Planetside Software Forums

General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: Seth on January 24, 2012, 04:00:08 PM

Title: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Seth on January 24, 2012, 04:00:08 PM
Coming back on TG2 and still wanting to play with black and white.
I hope to be able to render that scene as an animation sooner or later... but I guess it will be in colour :)
anyway, this is just a WIP so I will post any further iterations ^^

Cheers guys !
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: inkydigit on January 24, 2012, 04:28:22 PM
loving the mood here already Franck!

:)
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Oshyan on January 24, 2012, 05:34:57 PM
This works very well as a black and white. Wonderful, dreamy feel. Are there heavy shadows from the clouds on the terrain, leaving those small areas of trees in the light at the shore, or is there something else creating that effect?

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Jo Kariboo on January 24, 2012, 05:44:49 PM
Très belle effet de lumière et d'ombre. La teinte des arbres me rappelle le film noir et blanc infra-rouge.
Very beautiful light effect. The hue of the trees makes me think the black and white film infra-red.
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Seth on January 24, 2012, 06:19:52 PM
thanks guys :)

the heavy shadows are done by the clouds but I increased the contrast of the render in postwork,
because it was not as good in the raw render.
And, working in black and white, I change the blue value of the sky to the darkest point possible,
trying to keep a kind of depth, if I might say, in the clear part of the sky.

It works pretty well, for a wip on my screen but I am not sure it would be a good render
on a screen with, for example too much gama .

Anyway, I am still working on that one right now,
and I might lose that kind of feeling in the "final"version, considering it will be in colours ;)

Cheers !
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: FrankB on January 25, 2012, 03:56:36 AM
looks very good, Franck! :)
Making outstanding B&W pictures isn't easy (for me, I fail at it), but you seem to have figured out how :)

Cheers,
Frank
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Walli on January 25, 2012, 04:04:21 AM
very nice and I also was thinking it looks a bit like IR photography
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Dune on January 25, 2012, 04:40:13 AM
I like this. Beautiful light. Having photographed a lot in B&W in earlier days, I am drawn to these kind of artistic images.
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Tangled-Universe on January 25, 2012, 05:08:47 AM
Cool work Ansel...ehhh Franck ;D

Quote from: Walli on January 25, 2012, 04:04:21 AM
very nice and I also was thinking it looks a bit like IR photography

Yeah a bit, although trees would have white leaves then.
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: cyphyr on January 25, 2012, 05:22:12 AM
Very good, I love the atmosphere and I agree, it has an IR look to it, how the trees seem luminous.
Cheers
Richard
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Seth on January 25, 2012, 12:00:48 PM
thanks guys !!!

hehe Martin ^^
you know I love his job, hu ?

Just some iteration, still a WIP : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6760983633_dec9afcf6f_o.jpg
in colours...

I am not happy yet and the render time is not good for animation, but I am trying some GI settings to check the differences.
Anyway, feel free to say what seems wrong to you,
that always help to improve the renders :)
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: efflux on January 25, 2012, 05:52:52 PM
Nice. looks like an Ansel Adams. Something about scale gives it away as not real. I think the waves in the water look too big.
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Seth on January 25, 2012, 05:57:57 PM
Quote from: efflux on January 25, 2012, 05:52:52 PM
Nice. looks like an Ansel Adams. Something about scale gives it away as not real. I think the waves in the water look too big.

absolutely right about the water.
I don't know if it is the scale of the waves but it doesn't work properly !
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: masonspappy on January 25, 2012, 09:14:04 PM
Quote from: efflux on January 25, 2012, 05:52:52 PM
Nice. looks like an Ansel Adams. Something about scale gives it away as not real. I think the waves in the water look too big.

Thanks efflux. I've been trying to put my finger on why this style of B&W imagery looked familiary, but I could not recall Ansel Adams name
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Dune on January 26, 2012, 03:34:48 AM
The scale is hard to compare, there's nothing that is so clearly a certain size. It could be a very small area with some tiny bushes, or a very large lake with normal trees. If you add just one building, boat landing or sailboat or so, you set the scales right. And I'm not fond of such intense blue sky. Curious to see where you take this...
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Seth on January 26, 2012, 04:22:09 AM
No chance to see any buildings or boats or any man made thing in this one, as in 99% of my renders. I try to create place i would like to see or even live in. And that means, no man in sight ^^ but i understand the point :)
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: choronr on January 26, 2012, 02:12:33 PM
Outstanding one Franck!
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Seth on January 26, 2012, 02:17:26 PM
thanks Bob !
Title: Re: Cold Vista
Post by: Seth on January 26, 2012, 03:42:57 PM
Changed the water to more "realistic" scale ;)
changed the lighting just a little bit

I will continue more on this one, stay tuned ;D

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6767311581_bfa5093b5a_o.jpg
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V3 page 2)
Post by: mesocyclone on January 26, 2012, 06:27:11 PM
This is dreamy! Epic!

The only suggestion I have is maybe darken the color of the trees a little...
Not sure if this would reduce their "etherealness" though, and if it is what you've pretended, then its very good at all!

