Another test. Grass and shrub are no good, but I just threw them in.
Interesting formations. With some strata and textures could be the start of a Bryce Canyon like setting.
(http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Hoodoos-at-Bryce-Canyon.jpg)
Ah the Ulco Grail...getting closer every time.
Ah, I like those rocks, Fleetwood, let's see if I can get a little closer. Mine was too dark anyway. The light in that photo is gorgeous.
Apart from being it a bit too dark it's a great image. Nice clouds to.
Some other seed, other veggies, decreased influence of the displacements and another POV and slightly lighter rocks. I never know quite what I like best; the quite natural hazy render, or the (auto)toned one. What's your opinion? I guess some middle way.
I like the auto toned one, seems more in focus/sharper...I now use bloom a lot to get the look and it's easy to over do it but it adds some great feel often....
Nice.
Your trees do look great by the way Ulco.
Trying to build it all up in colors first, then using the vdisp to displace all at once. Not very easy either. I noticed that in vdisp the inverse function just uses the inverse color, but it doesn't displace inversely; I have to get my head around that ???
One thing that's good about this it that it doesn't need a compute anything. Bad thing about that is that you can't restrict displacements to slopes, unless there's some kind of get slope thing that can influence the colors before displacing. Tried 'get normal' and 'visualize normal', but they are above me.
Another test.
Stimulating work.
Looking more natural I think, good effects.
As for the auto-tone thing I think it depends on purpose and personal preference.
Having played with the auto features repeatedly I ended up with using auto-contrast
mostly, since that doesn't change the colors as much. But that's just my perception.
Liking this more with each iteration.
Like I said, the good thing is that it doesn't need any compute, so this took only 29mins, detail 0.6 AA 6 soft shadows with 6 samples. If time permits, I'll take this a bit further, still some ideas....
Very nice scene. Nice rock formation and light.
Quote from: Dune on January 11, 2017, 02:46:28 AM
Like I said, the good thing is that it doesn't need any compute, so this took only 29mins, detail 0.6 AA 6 soft shadows with 6 samples. If time permits, I'll take this a bit further, still some ideas....
echo myself
Some more.
Very nice! I like how you are breaking up the monotony of perfectly shaped nursery trees compared to nature.
Wow! And Wow, again! :)
the last render is pretty awesome!
These are awesome, the eagle is a nice touch!
nice vegetation! The leaks on the rocks works well too!
They are all very beautiful, but I like especially the last two - just personal taste :)
Thank you all. And there are only three pops; 2 versions of the Douglas and one bush. I am thinking of trying to combine this with a rugged path on a steep side, but I don't know if they mix well (procedurally).
They look great Ulco.
Yeah, that last image is darn near photographic!
Another setup, different noises again, now with a mountain track. I fractalwarped the whole lot, so the track is half eroded away, which gives it a pretty nice effect.
Gorgeous! Knowing you, there will be a babbling brook in the gorge next. :)
Damn! (mean that in a complementary way, of course) :)
This series just keeps getting better and better! The last one is really wonderful; natural and lush, beautifully filled with trees and shrubs and grasses. Your rock experimentation has reached a fantastic level, but it is the vegetation along with that, that really makes this realistic. Superb!
Quote from: Dune on January 14, 2017, 07:28:38 AM
Another setup, different noises again, now with a mountain track. I fractalwarped the whole lot, so the track is half eroded away, which gives it a pretty nice effect.
'Pretty nice effect' is an understatment, awesome would be more to the point...great growth in this series...inspiring.
I agree with others, the latest version is fantastic. The rock formations look great, but more importantly it has a cohesive feel as a scene, and a nice effect of the old, abandoned, eroded road. Great stuff!
- Oshyan
Looks very nice Ulco.
Thanks guys. I've just got another idea, which I'll test. As these aren't really hard, blocky rocks, which was the intention. Here's a version with the fractalwarp inv.masked by the road, and your little brook, Luvsmusik ;) That was the easy part; just paint in in a logical place and add some shaders.
Detail 0.7 AA7 soft shadows, 1.5 hours, using one compute terrain small patch. Nice and fast, I like that.
