Planetside Software Forums

General => Terragen Discussion => Topic started by: cyphyr on January 29, 2007, 07:30:05 AM

Title: Dawn over the City
Post by: cyphyr on January 29, 2007, 07:30:05 AM
Hi all
Another sample of TG2's capabilities. This one took a little longer to render than I would have liked, 12hours and 43min and although theres no graineness, there seem to be horizontal artifacts, (they look like girders sticking out sideways), comming from some of the buildings. These were not in the original lightwave file and I can find no explanation for them; sugestions?? In this case if anything I think they add to the image but I would like to know why they are there.

Settings:
System: P4 3.4ghz, 1 gig ram

Render 0.75
Atmosphere samples 64
ray traced shadows on
Cululus samples 64
ray traced shadows on

I would attach the TGD file but zipped up its too much to post on the forum (1221kb) If anyones interested let me know and I'll send you the files.

Richard
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: buzzzzz on January 29, 2007, 08:49:38 AM
Tight Work!  :o
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: Volker Harun on January 29, 2007, 09:02:56 AM
I am stunned!
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: buchvecny on January 29, 2007, 09:31:37 AM
could u upload on rapidshare please?
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: MeltingIce on January 29, 2007, 10:35:23 AM
Wow thats pretty sweet.  I wonder if theres a way you can add reflective windows to the buildings, that would make this image jaw dropping.
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: oggyb on January 29, 2007, 10:46:38 AM
Wow.  The little girder things actually add to the ambience imo, even if you didn't want them there.  Surprised it only took 12 hours though, as the same thing would have taken at least a day on my computer.

M.
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: cyphyr on January 29, 2007, 10:53:43 AM
Thanks for the feedback guys.

I have uploaded the file to my server, http://www.avalonarts.co.uk/Terragen/dawn_city.htm (http://www.avalonarts.co.uk/Terragen/dawn_city.htm), maybe I'll start a terragen gallery there.

@ MeltingIce Your absolutely right reflective windows are on the way althought it will be a differant city block

Keep rendering

Richard
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: littlecannon on January 29, 2007, 11:19:17 AM
Simply stunning, that's just pushed the ever expanding boundaries of TG2 even further, great work.

Simon.
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: rcallicotte on January 29, 2007, 11:30:22 AM
Fantastic work!  I'd say this might a reason for some of your rendering time - Cumulus samples 64
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: mrwho on January 29, 2007, 04:11:56 PM
wow! great work indeed
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: Costaud on January 29, 2007, 04:36:37 PM
The kind of image I love , great work man.
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: Will on January 29, 2007, 04:45:50 PM
crazy work man!

Regards,

Will
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: tl33 on January 29, 2007, 06:28:43 PM
nice work!

:)
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: Oshyan on January 29, 2007, 10:14:55 PM
Beautiful image. If the buildings were done with a population the "girders"/horizontal lines may be related to the population detail settings. At the default setting sometimes distant objects will have small areas missing. You could try increasing the population detail but of course it will increase render time.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: hyper1 on January 29, 2007, 10:35:47 PM
Cyphyr,
I don't respond much, but for this image its really different!  I'm really glad to see a contemporary setting, and one that was so well excuted!  This was done for Vue 5I very effectively and used in part of their promo as well.  It was a series of two image, both have a slightly futuristic look.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=739257 (http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=739257)

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=513720 (http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=513720)

Of course the artist took a great deal of time and had the models of many to work with.  So please, take the time to expand on this work!
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: cyphyr on January 30, 2007, 05:29:09 AM
Thanks for the feedback gang :)

@ Oshyan: Yes I tries a smaller test scene and the "girder" look completely dissapeared on the highest setting, produced some very clear images but your right of course, definately a render sting!

@ hyper1: I am going to work further on this image or at least ont following on from it. My problem at the moment is that to get the detail in the models I have to either use VERY high resolution models or work out how to get UV mapping working (which in Lightwave seems to be broken atm ... GRR )

@ calico: I'm not so sure, the volumetric cloud layer was the first to render, did'nt take too long, but the imported model took ages to render over the top of it, odd I would have thought that the 3D Cloud layer would be the last to render but I'm probably not realy understanding the process.

I'll keep you posted

Richard
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: Tangled-Universe on January 30, 2007, 06:31:27 AM
Well, I don't know much about models etc., but maybe rendering of the models takes so long because of the high polygon count?

Martin
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: MooseDog on January 30, 2007, 11:56:07 AM

just a fantastic and imaginative image.  congrats!

i took a look at your models, and the city one at least doesn't look too hi-poly.  i suspect that tg2's facility with insane poly counts would work in your favor.

Quote from: cyphyr on January 30, 2007, 05:29:09 AM
....how to get UV mapping working (which in Lightwave seems to be broken atm ... GRR )

as to the uv-map issue, i'll share a grrrr with you.   :'(

ashame about .lwo's, but it is, afaik, scheduled to be repaired.  with obj's, it's not really intuitive.

btw, has anyone gotten an obj with several uv-maps properly textured and rendered?  i'm banging my head against a wall getting even a simple clip-mapped leaf to render properly.  .obj and .mtl seem kosher, they import fine.

perhaps i need to collapse my three uv-maps down into one for the entire mesh.
Title: Re: Dawn over the City -- post at renderosity
Post by: doneydonydone on January 31, 2007, 09:52:50 AM
hey cypher -- thanks for sharing the file

hope you dont mind i've tweaked the clouds a bit and posted another render at renderosity

i have notified members there of your generosity and that the city and atmos are both yours!!!  ;)

hope you like the swirling clouds!!

