Explore the rich world of Cyan Eyed (award winning animated short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2h1Mtcn9VQ) with the first in a series of breath taking flythroughs of various landscapes that feature the beauty of a world that seemingly goes on forever. Clouds drift and evolve, ley lines brim with energy, water laps at the shores, birds meander about, even the sun changes angle just a little bit. All this happens while Captain Corliss 'The Red Snake' Vail's feared skyship, The Black Cloud sails through the skies, looking for its next prey.

If you can, please watch to the end and even click through the end card as it really helps me with the Youtube algorithm.

This fully 3D environment was created and rendered in Terragen (except for the skyship comped in from 3DS Max), with all three minutes of this single continuous shot taking over 4 months to render on just two computers (I never like my computers doing noting at night).


[Edit: Make sure to watch this in its full glory on Youtube, if you play it through this forum, you may be auto given a low quality 360p version.]

#69
Terragen Discussion / Re: Pixel gaps in rendering
Last post by sboerner - March 28, 2024, 01:09:49 PM
Oh, and by the way. Changing the filter to Cubic B-Spline seems to have fixed the artifact issue. I did 3-4 renderings with no changes to any other settings, and they all look good.

One artifact did appear after I specified a custom value for the subdivision cache. But the documentation clearly warns that reserving too much memory for the cache can cause rendering issues. I'll back off on that to see if it fixes it. There is a lot of shallow water in the scene, so increasing the cache can make a big difference in rendering times.
#70
Terragen Discussion / Re: Pixel gaps in rendering
Last post by sboerner - March 28, 2024, 11:42:54 AM
For some reason one of the attachments didn't make it. Here it is.