Hut into the wild: another work in progress, i'm learning the plants and ground covering process, i think the image need more vegetation but i haven't so many xfrog models... grasss is created with grass clump populations, It seems some part too repeat, maybe need to increase the amount of blades; my idea is to create a calm lanscape with a wood hut. :D
I think this is a very good start. I like the landscape alot. If you need more veggies just search on the forum and u will find some nice staff. Agree with the grass to fix. I would find another grass type and populate with that one.
Very very good start.
I thing grass is a bit too clear, i would make it darker. Add more various small vegs.
Looking forward
David
Might also want to randomize the shading on the trees and grass a bit.
Thank you all for the feedback! I think i have to find the better way to spread the vegetations around the scene: i used for the treees (fagus and betula) a painted shader, instead for the grass i used a map created with World Machine, ( also the hightmap ) an alpha map with height selection, but maybe a painted shader is sufficient and let to adjust the visual distribution of the clumps.
to @archonforest yes, I have to search on the forum and on the xfrog page for some free models. I have xfrog 3.5 software but in DVD included there are not so many models. Another option for the second plane and the background is to use billboards ( that i have and i can create ).
QuoteI thing grass is a bit too clear, i would make it darker. Add more various small vegs.
to @kaedorg yes i agree with you, but the fact is i used two types of grass clumps, i need to undersatnd what of the two are to o clear.
QuoteMight also want to randomize the shading on the trees and grass a bit.
How can randomize it? what shader do you raccomend to use and where i can connect it?
Stay tuned! :D
Walter
Improved version: but the grass need yet more "substance", i would add some more trees ( i forgot that when i purchased TG3 was bundled some xfrog models...!), i'm fighting now with the limited resources of my pc ( the Ram) as i add more vegetations more difficult to change it, for example, changing ths singles pop. instances now is very difficult (or impossible), maybe it's time to increase my pc Ram!
I also need to add a bump map for the hut texture, it lacks in realism.
Hard and fun works for the next days! :)
[attach=1]
[quote
QuoteMight also want to randomize the shading on the trees and grass a bit.
How can randomize it? what shader do you raccomend to use and where i can connect it?
[/quote]
See attached. I used fake colors to give a better idea how the randomized color distribution work.
I think I originally got the idea from Yossam or Chornor
thank's for the tips @masonspappy, i will try it! :)
i have improved the grass and added more trees, I think that now is better but the grass maybe is a bit too high now... Not yet worked on the random colors for the leaves, but will do soon. I will add also a bit of flowers on the grass, it looks a bit innatural without.
[attach=1]
I think this is a good improvement over the first image
great improvement... ;)
what are those veggies at the front...looks like crops? I think they are pretty tall...hmm...
to @masonspappy i also think that is much better! :)
to @archonforest they are "Phragmites_dry" from the Terragen3 model presets, i left the default dim. should be the right dimension ( i supppose), intead the grass is a population of grass clumps.( i think i will need to decrease a bit) some particular of the hut are hidden now.
And also i put some lilac and rose but are semi-hidden by the grass! :P
I discovered that Phragmites may be very tall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phragmites, maybe i need to change with another one more appropriate....
Quite an evolution! The upper part of the image looks very good. Not quite sure about the phragmites. They are all perfectly straight, which looks a bit unnatural.
Anyway, even if the size might be correct, it's the overall impression that counts. Why not scaling them a bit down, until it looks correct.
QuoteQuite an evolution! The upper part of the image looks very good. Not quite sure about the phragmites. They are all perfectly straight, which looks a bit unnatural.
Thank's @Hannes! yes, the upper part i think is good, i will not touch. I think Phragmites are not the right plants for this image, should growth near a lake or so, instead i will put a bunch of flowers plants like in a Monet painting...
lol yea, phragmites is 6'-8' marsh grass. :o
you shouldn't see this near hills or mountains.
Ps. scene looks greatly improved over the first one.