I also tried to make waterfall offf that cliffside on the right by populating a lot of glass stones on a card, but no matter what I did (rotate the pop), I always ended up with a series of evenly spaced vertical rows >:(
Beautiful and realistic scene, Ulco. One of those images one can imagine being there immediately!
Not sure about the strata. It's very regular. Of course things like that can occur in nature, but I'd love to see it a bit more irregular.
Fantastic! I am amazed at the speed with which you make these images.
Thanks guys. I don't like the rocks either, but I've thought out yet another thing...
These are really beautiful. Verson 2-1 of the mountain road is my favorite so far.
Tried something else on the rocks, and added some ferns. And I just found out I can make mp4's in PS, so here's a small sequence. Doesn't really look like much, does it?
This is absolutely one of the most beautiful I know from you!
And a nice video of your workflow!
Superb work as ever!
I like the last one the most.
The most difficult part is to make the blocky rock look natural all over. There may be nice parts, but also very unnatural areas. I reduced the size a bit more and mixed with a normal PF billows. Thinned out the trees to get some light on the path further up. Getting fed up with this one now, up to something new.
Btw. I did some experiments in between, and used that for the latter rock structure.
last 3 images are great!
The middle part of the middle image(v001-1) has beautiful displacements. I wonder how they would look at a higher resolution.
MountainRoad_13-01-17-v003-2 has hit a new level Ulco, Amazing image
Thanks guys. René, I have zoomed in a little on that file (and added another strata shader (default)). The problem with this is that you can't just add (oneclickgo) the formation to existing rockfaces. There are holes in the terrain as well. I have to try and set this up differently. And there are still unlogical warps of rock, it ain't EasyRock.
Love all of these! Very authentic natural settings with great composition.
Quote from: Dune on January 16, 2017, 02:38:58 AM
. And I just found out I can make mp4's in PS,
What version of PS Ulco or are you using the cloud photoshop?
CS6. I found a timeline and you can import images and export mp4. Handy to have.
Quote from: Dune on January 16, 2017, 12:18:24 PM
CS6. I found a timeline and you can import images and export mp4. Handy to have.
I only have CS5 and I don't see it anywhere in there sadly, error, it's CS2, the unsupported version they gave away last year, and I found how to make an animation in PS so maybe I have the resources for it.
Ok, so I just read through the last 3 pages of posts and I thought I'd fall out of my chair when seeing the first mountain road render. That you could even further improve on it with this latest version just reaffirms my belief that you are a true Terragen magician. Wow!
I hope you have some big paying projects in the pipeline because you deliver the goods!
Thanks, otakar, very kind of you.
Quote from: Dune on January 16, 2017, 11:49:50 AM
Thanks guys. René, I have zoomed in a little on that file (and added another strata shader (default)). The problem with this is that you can't just add (oneclickgo) the formation to existing rockfaces. There are holes in the terrain as well. I have to try and set this up differently. And there are still unlogical warps of rock, it ain't EasyRock.
I have long said goodbye to the idea of oneclickgo. The result is highly dependent on camera point of view and lighting, and the terrain needs to be prepared. Sometimes the result is better if the textures go through a transform shader(world space).
I use a mask to displace the terrain(offset) so there is no negative displacement, and contrast, color offset and roughness are easy to control.
Yes, I use the offset quite a lot too for different reasons. And the colors of a fractal to drive displacement, not the displacement itself. Is there any particular reason why you use a png? I always use tiff, but it may be just a personal choice.
Update: some overlap again (sigh). That's the problem when using more than one vdisp in line. I didn't yet get that into one non-overlapping vector, and even if I did, the vector displacement only displaces one way, afaik. The razorbills are old objects and need updating, btw.
Another setup. Still trying how far you can get without any compute ;)
Waves back. Smarty. That's another awesome one! :)
Great rocks, but that's an 'ugly' car on a bad road ;). The creek is a nice touch, but I really like the scale and sense of looming canyon walls. I hope that person has good cel reception and an even better tow service though.
Great scenery - I guess there must be a deep valley behind the horizon? Looks as if it goes really really deep down behind... :o
I am missing a bit ground cover though I love the mossy parts next to the path.
If I were to elaborate on this I'd throw in more groundcover, and not use Douglas fir at one end and olives on this end ;) And replace that car indeed. I might still do that as it has some potential.
