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General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: Doug on March 16, 2022, 10:34:24 AM

Title: Zebra's
Post by: Doug on March 16, 2022, 10:34:24 AM
A new picture i am working on.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Balletdude on March 16, 2022, 11:12:04 AM
That's stunning. love the lighting.
did you model the zebras yourself.

if I could suggest one thing (and by no means take it as a problem) maybe vary the plants in the background in height a bit more? I am probably imagining it but I can see a pattern of repetition, but probably just my eyes playing tricks on me

But as I said stunning image
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Hannes on March 16, 2022, 11:26:34 AM
Great!!! If you check "receive shadows from surfaces" in the cloud layer that represents the dust, it would look even better, I guess (and render longer...)
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Doug on March 16, 2022, 04:32:48 PM
Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

I'm working on the even level background. Going to try trees and rocks.

I did check "receive shadows from surfaces"  as Hannes suggested.  That works very well, never new it was there.

How do i add more light without washing things out?
Is there a way to tell a light source not to shine on an Object? but still shine on everything else

Thanks
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Hannes on March 16, 2022, 05:01:18 PM
Yep, that's better!
Actually there is no usual way to exclude objects from the active lighting, as far as I'm aware of, but maybe there's some dirty trick? ;)   Which object do you want to exclude?
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Doug on March 16, 2022, 06:11:21 PM
I was thinking if i could add light to the Zebras without affecting the plants or ground or sky.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: zaxxon on March 16, 2022, 08:29:29 PM
Really fine work!  I really like the flow of the zebras forms, well done.  I did a similar scene awhile back and the atmosphere settings played a large part in creating the effect I think you are mentioning. That image is posted in the Forums Travelers Contest section, but here's a link to the breakdown showing the atmosphere's impact on the lighting: https://vimeo.com/436609828   If you think it would help I could send you the files. BTW - great first name Doug!
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: WAS on March 16, 2022, 08:43:54 PM
This is quite a nice image! I like the second iteration with the shadows added more.

Quote from: zaxxon on March 16, 2022, 08:29:29 PMReally fine work!  I really like the flow of the zebras forms, well done.  I did a similar scene awhile back and the atmosphere settings played a large part in creating the effect I think you are mentioning. That image is posted in the Forums Travelers Contest section, but here's a link to the breakdown showing the atmosphere's impact on the lighting: https://vimeo.com/436609828  If you think it would help I could send you the files. BTW - great first name Doug!
Oh, yeah, most definitely. Especially the high lighting contrasting with the shadows. It gives it that "Really in the sun" look.

He could probably achieve similar with what he has going on now.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Dune on March 17, 2022, 02:30:43 AM
Good job. It really shows the dynamics of such a herd. Shadows in dust really does it too. If you want more light on the zebra's the only thing I can think of is either comping them in  later (and do 2 renders), but that would be an enormous task, or just light up the texture. You can go above 1 if needed in the default shader, I tend to do that if I want ground colors to seep into grass objects.
Or give them a little (more) soft reflection, which would lighten up their back mostly.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Balletdude on March 17, 2022, 03:51:07 AM
Would changing the luminosity and fresnel reflectivity in the default shader work?
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Dune on March 17, 2022, 05:11:52 AM
I wouldn't use luminosity, unless you want glowing zebra's ;D  8)

Here's what happens if you increase fresnel reflection from 0.1 to 0.4 and set roughness to 0.4 instead of 0.2. And raised base color from 0.8 to 1.2.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Balletdude on March 17, 2022, 06:29:50 AM
Quote from: Dune on March 17, 2022, 05:11:52 AMI wouldn't use luminosity, unless you want glowing zebra's ;D  8)

Here's what happens if you increase fresnel reflection from 0.1 to 0.4 and set roughness to 0.4 instead of 0.2. And raised base color from 0.8 to 1.2.
Just realised you wanted the objects lighter. I was testing making them less affected by the lighting. Not sure how well it works in that respect
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Hannes on March 17, 2022, 06:52:19 AM
Quote from: Dune on March 17, 2022, 05:11:52 AMHere's what happens if you increase fresnel reflection from 0.1 to 0.4 and set roughness to 0.4 instead of 0.2. And raised base color from 0.8 to 1.2.
That looks really good and not unnatural at all.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Stormlord on March 17, 2022, 04:01:20 PM
Great Image with a very good mood in it!
LOVE IT

STORMLORD
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Doug on March 17, 2022, 06:50:24 PM
I added the trees and it darkened everything, so i increased the sunlight which doesn't washout the ground but the Zebra's got lighter.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: WAS on March 17, 2022, 07:32:02 PM
I think the real issue here is your haze and dust being far to light, while roughness should be lower, and reflection higher on the zebras. You can use lighting settings on the clouds to get them just right. For example, think about the dust, the colour of the dust is going to be fairy dark. It's its diameter of the particulate in the atmosphere catching highlights that makes the whole dust appear brighter.

Check out this quick adjustment. Just to get strong daylight like contrasty lighting on the Zebras, you have to blow out everything else, cause it's far too light already. Darker colours, less density, and adjusted lighting settings could help.

In general when I tend to do haze/dust I try to keep it really light, because in Post you can easily get those saturated areas brighter and adjusted perfectly. For quick post I tend to just adjust levels, curves, and exposure. 
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Doug on March 18, 2022, 01:37:16 PM
I think i will stop with this one.

Thanks for looking and all the ideas.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Doug on March 26, 2022, 07:03:58 PM
I heard you guys talking about Path Tracer on different threads.
So this is using Path Tracer and it is a little better.
Took 26 hours.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: WAS on March 26, 2022, 07:29:04 PM
26 hours seems a bit extreme, and don't really notice much a difference. In fact if I look at the internal shadowing of the grass patches it seems standard does better than PT, which has a lot more glowing haze within the plant structures that should be pretty shaded.

This seems to be a scenario where PT isn't helping. Which is odd, seems like it would for lighting.

Makes me wonder if haze is computed lighter in PT than SR. May do some tests.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Dune on March 27, 2022, 02:00:46 AM
Indeed, and I would say PT wouldn't be really useful in a situation like this; sparse grass and fake stones, and distant objects. It is most useful in a situation with a lot of dark shadows like in close objects (like many plants). And it's always good to test some crops and compare.
Render time is probably that long from small displacements on ground, especially if they are complex (lots of shaders) and if there's any reflectivity. But of course also depends on machine specs.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: Kadri on March 27, 2022, 09:41:13 PM
Nice work.
Title: Re: Zebra's
Post by: WAS on March 27, 2022, 10:51:43 PM
Quote from: Dune on March 27, 2022, 02:00:46 AMIndeed, and I would say PT wouldn't be really useful in a situation like this; sparse grass and fake stones, and distant objects. It is most useful in a situation with a lot of dark shadows like in close objects (like many plants). And it's always good to test some crops and compare.
Render time is probably that long from small displacements on ground, especially if they are complex (lots of shaders) and if there's any reflectivity. But of course also depends on machine specs.


Looks like raw one or two fake stones on the ground using internal colour variation on flat ground. Shouldn't be too intense. Probably haze and object shadows.Seems like lighting settings is really high, so shadowed parts are not only calculating shadow, but heavy ambient.