Quotelol yea, phragmites is 6'-8' marsh grass. :o
you shouldn't see this near hills or mountains.
Ps. scene looks greatly improved over the first one.
yes, exactly that's why i will use another plant! :D
Already very nice improvements compared to first post :)
luc
QuoteAlready very nice improvements compared to first post :)
luc
Thank you, Luc! :)
Partial rendering: A little improvement: less grass near the hut, added a shader to randomize the colors of the grass (but need to be improved i think) and added some flowers as test instead of Phragmites, but maybe without flowers could be also nice...
[attach=1]
Now without other plants in the middle of the grass, a bit more darker grass, maybe was better before, but i apllied a random color on the grass you can see some parts more yellowish and other greenish.
[attach=1]
the color of the grass throw me off the picture. I think this grass looks supers fresh and new while the rest of the veggies are more washed out...I would try to choose a different green probably mixed with some lighter green like what u have on the trees..
QuoteI think this grass looks supers fresh and new while the rest of the veggies are more washed out.
i have the same impression but very difficult to choose the color, i used different shaders in chain to gain this effect, before with only the default shader i used one type of color, if i use the same colour in my elaborated shaders doesnt make the same result, i think i have to tweak a bit the settings.
Honestly i like much more the green color of the grass in the last picture i did ( hut into the wild02.jpeg)....
perhaps u reduce the amount of grass so the underground brownish soil can be visible a bit?
Maybe this version could be fine, i wondering if is better to change a bit the shot,i mean to raise a bit a camera and tilt it to the top... will see this. :)
[attach=1]
I think that covering a bit more some parts of the hills give a more nice result, i will cover also some parts not dressed by the trees with the grass to make uniform the image.
You're getting there, but you need more color variation in the grass and some more species of weed/grass.
Ditto Dune. You're learning fast great to see your progress.
Second that. Plus the flowers are way too large and the trees are a bit too bright and could use some color variation as well.
You're really getting there. Looks already very good.
Quote from: Dune on June 20, 2014, 02:49:42 AM
You're getting there, but you need more color variation in the grass and some more species of weed/grass.
i did but probably not in the correct way, i have to go deep in the comprehension, and yes i need more species but it's not so easy to find it some freely .obj or .tgo, or i can make it with xfrog but of course it takes more time... ( to learn it well, and to create a convincing species)
Quote from: mhaze on June 20, 2014, 04:23:56 AM
Ditto Dune. You're learning fast great to see your progress.
Thank you!, that's strange because i think to be very slow...! :)
Quote from: Hannes on June 20, 2014, 05:37:36 AM
Second that. Plus the flowers are way too large and the trees are a bit too bright and could use some color variation as well.
You're really getting there. Looks already very good.
Thank you Hannes! :) yes, i think you are referring to the pink flowers in the 'midddle ' of the grass, instead the left ones are two lilac and wild rose bushes. Regarding the color variation of the trees i'm experimenting a bit on another .tgd file... i'm not getting the result expected, i will post in another topic my result and my troubles with it.
Yes, Walter, I was referring mainly to the flowers in the center of the image, but I think the ones at the left are a bit too large as well.
For the color variation you only need to plug in a power fractal shader for example into the "tint diffuse colour" slot of the pop shader's colour tab. If you have a simple b/w PF it might be necessary to increase the Diffuse colour multiplier to 1.5 to keep the brightness of the population.
Are the trees in the foreground members of a population? If so, do the same here. Imho the trees are a bit too bight, so you could leave the Diff. Col. multiplier as it is.
There's a lot of great free stuff in the file sharing section. I'm sure you'll find some plants to add to the grass.
