The image here uses Ryan Archer's 'Golden Forest' tutorial for a dramatic lighting effect ( http://www.archer-designs.com/tutorials/terragen2/making-of-golden-forest/index.html ) and, is the basis for a brighter scene with a POV adjustment. I elevated the sun and reduced the camera light exposure from 3 to 2.53. The camera's basic default is 1.
The vegetation includes three populations of Walli's pines from his plant pack which you can download at the Planetside forum. Also, one population of his Dry Shrubs was used which are available at NWDA.
The one issue I have is with the foliage of the small pine in the right/bottom foreground. Most notably the straight lines.
I agree about the pine, but why not take another object? I like the scene! A few suggestions: a few patches of really green mosses on the rocks (they are too gray overall), some grasses in between, and change the window shader to a more reflective one. They now look like there's a heavy smoker inside :P Replace default shader by water shader and reflective shader where RT is unchecked.
Quote from: Dune on October 30, 2010, 02:41:44 AM
I agree about the pine, but why not take another object? I like the scene! A few suggestions: a few patches of really green mosses on the rocks (they are too gray overall), some grasses in between, and change the window shader to a more reflective one. They now look like there's a heavy smoker inside :P Replace default shader by water shader and reflective shader where RT is unchecked.
Thanks Ulco for the good suggestions, I will try them. Ha ha, I'm a pipe smoker and that's why the windows look the way they do - not to mention the tar on my monitor.
not to mention the tar on my monitor. :) I have that also.
The only real crit I have is the logs and the roof shingles. They seem to use the same texture. If the shingles are old, I would add a bit of moss.
One of Marc Gebhart's pines would look good where the small pine is.
great great start !
Quote from: njeneb on October 30, 2010, 08:17:38 AM
not to mention the tar on my monitor. :) I have that also.
The only real crit I have is the logs and the roof shingles. They seem to use the same texture. If the shingles are old, I would add a bit of moss.
One of Marc Gebhart's pines would look good where the small pine is.
Thanks Henry, I will be playing with this some more later and testing the suggestions you folks made.
Quote from: Seth on October 30, 2010, 10:32:22 AM
great great start !
Thanks Seth ...hopefully the WIP will improve.
very good indeed. I would like to point out the dirt on the ground. Well done, except that I would decrease the size of the voronoi noise in that (at least it looks as if voronoi was used). Colors are great, remind me of Ryan's Dirt Pack.
Cheers,
Frank
Thanks Frank. You guessed right, it is Ryan's 'Dirt Pack' that I used. I will address this issue while working more on the image.
very nice scene, great mood.
agree with Walli, looking forward to see where this goes next, Bob....
Have any new updates for us Bob?
Quote from: Thelby on November 01, 2010, 10:51:35 AM
Have any new updates for us Bob?
Hi Mark,
Almost finished except for the window reflectivity issue. Will work on it today although I'm not sure whether I'll be able to achieve the effect as explained by Dune; and, comprehend the thread you suggested ...we'll see.
Quote from: Dune on October 30, 2010, 02:41:44 AM
I agree about the pine, but why not take another object? I like the scene! A few suggestions: a few patches of really green mosses on the rocks (they are too gray overall), some grasses in between, and change the window shader to a more reflective one. They now look like there's a heavy smoker inside :P Replace default shader by water shader and reflective shader where RT is unchecked.
I appreciate your suggestion Ulco; however, I'm wondering if you could give me a more clear 'how to' regarding the "
Replace default shader by water shader and reflective shader where RT is unchecked.". I have addressed a number of suggestions given here with excellent results. The windows issue remains; and, I'm determined to resolve it. All you folks out there have been very helpful and I sure do appreciate it.
Bob
Looks very promising. I can already imagine having a cabin like this somewhere ;)
Just unhook the default shader, and attach a reflective shader. Uncheck ray-traced reflections. Then add a water shader (into the reflective shader's input), set all first numbers to 0 (waves and such). The transparency should be very high, 0.99, and the decay distance say 100000 (it'll change in something with an 'e',). Then you have transparent windows.