lee (Ddd)
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: cyphyr on January 31, 2007, 10:02:41 AM
Cool for sharing, were all learning here, how about posting the terragen file too, I'm interested in seeing how you tweaked the clouds and render settings
Richard
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: doneydonydone on January 31, 2007, 11:33:17 AM
hey cypher -- the updated file as you requested

i didnt change any of the atmos settings - just tweaked the hue/saturation in photoshop

the main thing i did to the clouds was to make the warp effect a lot higher in the pattern settings for the clouds

have a great week buddy!!
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: sandpiper6 on January 31, 2007, 04:21:56 PM
Here's my contribution to this thread with another render using your city, Cyphyr. ;)
Title: Re: Dawn over the City -- post at renderosity
Post by: buchvecny on January 31, 2007, 05:55:05 PM
Quote from: doneydonydone on January 31, 2007, 09:52:50 AM
hey cypher -- thanks for sharing the file

hope you dont mind i've tweaked the clouds a bit and posted another render at renderosity

i have notified members there of your generosity and that the city and atmos are both yours!!!  ;)

hope you like the swirling clouds!!

lee (Ddd)

how yo made the swirling clouds
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: hyper1 on February 01, 2007, 10:00:41 AM
Cyphyr,

I use Lightwave almost exclusively for production, however its always been a little deficit when it comes to UV Mapping.  However, there are two solutions; for buildings and such the UV mapping works fine as planer mapping works very well once you have defined a surface.  The other solution involves the use of Blender, but I don't know if you have ever used that program.  In any event I'd be glad to help you out if you would like.
hyperpoole@yahoo.com

Quote from: cyphyr on January 30, 2007, 05:29:09 AM

@ hyper1: I am going to work further on this image or at least ont following on from it. My problem at the moment is that to get the detail in the models I have to either use VERY high resolution models or work out how to get UV mapping working (which in Lightwave seems to be broken atm ... GRR )
I'll keep you posted

Richard
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: Dark Fire on February 01, 2007, 02:43:15 PM
All of these city pictures are incredible.
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: cyphyr on February 02, 2007, 06:21:01 AM
Hi Hyper1
Well I have pulled out what hair I have and I still cant get the UV mapping to work!! You say that it works fine as planar mapping but surely that would only be on one axis at at time? Can I model in Lightwave, and export to Blender and add the UV mapping (Atlas mapping) in blender and save as a OBJ from Blender and have every thing show up fine in Terragen?
If you could explain how to do UV mapping in Blender that would be just great.
Thanks
Richard
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: ello on February 02, 2007, 06:26:08 AM
WOW, this looks so cool! great atmosphere
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: hyper1 on February 02, 2007, 08:39:23 PM
Cyphyr,
It really sounds like your not naming any of your surfaces before you do any mapping.  You must do this before UV mapping with any program.  In answer to your question of course you can model in Lightwave and UV map in Blender.  I just wish I knew more about what you are trying to do.  If you answer this question specifically or show me the file your having a problem with I could probably help.
In the mean while look at these tutorials and maybe they will help.

http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/uvmapping/uvmapping/index.html (http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/uvmapping/uvmapping/index.html)

http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/uvmapping/uv_mapping/discontinuous_uv_mapping_revised.html (http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/uvmapping/uv_mapping/discontinuous_uv_mapping_revised.html)

http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/uvmapping/uv_mapping/clean_uv/index.html (http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/uvmapping/uv_mapping/clean_uv/index.html)

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/UV_Map_Basics (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/UV_Map_Basics)

http://www.biorust.com/index.php?page=tutorial_detail&tutid=85 (http://www.biorust.com/index.php?page=tutorial_detail&tutid=85)

Quote from: cyphyr on February 02, 2007, 06:21:01 AM
Hi Hyper1
Well I have pulled out what hair I have and I still cant get the UV mapping to work!! You say that it works fine as planar mapping but surely that would only be on one axis at at time? Can I model in Lightwave, and export to Blender and add the UV mapping (Atlas mapping) in blender and save as a OBJ from Blender and have every thing show up fine in Terragen?
If you could explain how to do UV mapping in Blender that would be just great.
Thanks
Richard
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: Sarge-David on February 02, 2007, 11:27:00 PM
for me, blender is bad because it does not support a model to ut2004 setting thing.
i got a free verson of maya on my computer at the momment, hardly tinkered with it.
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: cyphyr on February 04, 2007, 10:31:28 AM
I have just downloaded the shareware programme Accutrans 3D http://www.micromouse.ca/ (http://www.micromouse.ca/), (its free for a month and then $20). It wont run under Vista or XP 64Bit Edition (the sys I am writing from) and its interface is a little long in the tooth (been around the block a bit). However all that said it has an impressive array of converters (including some landscape formats although not Terragen  :( ). When I get home this evening I'll have a test run converting Lightwave output with embeded UV's to Something Terragen can read. I'll kep you posted.
Richard
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: MooseDog on February 04, 2007, 11:14:25 PM
Quote from: cyphyr on February 04, 2007, 10:31:28 AM
....I'll have a test run converting Lightwave output with embeded UV's to Something Terragen can read. I'll kep you posted.
Richard

MOST helpful.  thx a ton!  looking forward to the results.
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: Blackheart6004 on February 14, 2007, 03:32:46 PM
It seems that you've used, correct me if I'm wrong, 3DSM and the Greeble plug-in for Object Population.
Title: Re: Dawn over the City
Post by: cyphyr on February 16, 2007, 09:28:16 AM
Hi there, no the city realy was just a very quick knock up using Eki's city gen (actually the demo version) from quite a few years back in Lightwave. For low detail "fill" work its great but you have very little control over the final outcome realy.

Richard Fraser
(cyphyr)