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General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: Dune on March 17, 2014, 01:06:02 PM

Title: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 17, 2014, 01:06:02 PM
For a possible commission I have to make an image where the ice (last big ice age) retreats, leaving morenes, and lots of rocks. Reindeer is perhaps a bit early, but nice for size. I thought I'd do some pre-work.
Next will be a distant glacier added.... I think streams of water will also be needed, but that's probably image mask work.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Hannes on March 17, 2014, 01:24:22 PM
That looks already fantastic!
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 17, 2014, 01:27:34 PM
I only need to find a way to get horizontal strata in the ice... really horizontal, not bent with the displacements (and then tilted a bit). There is a way, but I have to refind it.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: yossam on March 17, 2014, 01:28:45 PM
Pulls up a chair.............. :)
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Kadri on March 17, 2014, 01:44:16 PM

Actually i already like it as it is Ulco.
Maybe not from a composition state so much, but as a realistic shot from a Hellicopter for a NG documentary :)
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: archonforest on March 17, 2014, 01:48:24 PM
Very nice already! :)
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Zairyn Arsyn on March 17, 2014, 02:05:59 PM
i think it looks great already dune!

i like the little horizontal cracks in the mid-bottom area of the image.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 18, 2014, 03:01:00 AM
I am also wondering if it would be possible to 'smudge' circular patches (by low noise octave PF) in one direction procedurally, so the 'circles' stay intact, but a soft 'tail' is added.... so back to the drawing table.

Added the glacier. Detail 0.8 AA6 45 mins.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: N-drju on March 18, 2014, 03:23:24 AM
Cool... quite literally. ;) Some good work done with these stones/boulders. I am also a big fan of this surface fog effects.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: kaedorg on March 18, 2014, 03:25:44 AM
Reindeer is, as Teddy bear, left alone...

Nice as always Ulco. Great one.

David
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 18, 2014, 03:27:50 AM
Thanks, guys. As a matter of fact, after the retreat of the ice, the reindeer came, and this one is a scout.... the rest are waiting more to the left  ;)
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: mr-miley on March 18, 2014, 05:34:58 AM
Both of them outstanding renders! Great lighting.  :)
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: inkydigit on March 18, 2014, 02:11:51 PM
outstanding as always, Ulco!
:)
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: gregtee on March 18, 2014, 05:55:08 PM
Another great image Dune.

Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: zaxxon on March 18, 2014, 06:08:58 PM
Great mood set with the light and composition, although I fear for your lone reindeer...
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: alessandro on March 18, 2014, 07:03:29 PM
Great image, I'll be curious to see the final one!
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Zairyn Arsyn on March 18, 2014, 07:21:11 PM
i just noticed the raindeer, before that i couldnt get a sense of scale, now i do.
the last render looks great.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 19, 2014, 03:21:14 AM
Some variations, and closer views of the ice. Looking for improvements (as always). Got one of the XOIOguys on top to scout  ;)
I have a problem getting the (ice) color off the fake stones, even with smoothed on (which has unwanted effects, like smoothing  :D ), there's still some translucency and white on the sides and bottom of the stones. Mighthave to go with a pop of rocks...

There's a reindeer in the last again (thanks Michael!).
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Oshyan on March 19, 2014, 03:25:17 AM
Ice in the 1st and 3rd images of the latest batch is surprisingly convincing. As you probably know from reference shots glacier ice at this age and scale is not usually very transparent or translucent, so it works well even with standard surfacing. The shapes are the most interesting and impressive part I think, very glacial.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 19, 2014, 03:27:19 AM
Thanks, Oshyan. I was quite pleased with the results. First had these warped strata without grain, later added a small fractal, as you can see. Also warped the top ice in the direction of the flow, but that can be better. The middle one has a different (lower) displacement, hence its smoothness. I like the other ones better as well.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: archonforest on March 19, 2014, 04:25:20 AM
WOW! Jaw dropping stuff man!!! I love it ;)
But still looking how did u put those lines on the mountains. Guess u are not using textures....
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Hannes on March 19, 2014, 05:42:25 AM
Great! Nevertheless some subtle blueish translucency would be fantastic. One more reason to implement sub surface scattering, right? ;) ;) ;)
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 19, 2014, 06:05:46 AM
Right!

