Been rather dormant lately, much going on personally. But, having some interest in combining recent files by others into a composition.
Here we have file by Jo Kariboo, efflux and FrankB's tornado file, his Hero Rock combined with Mick's distorted sphere and Walli's dry shrubs, XFrog cactus and dry grasses.
Appreciate your crits...
Bob
Here you go: I really like the background, keep it that way, the dust etc. But the foreground... mmm... Are the ridges supposed to be a very sandy ploughed field, I don't think so, so the size of these ridges should be much smaller and much more warped, smoothed in patches by 'warped wind'. At some spots the sand may also have another tint. The cactus is very grey, I don't know if that's normal, but it's not really nice. I'd make it green or bleached beige, whatever these things are, but also add PF for rotten/dried patches/spots, dirt, damage by birds... take the cleanliness off. The rock may as well be a small patch of smaller rock + some more veggies right around it, not just one shrub.
But I think this can be made into something very nice, Bob! Go for it.
Quote from: Dune on May 24, 2013, 02:12:42 AM
Here you go: I really like the background, keep it that way, the dust etc. But the foreground... mmm... Are the ridges supposed to be a very sandy ploughed field, I don't think so, so the size of these ridges should be much smaller and much more warped, smoothed in patches by 'warped wind'. At some spots the sand may also have another tint. The cactus is very grey, I don't know if that's normal, but it's not really nice. I'd make it green or bleached beige, whatever these things are, but also add PF for rotten/dried patches/spots, dirt, damage by birds... take the cleanliness off. The rock may as well be a small patch of smaller rock + some more veggies right around it, not just one shrub.
But I think this can be made into something very nice, Bob! Go for it.
Ulco, you give a true and very good crit here, I appreciate that. Agree about the sand ripples. Their height and width should be greatly reduced - don't know how to make it that way (need some some suggestions here - you may want to see the .tgd). Yes, color variation of the sand would help.
The purple/gray 'Opuntia' cactus is common here where I live - what you see is true for this variety of plant. These seem to pop up in my landscape sometimes.
And, agree about the sole rock. A small mass of smaller rocks would be better.
Thanks Ulco, this one could be better.
Just pull the outcome of your ripples through a transform shader and reduce size, then (or before) pull it through a warp shader with a vector displacement + PF with appropriate sizes) attached as warper. And blend the whole line by a soft PF for some variation in intensity of the ripples (and maybe add a 50% coverage surface shader with a color variety, blended by the same PF). Easy as pie.
Quote from: Dune on May 24, 2013, 02:48:06 AM
Just pull the outcome of your ripples through a transform shader and reduce size, then (or before) pull it through a warp shader with a vector displacement + PF with appropriate sizes) attached as warper. And blend the whole line by a soft PF for some variation in intensity of the ripples (and maybe add a 50% coverage surface shader with a color variety, blended by the same PF). Easy as pie.
Thank you, will ponder your suggestion and try to accomplish improvement. Getting ready to call TG2 work for a rest tonight ...need to get some sleep.
My brother is in from Chicago visiting with us. Have not seem him in 25+ years. He goes back on Saturday.
Will get back to this project soon.
Except for not adding color variation to the sand surface, added the transform shader and PF shaders, the ripples disappeared.
What strange combination of nodes ??? I don't think the get altitude takes any input, and the transform shader has a function input which you should use. And if you want to warp sinuses you'd have to use get position in texture, not the get position.
For ripples use a 'get position in texture', then an 'x (or z) to scalar', then 'divide' by a number to determine size, then a 'sinus', then warp this.
Thanks Ulco, will play with this. The sand modulation is the one Jo Kariboo shared earlier this year called 'the beast'.
Well, I thought I had reasonable patience; but, so far, I'm getting nowhere with this. Its time to move on.
I made you a (very) quick setup. Hope that helps. You can attach all sorts of stuff to this, fake sand, duny ridges, colors, etc. Good luck.
Ulco, much appreciated. I need to reconstruct this scene. I've had many diversions over the past weeks and look forward to getting back to normal. When I start to have few successes with TG2, I begin to question my own limited abilities.
Thank you for this spark; no doubt it will get the fires going again ...really appreciate this. Hopefully I'll get a better understanding of this process; and, have a more presentable scene to post in the near future.