Quote from: Dune on November 02, 2010, 04:22:28 AM
Just unhook the default shader, and attach a reflective shader. Uncheck ray-traced reflections. Then add a water shader (into the reflective shader's input), set all first numbers to 0 (waves and such). The transparency should be very high, 0.99, and the decay distance say 100000 (it'll change in something with an 'e',). Then you have transparent windows.
Thank you so much Ulco. After doing this, I take it then I must reconnect the Log Cabin model's shaders above the glass shaders to the reflective shader's input..
I did a full render last night just to check it out and it is looking pretty good. I think I'll darken it just a bit; reduce coverage of grasses; and, add the reflective and water shaders. Again, I really appreciate your help. Another learning experience for me.
Bob
You should also uncheck 'double sided surface' in the object you're applying the transparency shaders to, Bob, or else you will only get the reflective properties from the transparency shader.
* In fact, scratch that. ^^ It seems not to be required to do this any more. It used to be but I just retested it and it works fine even with a double sided object.
* Edit: Unless the object I used to test it again was only one sided any way, back soon...
Quote from: dandelO on November 02, 2010, 01:02:37 PM
* In fact, scratch that. ^^ It seems not to be required to do this any more. It used to be but I just retested it and it works fine even with a double sided object.
* Edit: Unless the object I used to test it again was only one sided any way, back soon...
Thanks for this information Martin. I'm much closer to having a finished product.
* It doesn't actually seem to matter about unchecking DSS anymore. Sorry for that un-required nonsense! :D
Quote from: dandelO on November 02, 2010, 01:23:13 PM
* It doesn't actually seem to matter about unchecking DSS anymore. Sorry for that un-required nonsense! :D
Not at all Martin, your input here is always a big help for us.
Thanks to all of you for your support resulting in the changes I've made. Special thanks to:
• Dune -Through his suggestions I added a grass patch population which made a nice improvement; and, added a reflective and water shaders to the windows of the cabin which though his guidance worked out real nice.
• njeneb - His suggestion of adding a different low tree resulted in my adding a close-up of the same tree at the right of the image. The shingles now have some moss patches thanks to my friend Thelby who Photoshoped in some moss on the cabin's shingles shaders. Henry, the shaders/textures for the shingles and logs are different. The colors are close to being the same; but, I think because of the distance, they kind of look the same.
• FrankB - Through his suggestion I reduced the voronoi noise and mud bumps by 1/2 for improving their scale.
• Thelby - For his inspiration of using a cabin for this scene; and, his work adding moss for the shingles shaders.
• Ryan Archer - For his tutorial 'Golden Forest' which became the basis for this scene.
• dandelO - For his running a check on some settings; and overall, for some of the things I've learned from his information here at the forum.
In all, I'm pleased with the image and the knowledge I've gained creating it.
Bob
I still think you can still improve. Reduce the size of the grass to half or a third, get some fill light onto the trunks (or lighten up the object's trunks), and you now also have a problem with the glass, as you can see the roof through it. Also downstairs, but that's less noticeable. Due to the construction of the cabin of course. I'd suggest getting the smoker inside again ;D
What you could do is give the windows a color after all, dark gray, and attach a very reflective shader (reflectivity 10?), so it only reflects. Or get a plane object behind the glass, and let is shine (luminosity), or project an image (of the smoker in his room) onto it with a camera... all sorts of (difficult, but workable) solutions.
I must say I did a fantastic job suggesting things. Thanks for rendering the image. ;D
I agree with Dune on the grass. His idea to put a plane behind the windows is also a good one. Changing the window reflectivity to 10 sounds like a very long render time, even with the comparatively small window area. The lighting seems good to me.
I love the lighting and the vegetation.
Quote from: Dune on November 03, 2010, 04:38:53 AM
I still think you can still improve. Reduce the size of the grass to half or a third, get some fill light onto the trunks (or lighten up the object's trunks), and you now also have a problem with the glass, as you can see the roof through it. Also downstairs, but that's less noticeable. Due to the construction of the cabin of course. I'd suggest getting the smoker inside again ;D
What you could do is give the windows a color after all, dark gray, and attach a very reflective shader (reflectivity 10?), so it only reflects. Or get a plane object behind the glass, and let is shine (luminosity), or project an image (of the smoker in his room) onto it with a camera... all sorts of (difficult, but workable) solutions.
