Here's some of my WIP from the last few weeks. Nothing is finished and I will probably take a break from TG2 now so I'll just post these otherwise you might not see anything from me for ages. This is probably how it will go. You'll see nothing from me for ages then I'll do a load of work.
One thing is for sure. TG2 needs to be changed to allow you to choose positioning coordinates, specifically the powerfractal. You must be able to choose position in geometry for example. Even altitude would be cool. If this isn't changed then TG2 will remain crippled compared to other 3D apps.
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Just one point. Slashed 2 image never opens to full scale even on my desktop. I'll need to look at that. Is this just the width of the image?
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even as you say these are wips, they all have something really special about them...I love them all!
:)
Hi, thanks.
I thought they had some things that might be cool to post so it was a bad idea to wait until they were finished which could be ages away. The ones called Forbidden are actually not far from finished. They just need more surfacing. The Slashed ones gave me some nightmares with the surfacing. Still not happy with it and it will be reworked. Then the others are various things in earlier phases. Pinnacles and Canyon ties in with something I posted about in file sharing to do with altitude terrain blends and using voronoi. Canyon doesn't use the exact same technique but it's similar. Pinnacles does but it's a bad example because of the nasty blend line. The underlying terrain was just a test for tweaking the pinnacle structures and not that important.
Just one thing I should have mentioned. They are all saved as exr. I use Blender to alter the exr exposure then save as 16 bit tiff to do a little post in Lightzone. Sadly Lightzone is no more. That is the best photo editing app there is in my opinion. There is a Linux version as well.
If you want to edit exrs then Blender is great and it's free. You can edit exrs in it's node editor. It's a little convoluted though. Maybe I should post about how to do this in Blender? It's easy when you know how.
Great to finally see some more finished renders after all your experimentation. You're one of the few people doing really "out there" and different things and I love to see it.
The Forbidden series is probably my favorite, with great promise shown in Forbidden 2 (looks very much like some geological features I've seen recently), and in Forbidden 3 and close-up especially, there are some remarkably erosion-like features. Forbidden 3 is probably my favorite overall image, there's a fantastic, epic feel to it with the low mist and wild sky over a treacherous-looking ice field.
- Oshyan
Thanks Oshyan.
The Forbidden ones are my favourite as well. It frustrated me not getting that finished but I ran into technical difficulties. I've resolved how that needs to be finished now. I've kind of sussed out what TG2 can do and what it can't do so now I know before I try to do something if it's going to work or not. I also badly want to go further with the whole eroded canyons and pinnacles angle because I know there are huge possibilities there.
The images in post two are mind blowing!!! Two of 'em are so real looking that if I came across them in an image search I would NEVER guess that they were CG. I hope I can make something like this soon. :o :o :o
These WIP images are better then many final i have seen :D
Very nice work Efflux .
Interesting results here. I myself am still trying to tackle those goblin terrain features and i see your results might bring some light onto this goal.
Especially Forbidden 1 and Pinaccles are real "jizz in my TG2 pants" material, damn! Fantastic work!
Incredible Worlds :)
Here's one more from Forbidden. Kind of shows the slight lack of texture in the foreground rock. The lower outcropping small rocks and inverted flat topped ones were meant to be re-arranged a bit and some more detail spread around especially at the foot of the hills. I need a break though.
Editing this post:
I removed the original Plantation render and replaced it with the unprocessed one.
Very fine work, efflux! Inspirational.
Experimental with excellent results. I like much these images here. Very beautiful render too.
Very neat experiments! Nice work
Seems I can't stop. I'm intending to take a break from TG2 soon but I'm determined to at least partially explore the inverted voronoi idea that I mention on the Terrain Altitude Blend thread. I've extended that a little here by layering several voronoi 3D As and subtracting them from the main terrain. The altitude blend method is not exactly used here, just something similar but I intend to bring in the proper altitude blending to create beaches. Both these techniques have massive potential.
Hi efflux,
I have looked through your threads in file sharing, I find them a little over my head. As with everything TG I know it takes some time, but I would love to be able to recreate the scene you just posted here, or something similar. Have you thought about an in-depth tutorial? Its one thing to explain your theory and then post a beautiful image like the last one. But I think I have no hope of recreating an image like yours without seeing how you do the work along with the theory. I guess I just see that you have a teacher in you, And I for one would love to take full advantage of your incite.
Suppose you did a step by step on this last image, including the theory discussion, You could easily sell that to us.
Agreed, even though a macro node would help here, however a simple visual tutorial may be a nice idea.
The last image essentially follows the voronoi thing in that other thread. However, obviously that's not all of it. I've used strata and outcrops which is fairly obvious but I've also stepped the terrain. This will require another thread to explain. I'm not even sure I've done it the best way but I can't think of any other way. Apart from the technique to step the terrain (reasonably straightforward when you know how) the problem is that it takes a long long time to tweak around to make it look natural. This just takes a lot of time adjusting all the values.
Thanks efflux, for responding.
Anyway, I know that as long as these forums are here I can always come back to your posts and try to understand them when I am above my current user level. Still, if there is any part of you that wants to make a tutorial, this subject is the one. Those images are truly inspiring!
