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General => Terragen Discussion => Topic started by: Tim O'Donoghue on January 01, 2007, 04:42:17 PM

Title: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Tim O'Donoghue on January 01, 2007, 04:42:17 PM
Thanks to Planetside for enough trees to make the Pacific Northwest look much more realistic.

http://www.pbase.com/tjod/image/72442759 (http://www.pbase.com/tjod/image/72442759)

Tim O
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: rcallicotte on January 01, 2007, 04:57:16 PM
Wow, dude.  Awesome!  How long did that take to render?
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Tim O'Donoghue on January 01, 2007, 05:13:00 PM
approx 15 hours on Athlon 64 / XP-64 3000, 1 gig RAM
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Sethren on January 01, 2007, 05:29:09 PM
Looks fairly realistic. Have you thought about tonal color variation in the trees and gaps were bare ground might be scene as well. Other then that it looks great.
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: crazymonkey on January 01, 2007, 05:33:26 PM
that's a lot of trees  ;D some variation would be good as mentioned, but that's a top scene :)
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Tim O'Donoghue on January 01, 2007, 05:42:56 PM
I've varied the height and the fractal breakup. Next trick will be colors and such.  I think I need a higher value for the fractal breakup. But really, in the Northwest, the trees really are that thick in many places. I think I'll try combining some different trees though, and fine tune the slopes and altitudes.


Quote from: Sethren on January 01, 2007, 05:29:09 PM
Looks fairly realistic. Have you thought about tonal color variation in the trees and gaps were bare ground might be scene as well. Other then that it looks great.
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Tim O'Donoghue on January 01, 2007, 05:48:44 PM
Here's a sample of a similar area - a photograph from the side of Evergreen Mountain, near Index, WA:

http://www.pbase.com/tjod/image/46213909

Trees everywhere except the fire roads. 8-)

Quote from: crazymonkey on January 01, 2007, 05:33:26 PM
that's a lot of trees  ;D some variation would be good as mentioned, but that's a top scene :)
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Sethren on January 01, 2007, 11:46:51 PM
Cool!     ;D
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: hyper1 on January 02, 2007, 11:00:27 AM
Tim,
An excellent trial!  Shadows and contrast are the only problems I see in relation to your reference photo.  This is actually a fairly complicated problem that I've encountered before.  The problem as I see it is shadow density.  There are several answers that work, which one will suit your scene, I'm not sure.  The first is "colour adjust" shader.  You can put this puppy between your tree.obj and your multi-shader.  In that shader you'll find a gamma adjustment.  This allows shadow adjustment on a per object basis.  The next is to work back and forth with camera exposure, and the render surface exposure.  What I believe is happening is that the shadow density around the trees is much greater than your reference photo.  When I've tried to adjust the contrast in photoshop I do not get consistent results.  However, you might try just a really small amount of gausian blur .5-1.5 pixel.  Or else just chalk it up to a camera with really good focus!  ;) .
Gary Poole
Quote from: Tim O'Donoghue on January 01, 2007, 04:42:17 PM
Thanks to Planetside for enough trees to make the Pacific Northwest look much more realistic.

http://www.pbase.com/tjod/image/72442759 (http://www.pbase.com/tjod/image/72442759)

Tim O
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Tim O'Donoghue on January 02, 2007, 11:09:14 AM
Thanks, Gary.

I was wondering about how to vary the color a bit as suggested below by Sethren - couldn't find it in the object and was starting to look elsewhere.  I'll give that a try!
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Sethren on January 02, 2007, 04:09:46 PM
Try this thread here.     :)

http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=217.0
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!_Missing Alphas
Post by: bobbystahr on January 12, 2007, 05:08:38 AM
Has anyone noticed, on the free X Frog trees, specifically the hi res Fir tree, that if you look in it's MultiShader there are 2 needles maps but no Alpha Channel image map in the list and there should be 2 according to what is in the file folder for the tree. It renders like leaves instead of needles. Can someone tell me how to add said Alpha Maps please? I want to do close renders of a forest scene and needles must be seen in the scene...LOL
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Kalala Chan on January 12, 2007, 11:49:10 AM
whoa... that's a gorgeous render  :)
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Tim O'Donoghue on January 15, 2007, 08:19:59 AM
Quote from: Kalala Chan on January 12, 2007, 11:49:10 AM
whoa... that's a gorgeous render  :)
Thank you. 8-) I have a few things I'd like to do with it (vary colors, mainly) though I am happy with the overall effect.

Tim O
Title: Re: Thanks for the TREES!
Post by: Will on January 15, 2007, 08:22:42 AM
Very well done! I would agree with sethren though some color variation or gaps might make it look a tad more realitic though. Keep up the good work!

Regards

Will