Congrats for the overall setup... Incredibly composed!  ;D
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V3 page 2)
Post by: Henry Blewer on January 26, 2012, 10:29:45 PM
I like this just as it is. Good to see you posting again! 8)
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V3 page 2)
Post by: efflux on January 26, 2012, 11:58:00 PM
I think maybe the scale of the larger waves in the first image was not so much the problem but possibly they should have only very slight displacement.

Water surface can be a nightmare. I haven't spent much time in TG2 on this but I did it a bit in Terragen. I did do this a lot more in Mojoworld. Sometimes I'd spend more time messing with wave displacement than anything else. Add to this that water increases render times. I think waves are often very complex with all kinds if ripples, flat areas etc. I know this from looking at a river near me here and from doing water in Mojoworld. I often ended up with huge displacement complexity that was only very subtly visible. I think the problem is that you see the whole texture right across a flat surface. None of it is hidden from your eyes whereas with rocks you have vertical diaplacement creating movement in another direction and hiding things. Also, the look of the atmosphere and clouds often gives indication of what kind of day it is and what waves there might be and lakes are often very smooth and mirror like a lot of the time, especially when surrounded by mountains.

There is something bugging me about the shore area and how the reflections are behaving as if this is not how it would be reflecting in real life but I don't know what it is.

As for the terrain area. I love that. It's very realistic and your black and white treatment was very good.
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V3 page 2)
Post by: Dune on January 27, 2012, 02:38:58 AM
Epic indeed. I think the waves have solved the scale problem, as my first impression is now of a large terrain, whereas in the first it was a mixed feeling. Perhaps a subtle gray line of rocks here and there along the shore would do it even better. Did you flatten the waves near the shore to a very flat water surface? That would be quite natural I'd say. Depends on the wind direction of course.
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V3 page 2)
Post by: Seth on January 29, 2012, 01:08:03 PM
Working more on it.
tweaking the clouds and the scale again.

Big Size : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6783521601_6b20acdb06_o.jpg
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V3 page 2)
Post by: FrankB on January 29, 2012, 01:30:20 PM
great clouds in this one Franck!!!
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V3 page 2)
Post by: Tangled-Universe on January 29, 2012, 01:52:25 PM
That looks really great Franck ;D Like those clouds too!
Did you use some kind of inverted voronoi as breakup for the trees?

Cheers,
Martin
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Seth on January 29, 2012, 05:25:29 PM
thanks guys ! ^^

no, Martin, it is just a basic PF and a distribution shader for altitude and slope constraint. ;)
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: efflux on January 29, 2012, 08:10:01 PM
Latest one is excellent. Now it feels much more like a grand scale.
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Seth on January 29, 2012, 08:14:14 PM
yeah ! I tried to go that way ;D
thank you efflux !
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Henry Blewer on January 30, 2012, 09:46:54 PM
This is great! The clouds really make the scene photographic.
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: choronr on January 30, 2012, 09:49:22 PM
Beautiful realism!
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: inkydigit on January 31, 2012, 08:00:11 AM
on the money here Franck!
epic!
:)
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Seth on January 31, 2012, 10:57:28 AM
hehehe thank you guys !
another iteration is on the way ;)
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: mesocyclone on January 31, 2012, 09:55:33 PM
Man those clouds are unbeliavable
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Seth on February 01, 2012, 09:19:49 AM
Thanks :)
Title: Re: Cold Vista (Final version -page 3)
Post by: Seth on February 01, 2012, 11:02:10 AM
last for now :)

not sure if that really is the final version but I'll jump on something else now ;)

full size : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6801801627_a1587b1fcd_o.jpg
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Tangled-Universe on February 01, 2012, 11:12:09 AM
Like jump on the train next saturday? ;D

Great work Franck, like the cloudscape very much!

Cheers,
Martin
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Oshyan on February 01, 2012, 08:20:23 PM
Beautiful! I love the subtle lighting and, yes, the clouds.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: TheBadger on February 02, 2012, 03:56:31 AM
really good one.
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Dune on February 02, 2012, 04:17:39 AM
Very dramatic and realistic. Congrats  :D

I like the ruin like structure on the coastline!
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: digitalis99 on February 02, 2012, 04:24:05 AM
The chroma subtlety is what really sets this apart, I think.  Top notch work.
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: chris_x422 on February 02, 2012, 04:52:49 PM
Fabulous work Franck, as usual, but hey you know I'm a big fan :)

I think this is one of my favourite pieces by you, as I love good cloud work, and this is top notch mate!
Got to make your way to London at some point.
Hope you're keeping well.

Chris
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: Seth on February 03, 2012, 06:47:46 AM
hey thank you guys !

@Dune : yes this small structure was there, just calling me to render it ;)

@chris : yeah man, hope to see you soon (at least in 2012,uh) !!!
Title: Re: Cold Vista (V4 page 2)
Post by: efflux on February 06, 2012, 02:58:54 AM
Wow. Awesome effect on the right where the clouds are catching the light. This is excellent.