Planetside Software Forums

General => Terragen Animation => Topic started by: neuspadrin on May 06, 2010, 07:30:50 PM

Title: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on May 06, 2010, 07:30:50 PM
Just kinda mapping out some areas, and starting to put detail in.

a few todos:
- push the dock down a little
- extend nearby forest (see frame 2)
- make grass ease into path a little more
- more vegetation variety (tree types, grasses, bushes, flowers)
- more interesting scenery of unique items along path of frames 1-3 (tree stumps, fallen trees, etc)
- A few nice rock/boulders perhaps.
- bail water out of the canoe ;)
- Work on background distance scenery

attached:
-Scene after 1st day
-Scene after 2nd day

Hopefully I'll get the time I need to finish this scene and enter it.  It's currently reading day at my college, exams starting tomorrow and going til mid next week.  Then I have to pack and drive home, then I have family vacation starting that saturday for a full week, then come back and have to drive to NC to go back to my coop with IBM.  So... quite busy ;).
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: Oshyan on May 06, 2010, 11:40:16 PM
That's looking really good already. If you've come this far in such a short time, I'm sure you can finish up by the deadline. I'm glad to see a more unusual entry too, it would make an interesting animation.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: domdib on May 07, 2010, 04:47:53 AM
Wow, impressive work! My only caveat thus far is the scene is rather dark. Keep going!
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: Zairyn Arsyn on May 07, 2010, 07:28:56 AM
looks really good to me too,
looks peaceful & pleasant, i like the path/trail. :)

i look forward to seeing your next iteration
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: dandelO on May 07, 2010, 10:07:05 AM
Fantastic already. Can't wait to see this finished!
Long time - no render, Neuspadrin! Good to see you back and active again! :)
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: MGebhart on May 07, 2010, 10:20:47 AM
Excellent idea. Looking forward to the finished project.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: Tangled-Universe on May 07, 2010, 10:40:28 AM
Good start!
Perhaps you could try to add more different trees and also using more size variation.
These models are quite dark by themselves, so I usually increase the diffuse color value in the texture-shaders.
I usually find the default sun strength of 3.5 a bit low and especially in this case, along with increasing camera exposure a bit, it might be useful to increase it to 4-4.5.
This way you'll get enough detail in the shadows. The result might be a bit bland/light but you can always add contrast in post while it is difficult to retrieve detail in shadows in post.
Good luck and looking forward to your next version :)

Martin
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on May 07, 2010, 12:13:34 PM
Thanks everyone!

Yeh it is a little dark I have yet to get to playing more with lighting/atmosphere.  Currently was more laying down the basic pathway and general setup.  So far the only thing I've done to the sky is apply a cloud layer (unmodified) just so I remember that clouds cast shadows more ;).

I will probably be working on this some this weekend whenever I need a break from studying for exams.  Also going to see if my netbook can handle TG2 (*cross fingers*) at least enough to do work but not a lot of renders or anything.  As I will have only my netbook with me while on vacation.  I think screen size is where It might drive me a lil crazy.  Prob test renders too.  

My other idea is to leave my media laptop, set up my desktop to wake on lan, and then make it so i can tell the media laptop to wake up the desktop, then remote desktop in to desktop (as laptop power consumption wayyyyyyyy lower then my desktop ;)).  Though that would get really iffy and depend on my internet speeds while on vacation how slow the interface could be.

****
just tested tg2 on netbook.  Looks like theres some ui issues when using it at 1024x600.  :(  Though I can tell it to go to 1024x768, which works just has that annoying scrolls the screen as it can only display a portion of it at a time.  The 168 pixels make all the difference, lol.  And doing a render of the default scene (with the terrain generated), takes 26 seconds on my desktop.... 10 minutes 4 seconds on the netbook... Guess there is that downside of atom processors ;).  Looks like maybe I'll lug my core 2 duo laptop as it can do the default scene in 1 min 26 seconds.  Except the whole reason I bought the netbook was that that laptop has heat issues as its fan is dying and my vacation is on a beach ;).
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on May 08, 2010, 09:24:34 PM
Day 3:

The sun came out.  Variety of plants were added, and mixed in some new grasses.  Miracle grow applied to surrounding area increasing the grass and trees heading off to the distance.

todo:
- work on dock model (I suck at modeling, but trying to do it ;))
- get some better lilac seeds, theres a few tree/lilac collisions (see frame 5)
- cut some pesky grass weeds on the path near the dock.
- better detail on path.
- more work on vegetation/positioning/etc.
- continue making sure background looks ok (still a few spots)
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: domdib on May 09, 2010, 05:05:07 AM
I love the path already, very realistic. And yes, the dock looks weirdly wavy from the side - you could always makes sure that you don't have that side-on shot.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: Tangled-Universe on May 09, 2010, 08:20:50 AM
Looking good so far. You're at a quite nice pace already, so you'll probably have plenty time with detailing the scene and to focus more on lighting, since that's always a key aspect in having a scene that "works" or not.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: Henry Blewer on May 09, 2010, 08:24:32 AM
Great looking scene so far. I have the most trouble getting the lighting right on my stuff. What works for the bare landscape doesn't seen right when objects get involved.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on May 09, 2010, 10:45:17 AM
Quote from: njeneb on May 09, 2010, 08:24:32 AM
Great looking scene so far. I have the most trouble getting the lighting right on my stuff. What works for the bare landscape doesn't seen right when objects get involved.