QuoteFor the color variation you only need to plug in a power fractal shader for example into the "tint diffuse colour" slot of the pop shader's colour tab. If you have a simple b/w PF it might be necessary to increase the Diffuse colour multiplier to 1.5 to keep the brightness of the population.
basically it was i did, but maybe i'm wrong adding a coloured and not a b/w color on the power fractal shader. This i did on the grass but as point out Ulco, the grass lack in variety, but maybe i have to tweak the scale of the Power fractal shader(?), i post here a picture of the nodes, maybe is easyer to explain:
[attach=1]
and 'green' node is a power fractal node (as the 'yellow' one):
[attach=2]
i forgot the scale in the green node:
[attach=1]
This won't work. You have to add a shader as seen in the attached image.
To check if your power fractal has the right size, do the following:
disable all your objects, clouds, water etc. that take long to render. Create a new surface layer and give it a special name like Colour Test or whatever you want (you'll delete it later anyway).
Assign the exact power fractal you added as colour variation as colour function (and as luminosity function as well to make it more visible) of your new test shader. Do some low quality test renders and adjust the size of your power fractal until it looks OK.
Then delete the test shader and reactivate everything you disabled.
Play with the colour of the PF. You can give the white part some yellowish tint or whatever you like.
Hope that helps...
Thank's Hannes i'm working on, following your instructions. I also a found some free grass and variuos plants models in the terragen.org page. :)
In this rendering perhaps i get a better variety on the colours of the trees and on the colours of the grass. I did as you (Hannes) explain me, not yet added the free flower and grass that i founded: this will be the work for tomorrow or for the next days....
I also think that some bushes will be good behind the pines in the middle.
Great!!!!! Imho the flowers to the left are still too large. The ones in the middle have the right size, but there could be more of them. A suggestion: create an additional population of the flowers in the middle, but use a different colour for the petals (yellow?) to get more variation.
It's great fun to see your image getting better and better!
Quote from: Hannes on June 21, 2014, 03:56:15 PM
Great!!!!! Imho the flowers to the left are still too large. The ones in the middle have the right size, but there could be more of them. A suggestion: create an additional population of the flowers in the middle, but use a different colour for the petals (yellow?) to get more variation.
It's great fun to see your image getting better and better!
I'm happy too! :) I agree, i have to add more varietaty in the middle, i found some yellows dandelions, that may be perfect, the pinky flowers are the Cosmos from Model presets ( a .tgo file) i can change the textures of the petals to yellow and renaming the .tgo file. It's funny also for me to show my creative process! but my pc is becaming very slow, maybe i added too much populations? Should maybe use some billboards models for the trees in the backgorund? but maybe it's better if i try another time... i fear to lost the quality i gained trying other solutions!
p.s. i also see the xfrog groundcover collection and a similar Silva3d... i will consider them for the future!
Don't touch the background!!!
;) ;) ;)
Seriously: do what you want, but the background is almost perfect right now, so it would be a pity to change anything. How many GB RAM do you have? I only have 3GB, and my machine handles a large number of populations quite well, so don't give up!
Quote from: Hannes on June 21, 2014, 05:18:13 PM
Don't touch the background!!!
;) ;) ;)
Seriously: do what you want, but the background is almost perfect right now, so it would be a pity to change anything. How many GB RAM do you have? I only have 3GB, and my machine handles a large number of populations quite well, so don't give up!
Hannes i will not do! i was refering for future experimentations on another projects.... ;) ;D
i have a Samsung laptop with 6 GB of ram and 4core i5 processor.
OK, you have twice as much RAM as I have, so you shouldn't have problems with your populations.
Quote from: Hannes on June 21, 2014, 06:03:33 PM
OK, you have twice as much RAM as I have, so you shouldn't have problems with your populations.
ok! good to know, this is encouraging!
Some news: i added some dandelions and other grass on the foreground but they seems hidden by the clump grass (i reduced a bit his lenght but it's not enough), little changes in the lilac and rose bushes ( a bit reduced), now it's a matter to adjust dimensions and quantity of some plants.
I think also i need to increase the AA (used 6), some contours in the hut are a bit jagged.
