Hello everyone,
This is my first real render with TG2 although I've been tinkering with it from the hour when the preview was released. :)
This was the first render I actually got to a stage worth rendering at full quality, I've been watching the amazing talent on these forums and am glad to finally post something ;)
http://apacheproductions.net/SaharaStorm.jpg (http://apacheproductions.net/SaharaStorm.jpg)
Any comments/ critique appreciated.
Thanks to David Burnett's thread on function landscapes, it cleared up quite a bit about using the displacement shader.
Looks great. 8) Would you mind sharing how you achieved your sand? (I don't know much about the functions)
wooow, that looks great!!!
Any tips on how to make that sand?? it looks amazing
Great job! That's a nice way to start off your time here ;).
off to a great start there, you may want to make the dunes bigger though.
Regards,
Will
Thanks guys!
Let's see if I can explain my method for that sand,
The texture itself is quite simple, its a fake stones shader with very small rocks and a very high density. The stone color defines the color of the sand. The settings I used specifically were .032 for scale and 5 for density. You can mainly tweak stone scale to define how course you want your sand. My first few renders had it looking like gravel with stone scale at .06 . I have found that after increasing density to 5-10, increasing it much more does not seem to make much difference at all. Keep in mind, with this method the sand texture is heavily dependent on your detail setting. I rendered it at .85. Low details really make this texture look completely different. Another thing to be aware of is your position above the sand. To get the right look it will matter alot. Moodflow displayed a method where he tied the fake stones shader into a reflective shader to give the sand specular highlights. I tried it and it did look great, but I couldn't stand the 12+ hours of extra render time that shader promises.
The rifts are where the functions come into place. I will share with you the clip file I used for the function plugging into my displacement shader. This was heavily based on functions provided by David Burnett in the tgd of his function created terrain, so remember, all credit for this portion lies with him. I modified it here and there to fit my needs but it still follows his model. To really learn more about this I would suggest you look at his thread though, not mine. In my version I have labeled the various constants to show what parts of the displacement they will effect.
The larger stone scale you use the more displacement you will need on the rifts to compensate. Make sure you use a high detail when blending these two effects.
Here's the clip file (http://apacheproductions.net/Rifts.tgc)
Hope this helps guys.
Just a small criticism of the image: I'm failing to appreciate any movement in the sand storm. I have no idea how that problem could be fixed, but I feel it is a problem...
great work on the ripples
Quote from: Dark Fire on March 01, 2007, 01:49:55 PM
Just a small criticism of the image: I'm failing to appreciate any movement in the sand storm. I have no idea how that problem could be fixed, but I feel it is a problem...
I'm not a fan really of putting people or animals into images, just for the fact that it's so hard to get them looking right. And they usually look out of place.
However, :D what if this had a person in it, fighting against the wind with their arm up over their face... just a picture that popped into my head when I read your post Dark Fire.
I do like the scene marrahki and personally don't think it really needs anything else ;) ;D
Quote from: §ardine on March 01, 2007, 06:35:43 PM
Quote from: Dark Fire on March 01, 2007, 01:49:55 PM
Just a small criticism of the image: I'm failing to appreciate any movement in the sand storm. I have no idea how that problem could be fixed, but I feel it is a problem...
I'm not a fan really of putting people or animals into images, just for the fact that it's so hard to get them looking right. And they usually look out of place. However, :D what if this had a person in it, fighting against the wind with their arm up over their face... just a picture that popped into my head when I read your post Dark Fire.
I do like the scene marrahki and personally don't think it really needs anything else ;) ;D
That would be great - a person fighting the wind, with their arm over their face and billowing and rippling clothes, would make it look great! :D
very interesting peice ,...maybe a couple of those rolling dried up hay things you see in western films blowing past ...ya know what i mean right ? lol
Great sand, and helpful explanation. Thanks for sharing.
Quote from: Que on March 02, 2007, 08:28:08 PM
very interesting peice ,...maybe a couple of those rolling dried up hay things you see in western films blowing past ...ya know what i mean right ? lol
I know what you mean, but I don't know what they are called either...
Tumbleweeds.
Quote from: Dark Fire on March 03, 2007, 03:13:19 PM
Quote from: Que on March 02, 2007, 08:28:08 PM
very interesting peice ,...maybe a couple of those rolling dried up hay things you see in western films blowing past ...ya know what i mean right ? lol
I know what you mean, but I don't know what they are called either...
That's it! Thanks for the enlightenment...
Great image & thanks for the tips ;)