Ok Ulco, you have read my thoughts both about the grass and the windows. This image is headed for a little more work and to a final, final. Thank you for pointing these things out.
Looking very good Bob :)
I second Dune's advices and I'm looking forward to your next version.
I never used windows before in TG2, so I have no idea if this idea will work, but can't you simply reduce the transparency of the window from 0.99 to, I don't know, 0.9 or something?
It's cool to see a little bit of the inside in between the glossy reflections of the surroundings.
For brightening up the lighting you could also try this at a later point maybe:
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=10869.msg113503#msg113503 (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=10869.msg113503#msg113503)
Good luck!
Martin
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on November 03, 2010, 04:49:32 PM
Looking very good Bob :)
I second Dune's advices and I'm looking forward to your next version.
I never used windows before in TG2, so I have no idea if this idea will work, but can't you simply reduce the transparency of the window from 0.99 to, I don't know, 0.9 or something?
It's cool to see a little bit of the inside in between the glossy reflections of the surroundings.
For brightening up the lighting you could also try this at a later point maybe:
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=10869.msg113503#msg113503 (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=10869.msg113503#msg113503)
Good luck!
Martin
Thank you Martin for jumping in. I've read through your suggested thread and find it interesting. As of now, I'm just about at the point of satisfaction with some of the changes I've made. A few more test tweaks and cropped renders; and, I think this will be a final, final. It is interesting that the image has taken on a whole new look with these changes. Hopefully, I should have the final render sometime tomorrow.
I've been interrupted by having some dental work done today and have a lot of catching up to do with this work; and, reading through some of the new threads.
Bob
I feel much better about this one. The suggestions offered by 'Dune' were applied and included the following:
• The cabin windows now include a gray color shader to which a reflectivity is attached with a setting of 10.
• The grass patches size were reduced and spacing reduced.
• Added a fill light - a sun 180 degrees opposite the facing sun set at 1/2 the elevation of the facing sun; and with strength set very low.
• Finally, the tree trunks' bark ( in the model's Paers) is set to be much lighter.
This was a great learning experience; a project to refer to for future creations.
Bob
Great work here. I have enjoyed watching you develop this.
Quote from: njeneb on November 04, 2010, 11:29:59 PM
Great work here. I have enjoyed watching you develop this.
Thank you Henry, it was a rewarding experience,
It's progress has been very interesting, you've done a great job. Looking very nice now. But.... still I think the windows can be made really reflective, so you'll see the trees reflected. If you care another try, why not attach a water shader and reflective shader, and do some testing. I know it can be done, like in this render of mine. Except where this is really transparent.
Quote from: Dune on November 05, 2010, 05:07:17 AM
It's progress has been very interesting, you've done a great job. Looking very nice now. But.... still I think the windows can be made really reflective, so you'll see the trees reflected. If you care another try, why not attach a water shader and reflective shader, and do some testing. I know it can be done, like in this render of mine. Except where this is really transparent.
Hello Ulco,
I've tried numerous settings with different node connections to no avail. I'm stumped on this one trying to get reflections on the windows. Any suggestions?
Bob
Yes. It's very simple actually. Never mind the loose water shader, that's just there to show it's settings in a screendump. Perhaps you could even up the reflectivity to 2 (or 10)...
Quote from: Dune on November 06, 2010, 04:46:11 AM
Yes. It's very simple actually. Never mind the loose water shader, that's just there to show it's settings in a screendump. Perhaps you could even up the reflectivity to 2 (or 10)...
I can hardly wait to try this. I was working with the surface shader (gray color), water shader, and the reflectivity shader from the last suggestion you made. Here, you use only the water shader. Hope this works out for my image. I thank you very much for this suggestion Ulco; I'll be getting back here to report the results.
Bob
Here is the image showing the adjusted windows reflections using the water shader alone. The sub-surface transparency was reduced from 0.99 to 0.49 reducing the ability to see through the windows. The quality of the quick render image is not very good - I just used the Windows 7 'snipping tool' to produce it.
Thanks again Ulco for your suggestion on this.
Bob
You're welcome, and this is indeed much better.