This is just working with rocks some. Just one power fractal to give these rocks a real bumpy look to them. For fun I put the huge rock on the mountain, balancing there. That can be removed if it doesn't get popular :) I wasn't satisfied with the lighting however, since some rocks look like they're floating. I'm making a new render with different lighting, but here's the first one. Comments welcome.
2nd version here, slightly different lighting:
Thats a nice rock displacement in the foreground.
Hello jbest,
Nice start
Good surfacing in the foreground.
I like the first lighting better, it emphasizes the surface detail.
At this point, the balancing rock looks totally unbelievable for me, although I like the idea of putting one into the scene.
I think, the image needs more different sizes if rocks.
In the distance this HUGE rock seems to b surrounded by small bebbles, while in the foreground the floor is clean between those same "pebbles".
(I prefer the fake stone shader,but surely you could use populations of rock objekts for the same effect.
I think to look "natural" you need at least three sizes of rocks, better five, your main size, two sizes up, two down. The bigger the rock, the thinner the distribution of it. In such a landscape even your ballancer could look believable.)
By the way, yes, I use the free version, and even that gives my old computer loong rendertimes.
Best regards,
Jan
Thanks for the advice Jan, I'l try it!
3rd version here. There's now three fake stones shaders, with scales 10, 5, and 3. The lighting is the same as the first one.