[attach=1]
rendering size: 1400 x 1069 pixels
rendering time: 6 hours 29 min.
Whoa! That's rich! :o
Cool!! Come on, some more flowers!!
Hannes now look at this lower res. renderings but with more grass types (ryegrass, phragmites reduced...), i will add ore flowers too... ;):D
[attach=1]
You are getting there for sure! Looks better and better ;)
Yes!! It's great fun to watch your image improve.
Thank You! :) but i'm fighting with my pc, TG3 in linux is unstable, sometimes it crash... i would to transfer the project to windows but the exporting process fails(it doesn't export all the obj, i receive an error parsing)... so i save the project and copy-paste to Windows partition. but not with all the references, just to make some modifications and re-copy and paste to linux partition to rework it. I think the next project i have to work all in Windows... :(
Low medium res of a particular. Added more yellow flowers, and increased the quality settings of the plants in the foreground. Also added specularity and displacement map to the Hut mesh. Maybe tomorrow i will do a Big rendering... The end? ;)
[attach=1]
"Increased quality settings of plants in the foreground", are you using Raytrace Objects? If so, and you are referring to the object quality settings in the object node, you should know that these settings have no effect when Raytrace Objects are enabled.
- Oshyan
Quote from: Oshyan on June 23, 2014, 06:03:24 PM
"Increased quality settings of plants in the foreground", are you using Raytrace Objects? If so, and you are referring to the object quality settings in the object node, you should know that these settings have no effect when Raytrace Objects are enabled.
- Oshyan
Yes Oshyan i'm referring 'to the object quality settings in the object node' and i'm using raytrace objects. Thank you to note this to me! :)
It looks like a small part of the hut's walls are above ground. If you take a sllightly soft simple shape of about twice the size of the hut and on that location, you could smooth the terrain there (use a surface shader after the terrain shaders, masked by this simple shape), and increase displacement offset until a 'plateau' is coming up for your cabin to sit on. You can make it as high as you like. For a little bump in that area, smooth by 0.9 or so, not by 1. For some erosion on the sides add a transform shader, increase size of the simple shape, and use that as mask for an added fractal warp shader with low size (10m), after the added surface shader.
I also think our grass is very 'fat' in color, and different from colors in the distance. And did you use size variation? You could add another pop off the same grass but twice as large and a paler color, mix them by masking their distribution by a power fractal (one masked, one inversely masked, or using another PF). So a more patchy environment is created, with localized growth of grass species.
Quote from: Dune on June 24, 2014, 02:19:13 AM
It looks like a small part of the hut's walls are above ground. If you take a sllightly soft simple shape of about twice the size of the hut and on that location, you could smooth the terrain there (use a surface shader after the terrain shaders, masked by this simple shape), and increase displacement offset until a 'plateau' is coming up for your cabin to sit on. You can make it as high as you like. For a little bump in that area, smooth by 0.9 or so, not by 1. For some erosion on the sides add a transform shader, increase size of the simple shape, and use that as mask for an added fractal warp shader with low size (10m), after the added surface shader.
Thanks for the valuable suggestions Ulco! I tried to follow your instructions, about the base of the hut. I am not clear as to soften the transition areas. I leave a project file with a map as a mask. It would be a great thing if you tell me what am I doing wrong. In this regard, the grass, it is easier to understand, but I have not tried it yet I see less difficulty.
Thank you very much again for your time spent on me. :)
p.s. there are two mask: one blurred and one not: don't know which is better to use.
I meant a simple shape shader, not an image map shader, but a color adjust works better. See attached.
Thank's Ulco! :) This sure will add more realism to the scene. I didn't get that you was referring to the simple shape shader: it is simpler to add this shader than a image map shader. I will consider this also for other projects/situations. Now i'm working to integrate it into my picture. :D
Hmm strange, i have exported as a .clip the shapefile shader with the all nodes connected and required but it has no effect with my map maybe because has an heightfield load shader( my map is a .ter file)? it seems that with an image map shader partially works but it is very difficult to center it, i think i have to find another solution, perhaps to alter the terrain in another software and reimport it modified.