The lines is a X and Z stretched (100x) fractal (sizes 1/6/0.1) masking a colored surface shader set to half coverage, but first warped a bit (by warp shader+vector displacement shader+PF), after adding a XYZ shader in the line of surface shaders.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Kadri on March 19, 2014, 06:40:52 AM

Sweet!
I like the first and second image the most too.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: gregtee on March 19, 2014, 10:34:09 AM
I don't think he wants blue translucency, but rather blue/greenish recesses in the cracks of the ice, especially around the bottoms of the structures. 
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 19, 2014, 11:04:20 AM
That's an interesting thought, Greg. This might be too bluish overall, so I'll do some adjustments. See if I can get the bluegreen to adhere to crevasses.

I added some caves as well, but they might be too much... have to keep it subtle.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: gregtee on March 19, 2014, 11:27:41 AM
This is what I was thinking of.  The color seems to manifest itself mostly in the shadow and crevice areas.  Where the sun hits it tends towards white. 

[attachimg=1]
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 19, 2014, 12:56:06 PM
It seems like the light is scattered in a 'very blue way' in the shadows. Maybe something to do with refraction on the ice? How can we make shadows blue locally... have to try that.

I had this as ref.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: TheBadger on March 19, 2014, 01:24:53 PM
Its really interesting, Dune. Looks good too.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: mhaze on March 20, 2014, 10:16:02 AM
Fantastic work.  Colour in the shadow would be great for rock texture too - if you can sort that it would br a great step forward!
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: choronr on March 20, 2014, 12:10:11 PM
Another generation of enthusiasm ...watching and waiting to see the evolution of evolution.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 21, 2014, 03:56:37 AM
Testing another setup now (nad also thinking about mud and raindrops falling), too many ideas but no time....
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Matt on March 25, 2014, 03:06:47 AM
Quote from: Dune on March 19, 2014, 12:56:06 PM
It seems like the light is scattered in a 'very blue way' in the shadows. Maybe something to do with refraction on the ice? How can we make shadows blue locally... have to try that.

GI Surface Details is capable of simulating this, to some extent. The brighter a surface, the further the light bounces in the shadows (or you can think of it as absorbing less light). A pure white surface will appear to be completely unaffected by GISD because any ambient light that is blocked is replaced by ambient light scattered in by the blocking surfaces. This works separately on each colour component (red, green and blue), and this is where it gets interesting. If the blue component of your surface colour is 1 (or 255 in the colour picker), GISD will not darken the blue channel at all. If your red and green components are slightly darker than the blue, the blueness will be exaggerated in the shadows.

Matt
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 25, 2014, 03:44:22 AM
That's interesting, Matt. But you say, red and green are darker, so not less? Or do you mean less? All I can do is make the color 'bluer' this way.

I've just colored the crack displacement shader in the meantime, and that makes the cracks bluer allright. Still have to render it though.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: gregtee on March 25, 2014, 07:10:50 AM
Ideally you probably need a subsurface shader that can be modulated with a power fractal. 
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: inkydigit on March 25, 2014, 12:13:44 PM
amazing as always Ulco!
what about these blue stripes?
http://goo.gl/jrguCB
:)
J
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: Dune on March 25, 2014, 12:40:48 PM
Well, you can fake it a little. Haven't got much further than this, at the moment. There are some incredible icebergs, nice collection you found. Enough inspiration....
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: gregtee on March 25, 2014, 05:57:12 PM
That's the idea for sure.

Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: efflux on April 24, 2014, 10:25:55 AM
Nice work on the ground surface and you had a concept for this which helps. tundratest-v5-2 is a really good render because it has a nice POV and composition.
Title: Re: Ice Age (ending)
Post by: lat 64 on April 24, 2014, 12:24:26 PM
Ulco,

Congrtulations! I love this!

The blue in glaciers is not so much a function of shadows, but it is actually light penetrating the ice and reflecting back out to our eye. Blue light is not reflected back by the surface like the shorter wavelengths.  The glaciers are actually glowing from those deep cracks.
I was thinking of a level of transparency to simulate this. A modified water shader? A light source under the surface?

Here's a pretty one:
http://media.arcus.org/album/polartrec-2011-jim-pottinger/13486

Russ