Well Ulco, I appreciate your help very much; but, don't expect any further spoon feeding to me on how to get the sand ripples to work on this image. Tried many different connections; but, the ripples won't show up. I also tried other terrains with the same negative results. Will continue with this with hopes that some other ideas kick in.
Maybe they're too small. You can send me your tgd if you wish, or put it here, I'll see what I can spoonfeed in ;)
Quote from: Dune on May 27, 2013, 02:07:33 PM
Maybe they're too small. You can send me your tgd if you wish, or put it here, I'll see what I can spoonfeed in ;)
Thank you Ulco, we were out most of the day today. I will e-mail the .tgd to you.
Bob
What catches my eye, Bob is that dust cloud. I like the looks of that. As for the sand ripples, they are a tad regular. I did something with dunes - didn't come out perfect, but kind of got where I wanted to go, and it involved a generous warp. Well I have to side with you - when I leave Terragen alone, I find myself not able to start over very easily. Hope you make the comeback you'd like!
Quote from: Rich2 on May 27, 2013, 10:32:57 PM
What catches my eye, Bob is that dust cloud. I like the looks of that. As for the sand ripples, they are a tad regular. I did something with dunes - didn't come out perfect, but kind of got where I wanted to go, and it involved a generous warp. Well I have to side with you - when I leave Terragen alone, I find myself not able to start over very easily. Hope you make the comeback you'd like!
Hey Rich old friend, hope you're doing well; yep, it finally hit me. Gone into a TG2 funk. I think some things are coming together again ...we'll see. The dust cloud is from FrankB's 'Tornado pack'. My first thoughts were to make a 'dust devil' from a tornado. What you see is the 'debris' base. I liked it well enough not to change things.
Hopefully, with Dune's help, we might be able to get better sand ripples.
Bob
Ulco, the sand ripples have worked out well. I'm trying to decide if I want to change the POV down much lower and maintain the large rock and surrounding stones sizes (I did change the large rock's height and shape).
The key was your implementing the 'Landmark' to help identify true scale. I would have to greatly reduce the vegetation; and, at the original POV, the plants would hardly be visible. Thus, lowering the POV makes sense. I noted the fake sand sizes may be too large and will try reducing them; and, maybe adding a reflective shader to them.
The whole project has been a nice learning experience. Hopefully, will have more results soon.
Great to hear that. I often use a landmark or a simple shape of known size or so to see what scales I'm seeing. Working from that knowledge works fine for me. You might have to change the fake sand from 0.01 to 0.005 or so if you take your POV down. But you may also have to change the ripples.
Looking forward to see your next iteration, Bob!
Thanks Ulco, the ripples look fine at the lower POV; may not have to change them. Yes, the scale of the plants and dry grasses will have to be reduced dramatically. I'm thinking the sun may have to be lowered and the sky/blue darkened somewhat.
This low quality, quick render precedes the final that I'll start tonight.
Ulco, that you so much for your help. I've learned a new way to create sand ripples; and, rocks via negative smoothing.
Hopefully, I'll post the final render soon.
Looks really good. :)
Can't wait for the hi-res.
Thanks yossam, I'm thinking about the next project where I may use some of this projects files to create a new scene.
Looking forward to high res final.
The final is forthcoming.
Sorry for the hiccup. Here is the final, hope you enjoy. Thanks to Dune for his professional help with this project. I've learned how to produce sand dunes; and, another way to produce rocks via negative smoothing ... much thanks Ulco.
Very nice result, Bob!
Quote from: Dune on June 03, 2013, 12:55:27 AM
Very nice result, Bob!
Thank you Ulco, this project has gotten me back in the groove.
Really good!
Thank you Mick. This exercise has taught me that there are many ways to skin a cat.
This render is far better than the first one. The ripples look more realistic.
Thanks wiwine, the project was a lot of fun putting together.
Pink Sands, Utah: https://www.google.com/search?q=pink+sand+dunes+utah&client=firefox-a&hs=qCQ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=JRixUb_FCumKiALkoIGYCg&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=732
Another image coming up soon.
Good work love those ripples.
Hep, mister Choronr ! I suggest a "realistic dunes" contest :)
... with procedural dunes, sandwaves, etc.
That would be fun.
Nice work. I was going to mention the ripples but I see you sorted that. The dust cloud is great. I quite liked the higher POV in the first one though.
Thanks efflux, have another one in the works a few days away. Many ideas for the use of sand dunes.