Hope I'm doing this right...
There are three different projects/entries I'm working on and all of them are more or less flawed.
The one that has the most flaws is "New Islands CTC".[attach=1]Biggest problem are the "ruptured PF's" causing holes to appear in the surface of the terrain features (most clearly visible in the upper part of the foreground feature). And I have no clue on how to fix that... The sea foam is another issue but that is not a biggie, a different mask will cure that. The haze settings are too dense too. The algae on the lower parts of the rocks reach to high, and they also need some "glistening wetness", will try a reflective shader for that. Vegetation is another issue: Distribution, color, all require more work.
Then there is "Chinese landscape CE". [attach=2] Biggest problem is with the distant low fog/cloud: I don't like it as it is now but haven't come up with an alternative. And then there's the question "does this fit the contest theme?"... Oh, and that solitary tree on the right mountain top sure is a no-no; will drop that and think of an alternative. Also I will enable "Receive shadows from surfaces" for the foreground low fog later on in the project just to save (render)time. A small test render did look great with that feature enabled but twice the render time...?
The last WIP I'd like to present is "Cliffs themed NWDA Try 03 Stormy" [attach=3] This is the one I'm most happy with. The "dunes" need some more work to make them really look like waves. I want more light hitting the terrain features and really emphasize the rock's structure but also keep, even enhance the rays of light at the same time. That's a balancing act, I know from other projects... And maybe I'll add a small trawler partially buried in that "ocean of sand". *humming "A Horse With No Name"*