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General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: zaxxon on October 03, 2014, 06:26:41 PM

Title: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: zaxxon on October 03, 2014, 06:26:41 PM
All vegetation modeled in Speedtree. Mitchell-Netravali pixel filter, Det. 1, AA 12. Comments and critiques are always welcome.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Kadri on October 03, 2014, 06:35:30 PM

I like it.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Marty on October 03, 2014, 08:07:03 PM
Love it! Great work! :D
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: choronr on October 03, 2014, 09:49:08 PM
I can't stop looking at this image; extra fine work by you.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: masonspappy on October 03, 2014, 09:52:35 PM
Nice - especially like the 'scrubbiness'. More realistic.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Oshyan on October 04, 2014, 01:08:37 AM
I think the ground needs a little more bump or roughness, or maybe just some color variation, even if just subtle. It looks a bit monotone and flat (shading-wise) at the moment. That green tree is also rather wild-looking, eh? But I do like the scene overall actually, quite a bit. Aside from those two issues it all looks rather realistic to me.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Dune on October 04, 2014, 03:42:06 AM
I agree with Oshyan. I presume it's quite evenly colored hardened clay (looks like that to me), but a little variation (and/or some pebbly clumps) may do it good. I like the central tree!
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: zaxxon on October 04, 2014, 11:27:32 AM
Oshyan: I went back and forth as to the detail level on the exposed dirt in the immediate foreground, as Dune surmised it is a sort of "baked clay". Not a lot of rocks in the prairie soil, but I think the shader here is a bit too reflective and some detail and color variation is being lost. Worth another go.

Dune: The tree is modeled after an American Elm which is a typical resident of prairie creeks.  I went thru a number of variations from ST placing them in that point til this one 'fit'. The ability to interact with the tree modeler while composing the scene is very exciting. Visualizing how a given environment might shape the  vegetation, especially a tree in an intermittent waterway was fun.

Masonspappy: Thanks. 'Scrubbiness' indeed, and to Oshyan's 'wild'; yes, but that's the intended state of this environment.  My personal approach to landscape is to pretty much leave out "The Hand of Man", or at the most to show natural environments recovering from "THOM".

Kadri and Marty: Thanks Guys, I appreciate the comments!

Bob: From one 'dry-lander' to another, muchas gracias!

Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: TheBadger on October 04, 2014, 04:38:47 PM
Like it a lot too.

Only the tree in the middle bothers me. Just that its blocking my view. Tree looks good though. Entire scene looks good.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: mhaze on October 05, 2014, 05:02:24 AM
Another great piece of work. I like the tree, we have a lot like that around us. I do agree with the comments about the baked clay, worth some more exploration.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Tangled-Universe on October 05, 2014, 05:14:16 AM
Very very nice :)

Most has been said already actually.
Regarding the soil I'd like to suggest to use 3 or 4 fake stone layers at different sizes and different colours.
Don't displace them, just hook a coloured PF to them and give each fake stone layer a (slightly, not too much) different hue for their high/low colours.
For sizes use something like 0.01 meters and smaller.

Especially if you render at detail 1 then you can use tiny stones :)
Make sure to do crop render tests at final render settings eventually.

I have 1 little compositional remark if I may:
The wild tree (which I like btw!) is too much in the centre.
Since it is casting a shadow to the right I'd like to suggest to move it to the left in the composition in such a way that its shadow is cast on the creek.
This way there's more focus on the creek and the creek itself isn't uniformly lit anymore, which should make it look more interesting.
In the end you may also consider clearing up the very foreground of the creek by slightly moving around those branches.

I'm very curious to see more! :)

Cheers,
Martin
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: archonforest on October 05, 2014, 08:44:24 AM
Very fine artwork. Thx for sharing it ;)
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Lady of the Lake on October 05, 2014, 11:57:16 AM
This is wonderful.  I like all the dead trees in the foreground, very realistic.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: DocCharly65 on October 06, 2014, 05:36:49 AM
I just love it  :)
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: bobbystahr on October 06, 2014, 10:21:56 AM
As a life long prairie dweller who has a preference for areas without the THOM interfering, you nailed this. Looks like the view off a fave mountain bike (well prairie bump bike) trail I rode all summer. But all the tips seem well-intentioned and would give 'em a try....







Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: otakar on October 06, 2014, 02:33:06 PM
That's some crazy tree modeling, I love it! Great scene overall, all the plants seem to be placed naturally and fit the scene. If you've had first hand experience in TG, that's quite hard to accomplish. Good stuff  8)
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: zaxxon on October 07, 2014, 12:11:30 AM
Here is an updated image with a little more 'interest' in the immediate foreground, should've done something of that sort to begin with... Thanks for the nudge. Also increased the haze density to put a little more 'atmosphere' between the foreground and distant hills. And upped the AO from 1.54 to 2.0.

Seems a consensus vote for the tree, with a few qualifiers as to placement, thanks!

TheBadger: sorry it's blocking your view, take my word aside from the lovely unclad babe behind the tree, you ain't missing much  ;)

TU: Always a pleasure when you stop by to comment. Thanks for the tips, and indeed I did add a couple of tiny fake rock populations into the foreground area. Hard to move the tree at this point as it's supposed to be growing from the creek bed (which is usually very dry). I'll probably return to this scene and find some other POV's; it's set in a large World Machine .ter file (542 megs). and is composed of gentle rolling hills with small ravines and lots of erosion.

