I tried to depict a dry scene with a coming storm/rain-cloud which will end the drought and will turn all the grasses green again.
It's also a little bit of a WIP in regard to the clouds. With a little help from Hetzen I've found a way to emphasize billow-shapes in clouds, but it is far from perfect, so that still needs some work. I'll continue with that after my next work, because I need to move on to something else :)
Rendered at detail 0.9, AA6 with AA8 for foreground grasses, 96 atmo samples and detail 1 for clouds. Took around 7 hours on my quad 2.4GHz.
Cheers,
Martin
very convincing scene Martin, the cloud(s) look great, any tips about the billowy shapes?
great looking, as I said before, Martin. My only critical comment is that the cloud lighting is not quite there yet. I haven't had the time yet to look into it, but eventually will :)
In general this is a very nice scene, and that also goes for the great vegetation and foreground.
Cheers,
Frank
Thanks Jason and Frank :)
Frank, what do you think is not right yet about the lighting so far?
Very nice, although it might have benefited from some tonemapping to reduce the area of over-exposure in the cloud, which tends to pull the eye.
I'm not sure I understand the cloud lighting observation as well. I would like to hear a detailed explanation concerning this topic.
Thanks Marc & Dom :)
I am not sure if there is really a problem... This is a very nice image!
The clouds are maybe a little to much illuminated .
But you could say this was i was after and i had no problem with that ;)
haha, you guys are funny - demanding a detailed explanation :D
Ok, here we go. It's obvious that the whites on the right side of the cloud are too blown out (if that's the right term). Relative to that, some areas on the shadow side seem a tad too dark or stained, which means the bright and the dark colors in this cloud don't go along with each other in an optimal way. Sorry this doesn't help you, I realize that, but I'll have a closer look later. This is already very good and it's not easy to optimize.
Cheers,
Frank
Quote from: FrankB on August 10, 2010, 10:15:59 AM
haha, you guys are funny - demanding a detailed explanation :D
Ok, here we go. It's obvious that the whites on the right side of the cloud are too blown out (if that's the right term). Relative to that, some areas on the shadow side seem a tad too dark or stained, which means the bright and the dark colors in this cloud don't go along with each other in an optimal way. Sorry this doesn't help you, I realize that, but I'll have a closer look later. This is already very good and it's not easy to optimize.
Cheers,
Frank
Ghehe, exactly the crit I was expecting :) Funny though, this is kind of your latest cumulus-cloud setup. Didn't touch lighting that much, only heavy fiddling with fractals.
Anyhow, not really relevant.
It's not so obviously blown out as you think. Yes it's white, pure white, but that doesn't mean it is either over-exposed or not correct.
Google for clouds and you will see that they are *very* white in overall. Especially the thicker cumulus type.
If that doesn't convince you, then on a clear cumulus day watch outside and see for yourself.
The shapes in a cloud are very contrasty, but the colours aren't that contrasty.
However, I see your point and I know how to improve it, so I'll give a try.
It's mostly because of TG2's crappy glow system which makes it kind of impossible to not have (more) glow on the clouds nearby the sun.
Set both glow settings to 0 (also in atmo) and see what I mean. There's always glow from the sun on the cloud.
(same goes for specularity, disable it in the sunlight, but you can still see it a bit)
With a bit of luck I can post an update tomorrow :)
I think the glow can be controlled with a distance shader. The problem is getting the glow on the right side of the clouds...
Quote from: njeneb on August 10, 2010, 11:06:07 AM
I think the glow can be controlled with a distance shader. The problem is getting the glow on the right side of the clouds...
Thanks Henry. I can't think of a way to do that actually?
Maybe a sunlight controlled by a distance shader with the camera located the same place as the sun? I may have to be a lamp type light...
I have seen images done that seem to use this method. They have spectacular color in the cloud layers.
You know, it seems to be a purely subjective observation. I wouldn't change a thing.
It seems the edges of the clouds are a bit blurry. Do you think it would be better to make them a little sharper?
It's great, but the title does not fit the image. My eyes are also drawn to the cloud, but it must be the stark contrast against the deep blue sky. Just an observation. 8)
Quote from: otakar on August 10, 2010, 05:36:19 PM
It's great, but the title does not fit the image. My eyes are also drawn to the cloud, but it must be the stark contrast against the deep blue sky. Just an observation. 8)
Thanks :)
That's perhaps a difference in interpretation. With the title I meant that there's rain coming, hence the building cumulus which means nasty weather is on its way.
The stark contrast is an esthetic choice. I like to have this contrast and even though it will not occur that often in real life that such clouds build up in such a clear sky, it really does happen. The most accurate/logical choice would be a more denser and less bright blue atmosphere, but since I know these situations definitely can occur and that it suits my taste better I chose to do it this way :)
Fantastic image, Martin. No crits at all from me. To make the one cloud somewhat less stark, you could add some wispy high cloud, as you often see when weather is about to turn nasty.
---Dune
very good! no crits for me too just photoshop it with inner shadow it will look so real
Nice vista. My problem with TG clouds is the clamping of fractals with the cloud node. Top and bottom. I have a sneaky suspicion that this scene won't look as good if you panned the camera around. I have some ideas on how you might be able to cookie cut the cloud tops to get some more variation, but always end up with the same problem of adding billows to a basic cloud shape. I have an R&D day tomorrow I'm going to have a play with this, if you're on msn, give us a shout.
That's exactly the problem.
Unfortunately my days off are over, so I'm at work tomorrow.
If you'd like I can send you some settings by e-mail, since I can dream these by now.
Cheers,
Martin
Sod's law ;D (wiki). I'm going to concentrate on getting shape variation, so your lighting settings will be very usefull on the end run. I had some success with some blues the other day, but I want to have a go and see how a heightfield may work.