I also would like to know about the black and whites on page 1. They are not really black and white, are they? That is a very interesting color trick you have played (I think)!
What are you doing there? I would venture a guess that you used multiple PF(s) for color, but that you drew from a grey pallet. Something like this:
http://minimumwageforeclosure.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/ext_house_colours01.jpg
Is that correct? Or is it all post?
Also, what kind of render times are you seeing
And, you mentioned light zone, It is still maintained here: http://lightzombie.org/ for anyone who is interested.
TY
There's a adjust saturation (blue) node in the node list. You can feed it with anything (it very hungry :D ), like distance shaders, PF's, distribution shaders, constant color, etc, etc. Remember it kills your displacement, so use it wisely.
TheBadger.
The black and white images are simply that way because I usually start work in black and white. My default files are set this way. It's so I'm concentrating on values rather than colour. When you use a B&W atmosphere setup and then stick in a new default atmosphere with blue sky, suddenly your scene starts to look more realistic and impressive. However, if it looks good as B&W then it will certainly look even better when you add colour. At least, as long as you choose good colour schemes.
With the Forbidden scenes I kept trying to add colour but it didn't suit the feel so that remained quite monotone right up to what you see here. I only intend to add slight colour.
I've added a file to file sharing that can create steps. Some of you will understand what that is doing. For others it might not be so clear. It depends on how much you've played around with fractals. This is not an easy technique because tweaking steps to look natural is very difficult. There is also no curve graph in TG2 which would make this much easier.
The file is a very simple smooth terrain to let you see the steps clearly. I'll add another example image with more roughness after I've played with it.
I deleted this message. It was really meant to go in the other thread about stepped terrain but never mind. Look there if you want.
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QuoteWhen you use a B&W atmosphere setup and then stick in a new default atmosphere with blue sky, suddenly your scene starts to look more realistic and impressive. However, if it looks good as B&W then it will certainly look even better when you add colour.
efflux
Ha! This is basic art school stuff, but I would never have thought to apply fundamental principles of design to the technology its self! I guess I have been just been getting so obsessed with the how, I completely forgot about thinking in terms of an artist. This is what happens when you make the jump from paper and chemicals/hand applied color to a 3d package. Thanks efflux! lol That is really useful info you shared, you just changed my way of thinking about the software. :D
Yes, people do this in 2D apps when they paint. Of course you can colour an image digitally after you create a B&W version but you can also apply a layer to make a colour image B&W to check the values. Why should TG2 be different?
Yes, yes, yes! At last some true innovation in global terrain building! To use an overused saying - this is a quantum leap. And probably only the beginning.
I knew TG2 was capable of great things, but damned if I could figure out how to do it. It had to start in the functions, but how, where, and what? That part confused the you-know-what out of me at first and only now I'm just barely starting to see how some of it works.
I'm so glad you took the time to delve back into TG2 again. Take a rest now - you deserve it!
Hi Rich.
Some things are starting to look so blatantly obvious to me now. I don't know how I missed them before.
Also, just to add here, in case anyone is wondering. The terrain in the slashed pictures is simply two powerfractals stretched out slightly on a different axis. Then one is plugged into the blending shader of the other. Obviously strata and outcrops is also used. It's not even a recommended setup because of too many sharp edges. I had meant to take that further but just left it.
Efflux can you put a close up render here from the walls from the "Canyons 2.0.jpg" image ?
I like the appearance very much and i am curious how they look closer.
I'm beginning to see what you mean about the red nodes in general. They're good for "all-purpose" terrains where control and detail aren't so much an issue. Like if your main objective is object placement, so to speak. You then won't be looking so much at the terrain.
I will use the strata and outcrops shader with a with a warp shader after the power fractal displacement, which is what I did for my render of "Formations II". You can see better what I mean with the attached screenshot. Really have to tone down the steepness and octaves to get an effect that doesn't look so hokey. But what happens is that the strata is confined to only the warp displacement areas, not every square inch of the planet. It isn't randomized as much as it occurs in nature, though. Maybe a merge of two or more differently set shaders hooked with a blend shader for control? Got me thinking now...
Keep going on about this and Oshyan will have to move this thread... ;)
Rich.
It looks like you've got into this quite well. I've never tried hooking a strata and outcrops into the warp like that.
One of the things with the blue nodes is that you can hook anything in for positions. Like you have done so in plugging a red node into that voronoi.
The red node fractal is surface position. This is the position of your overlying displacement surface but what if you want the position of the underlying geometry before it has been displaced? i.e. so the surface colour gets it's position from there and is stretched out with the displacement. You can do that with blue nodes.
I'll be a just a tad humble here. I did not originate any of that on my own except the strata-warp thing. I took all of it from much larger clip files somebody else made, pared them down and pieced it all together. I wouldn't have known enough of how any of it works to be able to have come up with the idea. But with my working with it, I've basically figured out what does what. I think that's all I ever needed: a starting point.
In a way it's also nice to 'randomly' put together blue and red nodes and just see what happens. Great fun, and you never know what you'll find.