This is based on Schmeerlap's Ben McDuff tutorial and Frank B's clouds. Thank you both!
There are only three tree pops so far. 1 of Walli's and 2 of Marc Gebhart's.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1025/4732750999_4c8303cef2_o.jpg
not bad, my friend, not bad! The clouds look better than mine :D
You need to either increase exposure, or fiddle witht he exr output and increase shadow highlights, though. Or both.
cheers,
Frank
great clouds !!!
Thanks guys. I changed the cloud coverage for a 1920 x 1080 render. It's much brighter.
Superb clouds!
yup, the clouds are a winner!
Those clouds are great. Perhaps some reseeding until you get a small glimmer of sun shining on the terrain.
I am rendering now with a new POV and cloud coverage. I forgot to change the exposure, but I should be able to fix this in post.
New render.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njeneb/4741658751/#/photos/njeneb/4741658751/lightbox/
the first one was far better to my eyes
yeah, you have exagerated the lighting in this one, it does not have enough shadow and contrast. Now it looks quite artificial. Hard to put my finger on it exactly.
I forgot to change the exposure on the camera. It is set very high from the first render. The overcast sky made that necessary. I did not notice it until I was a day into the render; I am getting ready to make adjustments.
do you still have the P4, Henry?
Yep, old reliable. Ami is still getting the job done. (slower than I'd like. It would be great to do more large size test renders.)
I adjusted the contrast. It's a little better... :-\
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njeneb/4742963343/#/photos/njeneb/4742963343/lightbox/
if you want you can send me or post the tgd and I tweak how I think it should look like.
The sky is grand, but the rest needs work. It's mostly the missing or weak shadows that spoil it. And the distribution of the white shader.
Frank
Sure, have fun with it. I'll post it in the file sharing area.
Here's the link to the file sharing area.
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=10185.msg105665#msg105665
I made the changes FrankB suggested. I also changed the POV. This was a test render with render quality set at 0.325, AA 3.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njeneb/4745133571/sizes/o/
Very nice, Henry. What I would suggest about the water is to decrease the wave size and the roughness to virtually null and add a blended small scale perlin to get some areas of windblown wavelets, or use the patch function. I would also decrease the reflection of the water somewhat (0.7-0.8) to get rid of the seemingly noisy water surface. But it's just an idea...
---Dune
I think the final render will be more satisfactory. It's nearly done at 1024 x 576.
This is the last render of this I am doing. For now anyway, if I get brain dead sometime I'll do another.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njeneb/4749628131/sizes/o/in/photostream/
looks very good now, but a) shame you left out the clouds which were great, and b) the rock texture is not "there" yet. ;)
One more time, Henry, just one more :D
Ohhh!!! :'(
Ok, once more. I am going to randomize the heightfield and change the water.
QuoteOne more time, Henry, just one more
Once you're in, you're in, and we push you to the limit, Henry!
There was a SKA band who sang "Too much pressure". Anyhow, I am working on it. I have a new random hieghtfield, improved color and displacement, and I am working on the clouds now.
This last render is sweet.
That last image shows the great progress you have made Henry.
Still working on the Duff terrain. I changed the steepness of the heightfield. I also made some changes to the surfacing color and displacement.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njeneb/4760511251/#/photos/njeneb/4760511251/lightbox/
The low clouds and the plant populations still need some work.
Completely different, but very nice, from what I see at the small image! Post it larger if you're further, will you?
Nice developement process here!
Here it is in 1280 x 720. http://www.flickr.com/photos/njeneb/4760511251/sizes/o/in/photostream/
I'm am not sure I am too fond of where Flickr seems to be heading.
Update. I am looking for opinions.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njeneb/4765484059/sizes/o/in/photostream/
Over all Henry it looks like you have a winner here. Great scale and lighting. Like the cloud set up a lot. The terrain colors are really cool. To me it looks like you can move on to a new project.
Thanks Marc. I think a full High Def image would be great. It'll take forever, but I'll render it in crops.
It really looks great, I agree with Marc, but may I be a nag? It might be the sunlight streaming into my workspace here, but the front woody area seems very dark and a bit 'even' to me. It lacks some focal point, something to attract your attention, so to speak. A single rocky outcrop, a pile of boulders, a little stream or lake, a cluster of differently colored shrubs/trees. Mind you, I do like the overall image, it looks very natural and realistic!
---Dune
Ulco, I was thinking along the same lines. The foreground is unfinished. I was thinking of adding train tracks, a wagon road, something... I just could not decide what.
I plan on doing some work with Blender. Maybe something appropriate will emerge. We have a lot of natural gas drilling starting in my area. Maybe a drilling rig?
Yeah, I think a drilling rig would be an excellent idea, something that really 'spoils' the landscape, but will add interest at the same time. Some leakage oil puddles and the barrels I saw on the forum, barren terrain with tracks and heaps of rubble. Great. Perhaps a free rig can be found on the web...
A drilling rig and its detritus is a good focal idea. A simpler alternative for a focal point might be a cabin (I'm sure there are plenty freebie cabins about, you may have made one or two yourself in Blender, it'll be in the mid distance so it needn't be too well defined) at the foothills with a path leading up to it. The path will also help draw the viewer into the scene. As is this is an impressive rocky mountain scene.
John
There is a new resident here who is obsessed with unicorns....
I was panning the camera around in Terragen 2. This is one of the locations in the heightfield. I did a test render (this one) at render detail 0.325 and an AA setting of 4.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njeneb/4776872834/sizes/o/in/photostream/
A pleasing vista. Viewing a mountain over the top of nearby trees is always conducive to a well balanced scene. Nice composition.
John
Yes, this is a good viewpoint. Maybe a little snow on the tops?
A snow scene may be in the works. This area I was working on creating is high altityde, but little or no snow cover; being in the southwest of America.