Avatar goes medieval... ;)
Like always I started this without knowing what this would be in the end. Initially the working title was "Lake".
The only thing that's not in the image is a lake.
Let's say that if rocks can levitate, lake has evaporated.
Beautiful one
David
Excellent work. The rocks are outstanding.
Stunning work! Like it a lot.
I like it Hannes.
Quote from: Hannes on June 10, 2015, 03:28:24 AM
...Like always I started this without knowing what this would be in the end. Initially the working title was "Lake".
The only thing that's not in the image is a lake.
I do this all the time. The bad thing is when i search for old projects i find a Galaxy image for example in a folder named Waterfall :)
;D ;D ;D
Just found out that the rocks aren't the only floating things in the image. Some trees do as well. Dammit! Have to do some crop renders and some testing of the castle with slightly increased displacement. The walls look a bit too smooth imho.
Why didn't I look closer before? >:(
Bah, postwork it if you don't animate it!
The rock structures on the floating...rock are very nice by the way.
I'll do as much as possible that can be done without postwork, but of course Photoshop always helps ;)
The rocks are imported objects I've created (and already used) years ago, before it was possible to really displace objects and to populate on them in TG. So even the plants are imported. I used image maps for the coloring and the bump.
What do you use for modeling Hannes?
3ds max.
Update.
As I wrote I did some crop renders using a GI cache file to make the adjustments, because the whole image took almost 9 hours to render.
Nice one! Castle is much better now.
The roots are cool.
Good show, Hannes. Great work! I love it, also because this has the medieval touch. Only thing I thought; why are the buildings stoneworks so dark, while the rocks are very light? I know smoke gets into the pores and arkens cities, but I think a little lighter and patchy darkness suits this castle area.
On the left there's room for a waterfall, just paint in on ground and add a white PF.
But, I love it!
Nice!
Awesome!
Thanks again, guys!
Some good suggestions, Ulco. I know the castle got even darker after I increased the displacement. Doing some tests with a mix of a brighter texture map and some power fractals.
Not sure about the waterfall yet. I'll see if I'll be in the mood... ;)
It's great. I love the Eastern Europe feeling the of the castle's style.
I would add a road to get to the castle. Maybe some support buildings along the road.
I love the balance of light on the sunny vs. shaded sides, and the lighting on the rock. Beautiful. I agree the castle looks a bit dark though...
- Oshyan
New version:
I completely removed the diffuse map of the castle walls and used only a power fractal together with a transform input shader for using world space and I increased the displacement value.
The trees around the castle are distributed a bit denser and I moved the compute terrain after all the displacement stuff to get rid of the floating trees.
There's a complete village now right behind the castle. There have already been some houses before, but they were barely visible.
And there are some birds now...
Looks better. The village is a nice touch.
The castle blends more in with the terrain now, great. One more thing; I know it's low sun, but the overall colors are very warm, almost monotone. I miss some coolness in the shadows, but that may be too much to ask ;)
Smoke coming from the village? They all had fires those days.
Quote from: Hannes on June 10, 2015, 05:01:04 AM
The rocks are imported objects I've created (and already used) years ago, before it was possible to really displace objects and to populate on them in TG. So even the plants are imported. I used image maps for the coloring and the bump.
That answers my query re: the floating rocks without me having to ask...a most helpful forum.
I like the latest one best.
I know it's a fantasy and the castle could be a mirage or magical, but now it looks more like it could be built from selected local rock.
Excellent! Everything comes together so naturally you don't even question the floating rocks and fantasy elements.
Thanks again, guys!
Ulco, I did a little quick and dirty test with Irfan view to try some color variation.
I know some smoke or fire would be a nice addition, but I'm afraid it wouldn't be visible, since the village is so far away.
A comparison. I guess it's really better to take out some of the warmness. What do you think?
Sorry for the "power posting". Here's another one.
You're so fast I need not advise the advice you already took heh heh. Picks up the snow and clouds for me and treats the floating rocks well as well. And all that aside, I really love the castle...well done on that.
Thanks a lot, Bobby. But what snow? :)
Quote from: Hannes on June 12, 2015, 03:29:03 PM
Thanks a lot, Bobby. But what snow? :)
That low white rock then...looked like snow to me ...my colour blindness screwing me up again
in and out of the garden is affecting my colour perception when I come indoors...just did a test...never noticed that before
Great Hannes. I prefer the lower section, slightly cooler. Irfanview isn't the best option to add smoke whirls, but you're probably very aware of that. Another idea would be to add a bluish sun under the surface, opposite the sun, no shadows, to add a bluish sheen on the shadowed areas.
I used Irfan View only for the color grading.
I'm quite sure that I won't use a second sun unless I'm creating an alien world with two suns! I know the two sun solution has been mentioned before, but to my taste it just doesn't look good.
Another idea would be to give the environmental light a slightly blueish tint. I'll do some tests.
Here is a small low quality render with tinted environment light. I like it.
Quote from: Hannes on June 13, 2015, 09:23:13 AM
Here is a small low quality render with tinted environment light. I like it.
Bingo...got it
Yes, definite improvement!
How about a version with a mist/low clouds and at a different time of day? This one is worth some episodes! Got a real story in it doesn't it. 8)
Animation would be cool, where the floating rocks very slowly drift, very subtle. Some cloud movement, nothing more.
Yes, I thought about animation as well. And trying some different daytime settings sounds good too.
Anyway, here is the final version (I think ;)) of this scenario. I already mentioned the tinting of the environment. There's a lot of stuff in the village now. Unfortunately it's barely visible.
Quote from: Hannes on June 14, 2015, 02:17:43 AM
Unfortunately it's barely visible.
Maybe time for some close up detail shots then? nudge nudge wink wink....
Stunning as it stands, btw.
Here is a quick closeup of the village. I didn't pay too much attention on this, because most of it won't be recognizable anyway.
Quote from: Hannes on June 14, 2015, 06:06:25 AM
I didn't pay too much attention on this, because most of it won't be recognizable anyway.
No attention? :o
Looks like you payed enough ;D
Indeed, quite a lot. If you're going to animate anyway, you could make a swing across town ;)
ANIMATE! ANIMATE! ANIMATE!(in a robot voice, you know to who[m] I refer)...THE DALEK...I hadda brain cramp
;D ;D ;D
OK, I'm trying some animation things right now: already animated the cloud layers that follow the terrain and the (hopefully) final camera movement. It's going to be a 300 frames animation.
Quote from: Hannes on June 14, 2015, 06:17:51 PM
;D ;D ;D
OK, I'm trying some animation things right now: already animated the cloud layers that follow the terrain and the (hopefully) final camera movement. It's going to be a 300 frames animation.
Excited, always wanted to see 'cloud following terrain' in an actual animation...go man go
SUPER!!!
little town looks great.
Festival of the burning of the witches?
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/czech_culture/czech_holidays/burning-witches.html
Sounds festive :o ;D
;D burning witches... oh boy... :D
I'd say the still image is done now. I created a thread in the Animation area. Hope you'll like it.
What a great project! I like it.
Just saw it today and saw the long processing way... Congratulations!