I don't know what you mean with shapefile shader and the rest you write, but flattening an imported .ter works just as well.
[attach=3]Although with all my effort and attention, (spending hours for this!!) have not been able to solve the problem between the hut and the ground. I will try again surely. I also tried to improve the grass and plants in the foreground, following the advice of Ulco. Maybe it's better turf, most dispelled as in this case? I think so, and it harmonizes more with the rest.
p.s: to Ulco i meant Simple shape shader, don't know why i wrote shapefile...
[attach=1]
...and what about this low rendering now? :)
[attach=1]
I would leave out the large tree. If you post your tgd and the .ter (if it's not too big), I can make it work if you like (the platform).
Quote from: kalwalt on June 25, 2014, 06:05:36 PM
...and what about this low rendering now? :)
[attach=1]
Wow!! Nice ;)
I also would try to get the big tree out of the scene... :)
Quote from: Dune on June 26, 2014, 02:58:39 AM
I would leave out the large tree. If you post your tgd and the .ter (if it's not too big), I can make it work if you like (the platform).
yes, maybe without the tree is better, but it was difficult to me rearrange the sinlge instances working in linux....
you're too kind! but my project is too big, maybe i try to export witout the populations and all the nodes for the terrain ( and shaders for the its colors)
Quote from: archonforest on June 26, 2014, 03:11:19 AM
Quote from: kalwalt on June 25, 2014, 06:05:36 PM
...and what about this low rendering now? :)
[attach=1]
Wow!! Nice ;)
I also would try to get the big tree out of the scene... :)
Thank's archonforest! I agree with you...! :)
A tgd is not that big. If you want, just attach it here as it is. Even without the .ter I should be able to make it work.
ok Ulco. i will try to upload! :)
p.s. my .ter sure not, it is more than 8 megabytes...
here the .tgd file and i will attach in the next post the .ter in 7zipped format.
Thank you again for your help Ulco and every one want to have a look at it! :)
My .ter terrain! :)
Here you go. It should work now. But because of the height of the terrain (1.4km) displacement offset had to be drastically changed (it was still at 140m). You can measure altitude at a certain point in the preview (rightclick; contextmenu) and copy altitude, then paste that into the displacement offset. Also, because of the huge displacement of the terrain, a less than 100% smoothing gave too much height difference, so best to keep it at 100%. And the fractal warp was a bit extreme, so I reduced that.
You are my hero, Ulco! Look at this picture of the hut:
[attach=1]
I understand now why i couldn't get it works. Very, very precious help, really appreciated. I hope now to finish this picture, just a matter to adjust something in the foreground and i will do a big render.
I want also put in the sharing area a simple project as a platform making tutorial. ;)
Many thanks again! :D
Walter
This is a rendering with the platform adjusted by Ulco, witout a betula tree on the left. Some weird result on the sky like some grass floating in the air...!?! i didn't touch the grass so this seems very strange... what could be?
[attach=1]
Check out whether your camera happens to be under ground. Perhaps a rock outcrop... I just looked again, and your camera is quite close to ground. If something like that happens you can always add another simple shape at the location of the camera and thus flatten ground there too. Uncheck the black color from other SSS's in that case, so they can be stacked.
Thank's Ulco for the tips! But i I solved that issue in another way, erasing a bit the painted shader under the camera, and repopulating the grass clumps. Now i'm doing a bigger rendering, we'll see what's going on.... :) ???
By the way, you (and all of the new guys, and perhaps even some others) should name your nodes! Give them a cryptic title of what they do. You'll find that the more you work in TG, the more nodes you'll be using, and after a while you won't remember what you did where. Especially if you open a file after a year or so, and they all have their default names, you haven't got a clue what it was for.