Thanks to everyone who spent time viewing and commenting on this image, really appreciated!
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Dune on October 07, 2014, 02:25:25 AM
That's a great update, I love it (saved it). The texture on the ground really does it, and the haze was a good idea too. Up to your next!
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: choronr on October 07, 2014, 02:46:16 AM
You've done it your way; and, it is very pleasing. Time to fire up the printer!
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: wiwine on October 07, 2014, 04:57:37 AM
A superb render.
And with a little contrast adjustment (auto-contrast) it looks even better :)
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Saurav on October 07, 2014, 09:36:39 AM
Great scene and the placement of vegetations are perfect. One of the most photorealistic renders to come out of the TG forum in recent times. In fact if you just showed me the right hand side of the render I would believe it was a photo.  :)
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: ndeewolfwood on October 07, 2014, 09:38:55 AM
Oh yeah ! Very "natural" rendering. Good job. Maybe time for higher resolution now.  :)
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Tangled-Universe on October 07, 2014, 10:18:16 AM
Great update and great work!

I just don't have much else to say other than I'm looking forward to see your next one.
It's a real pleasure to see good TG work, thanks! :)

Quote from: Saurav on October 07, 2014, 09:36:39 AM
Great scene and the placement of vegetations are perfect. One of the most photorealistic renders to come out of the TG forum in recent times. In fact if you just showed me the right hand side of the render I would believe it was a photo.  :)

+1 :)
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: ratfugel on October 07, 2014, 05:53:09 PM
Zaxxon - don't worry about the nit pickers.  You've got the eye, and that's what really matters.  Most people would probably miss what you pick up on.  Nature has always been an untidy beast. One can easily be too tidy and structured in one's images. Things fall, rot, get scattered etc etc.  You caught all of this. Fabulous job.

rat.

 
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: zaxxon on October 07, 2014, 10:34:39 PM
Wow! Thanks for the great response to this image. No secret, I'm still learning this great app. Having a lot of fun along the way - and it's really great to be part of this community  :).

If anyone would like a shot at using this .ter file from WM, let me know. Here's an overhead image; it's far from perfect, but it contains a high level of detail, and I think there's lots of POV's to be had.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: yossam on October 08, 2014, 12:22:53 AM
I wouldn't mind giving it a look see.  ;D
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: otakar on October 08, 2014, 03:23:17 PM
Even better. Will print as well to stick on the wall.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: inkydigit on October 08, 2014, 06:26:28 PM
Astonishingly realistic... Really love the colours and shapes/distribution of the super vegetation... 😄
Congratulations
Cheers
Jason
Ps the terrain file would be fun to explore!
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: bigben on October 11, 2014, 06:02:44 AM
Great images.  The branching on the small bushes is fantastic (as well as everything else others have mentioned)
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: alessandro on October 31, 2014, 04:58:20 PM
Great image, congrats!
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Hannes on November 02, 2014, 06:08:36 AM
Wow, that's fabulous! Great improvement, and the vegetation is fantastic! As Saurav said: almost photorealistic!
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: bobbystahr on November 02, 2014, 11:09:34 AM
Quote from: zaxxon on October 07, 2014, 10:34:39 PM
Wow! Thanks for the great response to this image. No secret, I'm still learning this great app. Having a lot of fun along the way - and it's really great to be part of this community  :).

If anyone would like a shot at using this .ter file from WM, let me know. Here's an overhead image; it's far from perfect, but it contains a high level of detail, and I think there's lots of POV's to be had.


Yes please, we'd really like the .ter when you have a moment to upload it....and thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: zaxxon on November 02, 2014, 11:46:09 AM
Thanks for reminding me Bobby. Since the .ter  file is about half a gig I need some suggestions about how to post it  :). This is also the terrain file that I used in Big Oak Flat as well. The terrain has some quirks and you have to 'cheat' a little with scales (I know, I know...). So let me know a good way to put it up.
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: bobbystahr on November 02, 2014, 12:08:32 PM
Quote from: zaxxon on November 02, 2014, 11:46:09 AM
Thanks for reminding me Bobby. Since the .ter  file is about half a gig I need some suggestions about how to post it  :). This is also the terrain file that I used in Big Oak Flat as well. The terrain has some quirks and you have to 'cheat' a little with scales (I know, I know...). So let me know a good way to put it up.

try this...lots of us have it now
www.dropbox.com/
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: bobbystahr on November 02, 2014, 12:10:00 PM
Being who I am I dl'd that top down .jpg view, converted it to a .tif and am happily exploring a substitute at the moment....hee hee hee
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: Oshyan on November 03, 2014, 01:51:30 AM
Compress your terrain using .7z, and then upload to Dropbox, Google Drive (both require accounts), or good old https://mega.nz/

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Little Dakota Creek
Post by: bobbystahr on November 03, 2014, 01:53:45 AM
Quote from: Oshyan on November 03, 2014, 01:51:30 AM
Compress your terrain using .7z, and then upload to Dropbox, Google Drive (both require accounts), or or good old https://mega.nz/

- Oshyan

free accounts