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General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: blackcat on February 09, 2013, 04:59:28 PM

Title: Alpha Centauri B b
Post by: blackcat on February 09, 2013, 04:59:28 PM
I'm working on an illustration of Alpha Centauri B b for Astronomy magazine. Here is what I have so far.

The main reason for showing this is the fact that the middle ground---the landscape between the foreground rocks and the distant hills on the horizon---was accomplished in its entirety (including all the rock-like features and other textures) with two shaders: a water shader and a surface layer.

The water shader's parameters were: Roughness 0.01, Wave Scale 300, Wind Patch Effect 5, Wind Patch size 100. Transparency, reflectivity, etc. are set to zero.
The surface layer only applies a color to the water layer.



Title: Re: Alpha Centauri B b
Post by: blackcat on February 09, 2013, 05:15:26 PM
That is, everything inside the red outline was created with a water shader only.
Title: Re: Alpha Centauri B b
Post by: choronr on February 09, 2013, 05:47:26 PM
Impressive work here.
Title: Re: Alpha Centauri B b
Post by: Kadri on February 09, 2013, 07:00:31 PM

Nice images !
Title: Re: Alpha Centauri B b
Post by: blackcat on February 09, 2013, 07:11:40 PM
Thanks!  :)

In case anyone is dying to know, the little star directly above Alpha Centauri B is Capella. The bright star to the upper right of that is Alpha Centauri A and the tiny star to the upper right of that is our own sun.

Alpha Centauri B b (the planet we're standing on in the picture) is about 1.3 times as massive as the earth and orbits only 1 million miles from its star, which is a little smaller and cooler than our sun. It still means the planet is too hot to sustain life.
Title: Re: Alpha Centauri B b
Post by: cyphyr on February 09, 2013, 08:00:02 PM
Nicely done. :)
Yes the water shader is good for more than just water. Interesting and unusual textures and displacements.
Richard