And locate them in a neat, logical and orderly manner across the network.
Also, hide nodes inside others they feed into (select them, CTRL+X, rightclick on base node; edit internal, CTRL+V once you're inside the node, go outside again and rightclick on the little triangle inputs, and select the appropriate internal node, after which the triangle will dissappear). That gets rid of a lot of clutter.
Quote from: Dune on June 28, 2014, 12:27:37 PM
By the way, you (and all of the new guys, and perhaps even some others) should name your nodes! Give them a cryptic title of what they do. You'll find that the more you work in TG, the more nodes you'll be using, and after a while you won't remember what you did where. Especially if you open a file after a year or so, and they all have their default names, you haven't got a clue what it was for.
And locate them in a neat, logical and orderly manner across the network.
you are right, i must organize better my nodes. i realize that it a bit difficult to remember what a nodes do in the forest of nodes network!
QuoteAlso, hide nodes inside others they feed into (select them, CTRL+X, rightclick on base node; edit internal, CTRL+V once you're inside the node, go outside again and rightclick on the little triangle inputs, and select the appropriate internal node, after which the triangle will dissappear). That gets rid of a lot of clutter.
This is new to me, sure i will apply to my projects! :)
According to the new changes, I've made a render to 2500 x 1880, so I scaled the image to 1800x1354. The grass does not totally convincing me yet. I put three different types of grass clumps, but seems only two work. ( maybe repopulating them i ddn't notice this) Even the hut show its limits in the texture. I will rework all this,but i want also experiment with other things now.
Quote from: kalwalt on June 29, 2014, 08:26:07 AM
I've made a render to 2500 x 1880, so I scaled the image to 1800x1354.
U are not the only one doing this rescaling stuff...but why? Can u pls explain what is behind this step?
It's only an option to preserve disk space and to not display a very high version (for copyright reason), downsampling the printable high version, you will yet have a good resolutions but not enough to be printable, this IMO. Of course you can print all you want but it will not be the same quality. And other important thing is the limitation of the post size.
In my opinion the foreground looked way better in your image page four, your reply 50. Now the grass population seems a bit sparse.
The black area on the left and the steps (or whatever this is) look as there's some normal problem in your hut?!
Quote from: Hannes on June 29, 2014, 10:42:06 AM
In my opinion the foreground looked way better in your image page four, your reply 50. Now the grass population seems a bit sparse.
i agree with you but the grass was too high, flowers almost disappear in the grass, i want to reach a compromise between the image in reply 50 and the image in reply 60. And yes the population now is too sparse, there are space not filled by in which you see too much the ground.
QuoteThe black area on the left and the steps (or whatever this is) look as there's some normal problem in your hut?!
yes, i modeled in blender and after i made the uv map in 3dcoat, in both software the model looked good, i will recheck it; but could be also a problem with the texture...
I have purchased, because a super sale (50 % off), the groundcover xfrog library, so i will change some models and i will add some more appropriate plants in the foreground. Stay tuned! :)
p.s. if you are interested in the xfrog sale, it is until 1 july! http://xfrog.com/category/libraries.html
Just a partial rendering to show the hut with a right render and a issue with the grass clump following the slope near the hut, there are some og the clumps that seems to float into the air, i'm considering what is the best thing to do in that cases.
Option1: to reduce a lot the clumps diameter and reduce also the distance
Option2: repainting the painted shader and erasing it near the hut, create another painted shader and create another grass pop. to cover only this part.
Which one of this approach do you sugggest me?
You could also feed the mask through a distribution shader and set max slope for the larger grass mat, and add a smaller sized one for steeper angles (another distri shader).
Quote from: Dune on July 08, 2014, 07:22:16 AM
You could also feed the mask through a distribution shader and set max slope for the larger grass mat, and add a smaller sized one for steeper angles (another distri shader).
I partially solved within my 2 option, but i will consider alslo your suggestion. Thank's! :)