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General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: Hannes on October 06, 2020, 05:00:47 AM

Title: City life
Post by: Hannes on October 06, 2020, 05:00:47 AM
I wanted to use some stuff from my last image. https://planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,28356.0.html

No Star Wars ship this time, but a lot of stuff more:
A total of 32 populations and 56 objects. I counted them just out of curiosity. TG takes some time to load the files, but once it's there, TG has no problems. I love it!

Some interesting lighting fact: when the path tracer was new, I was complaining, that you can't increase the power of the environment light to make the scene a bit brighter. I hate second suns, when you're not in a two suns solar system. To my eyes it doesn't look natural. So upping the exposure is one possible thing to do, but often it washes out the sky. So what else can be done?

Here in this case I used a huge hollow hemisphere as backdrop (with "cast shadows" disabled), and also as a lighting source. The luminosity of the sphere is set to 2 (as far as I remember). This lighting affects the GI in a very natural way, other than second suns with shadows disabled or such stuff.
So I can easily increase the luminosity and have the same effect like increasing the environmental light in the legacy renderer. If I make the hemisphere invisible, I have the original sky plus a brightened up scene.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Dune on October 06, 2020, 06:18:43 AM
Topnotch work! I love it! I really like the astronaut too ;D
But apparently the hemisphere trick doesn't affect the sky, no bleaching of clouds? Or is it very small (which is relative) and low, far under the sky?
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Hannes on October 06, 2020, 07:17:12 AM
Actually there are no clouds in the scene. What you see is the textured hemisphere. Makes life easier in this case. ;D
I haven't tested the hemisphere in combination with real clouds, so I'll see...
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Dune on October 06, 2020, 07:55:50 AM
Ah, I should have known, as I have done the same in a recent render ;D
Title: Re: City life
Post by: sboerner on October 06, 2020, 10:35:50 AM
Only 56 objects? Incredible. Agree that the astronaut is a nice touch. ;D And the jaywalker confirms that this is indeed NYC.

No atmosphere? This setup certainly must reduce the rendering time.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Hannes on October 06, 2020, 11:28:07 AM
Thanks Steve!! I had to look, what a jaywalker is... ;D
Actually I didn't disable the default atmosphere. There are just no clouds.

Rendertime in 3K was 2 hours. Path tracer enabled. I think, that's not too bad.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Hannes on October 06, 2020, 11:34:08 AM
By the way, this is the model I used:
https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/exterior/cityscape/nyc-block-set-8-f61d6947467ccd3aa5af24db320235dd

Years ago I edited the textures a lot, and for this image I created a poulation of this city block. I had to edit and rotate some of the instances, so that there are no identical fassades at least in the foreground.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: WAS on October 06, 2020, 12:46:47 PM
Way cool. I like the lighting too, but I thought enviro light works fine? I used it on my gas giant in PT to get luminosity to light the rings (clouds set to enviro 10). The issue is it doesn't know what to do with that light and you can see circles of more light and circles of less on the rings. In my derelict PT scene enviro is upped in enviro light node to get very bright sand in the sun, while still being nice and visible in shadow.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Kadri on October 06, 2020, 02:07:27 PM
Looks good.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Jo Kariboo on October 06, 2020, 06:28:27 PM
A great set up again! Beatifull render!
Title: Re: City life
Post by: WAS on October 06, 2020, 06:29:59 PM
Lara Croft has a sweet ride, haha
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Hannes on October 07, 2020, 12:48:30 AM
Quote from: WAS on October 06, 2020, 12:46:47 PM...but I thought enviro light works fine?
Yes, it does. I only disabled the sunlight. But the enviro light needs some light source to do something, and in this case it's the selfilluminating hemisphere.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Hannes on October 07, 2020, 12:52:18 AM
Another version. Once again the scene is only lit by the hemisphere.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: DocCharly65 on October 07, 2020, 01:17:30 AM
Marvelous work! Both of them. Big Like!
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Dune on October 07, 2020, 02:35:06 AM
So good!
Title: Re: City life
Post by: René on October 07, 2020, 08:07:22 AM
I prefer the second version because of the car lamps and street lighting with their reflection. Also the denser atmosphere in the distance is what you would expect on a rainy day. The asphalt also looks better without the cast shadow of the cars.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Luc on October 07, 2020, 10:53:17 AM
Great picture, second version reminds me a bit somewhere the mood of an old 3D scene done by Gilles Tran with POVRAY : L'oiseau mouillĂ© (http://www.oyonale.com/image.php?code=464&mode=info&section=2000&lang=fr)

luc
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Hannes on October 07, 2020, 11:10:42 AM
Thanks a lot, Luc!!
Title: Re: City life
Post by: WAS on October 07, 2020, 12:34:31 PM
I like the darker one too. Headlights add a lot with the environment.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Jo Kariboo on October 07, 2020, 01:07:46 PM
Hello Hannes, to realize his images you show great patience and thoroughness. Personally I like both images, the first one is the effect when a clearing comes after the rain with very vibrant colors. In a second we are in full shower with this gray atmosphere. You have succeeded in both cases in demonstrating the nuances and subtlety of the light.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Hannes on October 07, 2020, 06:21:07 PM
Thanks a lot for your nice comment. Very much appreciated!!!  :)
Title: Re: City life
Post by: masonspappy on October 07, 2020, 06:43:32 PM
If I was just casually glancing through I might mistake this for an actual photo. Great work!
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Hetzen on October 09, 2020, 05:44:02 PM
Really good Hannes. The only thing that gives the buildings away is the hard black edges around some of the modern building windows. I had to double take when I saw the CR-90 parked on Main.
Title: Re: City life
Post by: Hannes on October 11, 2020, 08:40:05 AM
Thanks a lot, Jon!


Quote from: Hetzen on October 09, 2020, 05:44:02 PMI had to double take when I saw the CR-90 parked on Main.
;D ;D ;D