Background terrain is flattened as I wanted a view through the canyon.
:)
Hope to see a next iteration.
I probably will, as the rock is made partially by vdisp and there seems to be a difference between left wall and right (right is better). I might try adding one compute and see if a normal displacement works better. And take care of other issues (I'll put your landrover in). Lighting in canyons is always difficult.
Great canyon. Your rocks are very good - it's an interesting method you're playing with must have a go myself.
Updated version, but still working on it.
Cool!!!! Maybe a bit more texture variation? I like the POV. Looks really impressive.
Love what you've done with the rock fall an the road verges, and the LR110 looks really good. Did the lost guy ever figger out where he was?
The whole scene is very good.
Deleted a few nodes again, which didn't add much. Yes, The LR110 is a fine piece of Jochen's work. Rendering one from the opposite side of the valley now, see what that becomes.
Impressive! Are these white vertical stripes (don't know the word for these) procedural?
Yes, just a stretched fractal masking a whitish surface shader and a reflective shader as child, for some sort of calcious drippings.
I think I must reattach some warp, as I miss some rockwall features now. But anyway, this is from the other side at sunset. The guy has turned Jochen's car and is heading back disillusioned, unable to find his dog (or wife.... or both). But he still has his shiny, beautiful rover :)
Absolutely amazing what's going on here :o
Very cool improvements and a scary cool new view in the last two pictures!
I like the composition more in the last two images Ulco.
Last render is awesome!
Awww very nice!
Glad you clarified that, I thought he was gonna jump. I am sure she chased the dog chasing a critter and both are exhausted at trails end! (Ever the optimist)
I like this one better. Took 1.5 hours. I pushed back the left mountainside (vdisp+SSS, which was there already to steepen it anyway). I only see that I didn't locate the spotlights very accurately, and the stones are a bit too bloated.
love that rock.....grrrrr.......
why grr?........cos I cant get my rock as good as you ppl here
The v3B versions are cool, very nice mood.
Agree on the warp.
:)
Quote from: Dune on January 27, 2017, 10:20:40 AM
I like this one better. Took 1.5 hours. I pushed back the left mountainside (vdisp+SSS, which was there already to steepen it anyway). I only see that I didn't locate the spotlights very accurately, and the stones are a bit too bloated.
Very nice Ulco, and I'm sure you saw this coming, How the heck did you do those visible lights? To locate the spots I turns off everything but a dummy I make with spheres and center the lights on those locations. It's real easy with a sphere approx. the size of the lens area in diameter.
The twilight ambiance and the headlights are really well done, very convincing and artful. This canyon scene is really evolving nicely.
The lighting of the last 2 is really great. I love the backlighting of the vegetation, especially in the 2nd to last.
- Oshyan
Thanks guys. So this one's worth a little more veggie variation I guess. There's just 4 now (Douglas, youngish Pine, heather and some bush). And do the rocks better and relocate the spotlights. Btw, they have soft shadows on and I raised some value from 0 to 0.05, probably the start diameter (don't know what it's called off my head), and used a very local (10m) thin cloud. I might put a jumping moose in :D
Quote from: Dune on January 28, 2017, 02:18:17 AM
Btw, they have soft shadows on and I raised some value from 0 to 0.05, probably the start diameter (don't know what it's called off my head), and used a very local (10m) thin cloud. I might put a jumping moose in :D
Thanks and LOL, go for the jumping moose...very Canadian Rockies then.
Update with some more veggies and different light, etc. No moose.
Perfect. You nailed the headlights absolutely! The effect of the light on the rocky road is great, too bad aboot the moose.
It is like he just plans that the pale grass is right there in the beam of the headlight...then you see the spring green foliage to off set that, then the heather....muddy rocks, canyon walls...
Frame it!
Amazing that you can get a perfect render even better!
This time watching it I recognized the beautifully lit tree on the left... :)
The fun thing is that without a compute (just warp and vdisp) it takes only 45mins to render at 0.6 AA6, soft shadows, so I might see what it would be like with much higher settings (and some more veggies).
Quote from: bobbystahr on January 28, 2017, 11:17:51 AM
Perfect. You nailed the headlights absolutely! The effect of the light on the rocky road is great...
Echo Bobby!
Excellent, you've got the lighting just right!