Yup, I generally try to do lighting the very last, because you never know where a big shadow will pop up from a object or a cloud, or how it will look across another object, etc.

Anyone got any tips for modeling a dock well?
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: Tangled-Universe on May 09, 2010, 02:46:00 PM
Generally I do lighting among the first things.
I create the terrain, POV and then the lighting.
Different lighting conditions often require other colours for surfacing for example.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on May 09, 2010, 03:33:04 PM
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on May 09, 2010, 02:46:00 PM
Generally I do lighting among the first things.
I create the terrain, POV and then the lighting.
Different lighting conditions often require other colours for surfacing for example.

It depends on how big a role the lighting could play on the colors generally when I'll start doing lighting.  For sunset/rise conditions and such, usually I set up lighting beforehand such that I can make sure I get the right look I want with the shaders.  But generally lighting is the last basic thing i do to the scene before going through again to everything with details/tweaks.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on May 11, 2010, 08:22:22 PM
Not sure when I'll next be able to update this for quite awhile... Will see what I can manage to do on vacation, but also just been too busy this week with exams.

Tomorrow is last day of exams though! yayyyy!  But then vacation so not as much terragen :( Perhaps at the end of the month I'll get a chance to do day 4 and on.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: airflamesred on May 12, 2010, 03:42:20 PM
neuspadrin
If you need a deck/jetty I can make one for you. Just let me know how big it is.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on May 17, 2010, 01:58:24 PM
Just an update on my progress....



... or lack thereof ;)

View from the house we are staying at.  Doesn't even capture the beautifulness that great since its a crap camera and I don't have photoshop on this computer to do some color manipulation to get it closer to the what it really looks like.  The water is gorgeous here. 

Anyways back to laying around doing nothing.  Such a hard week ahead.

As to airflamesred, I'll try to give it a few more shots before giving up ;) but thanks for the offer.  Might hit you up later on it.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: rcallicotte on May 17, 2010, 02:50:18 PM
Interesting idea and lighting could indeed be a fascinating factor of this animation.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on May 17, 2010, 03:43:56 PM
Hmm, was just looking at the previous renders on this netbook, and perhaps I need to do a color adjust on my desktop monitor.  I now see why everyone might've been saying "wow dark".  On my desktop monitor it was a little on the dark side but not too bad... But woah dark now on netbook (even checked to make sure my backlight was on max). 

Hmm, will need to check that when I get home.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: Henry Blewer on May 25, 2010, 08:22:01 AM
The view from the house you are staying at looks like it is on a different planet. Everything is a curious blue hue.

Looks like a nice place though.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on May 25, 2010, 03:45:15 PM
Quote from: njeneb on May 25, 2010, 08:22:01 AM
The view from the house you are staying at looks like it is on a different planet. Everything is a curious blue hue.

Looks like a nice place though.

thats the bad camera.

Anyways, hopefully I'll get some progress on this scene this week or perhaps this weekend.  Mainly depending on if I stay in NC this weekend or if I head home.  If I stay I'll have nothing better to do but work on it and kill time, but otherwise won't have my render machine if I go home for the memorial day weekend.  Still have yet to decide if I really wanna drive back to visit the parents.  Afterall I just did a week long vacation with them.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on July 15, 2010, 03:44:20 PM
Saw this on my google calendars that it's due.

Life has been pretty hectic recently been very busy and the contest has slipped my mind.  Sad I wasn't able to finish this for the competition.  I will definitely keep the project around and try to work on it some though.

G'luck to those who did get to submit.  The other projects look great.
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: Zairyn Arsyn on July 15, 2010, 03:56:29 PM
The Contest deadline has been extended ya know,
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=10254.0
thank you world cup.

btw- i didn't submit either, well not yet. :D ;D
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on August 06, 2010, 01:59:53 PM
Well I worked a little more on it, but still havn't done much.  I know theres plenty of time to go but I just don't feel inspiration on what I was doing from before.

Also I got starcraft 2... been eating time :P
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: FrankB on August 06, 2010, 05:02:39 PM
starcraft will still be there when the contest is long gone ;-)

soooooo.... go for the contest first, I'd say :-)

Cheers,
Frank
Title: Re: Going Fishing WIP
Post by: neuspadrin on August 06, 2010, 06:36:03 PM
I'll try, haha.  The single player campaign is very well done though, great story kinda hooks you in.