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General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: pixelpusher636 on April 09, 2022, 08:25:58 PM

Title: Nearly at the Top
Post by: pixelpusher636 on April 09, 2022, 08:25:58 PM
Aside from assembling this all together, I'm afraid I can take no credit whatsoever. :)

Credit to the amazing assets go to:
Bushes - Dune
Voronoi Cliff - WAS
Flock of Birds - Hannes

Thanks for viewing.
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: Dune on April 10, 2022, 01:56:06 AM
Nice composition. Powerful render. What struck me though is the 'sandyness' of the rock. Too evenly grainy, I'd say. I would assume that rocks worn that smooth overall would be smoother. Perhaps some local indentations, where erosion did get a chance, with some very local accumulation of small particles in those dents would be fitting.
What would also be interesting is to add a very small scale local erosion on this (Daniil's plugin) to see what happens.
Or scratches made by ice age movement of hunderds of meters of heavy ice and rocks...
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: Hannes on April 10, 2022, 07:11:56 AM
Really great!!!! Looks very natural. I agree with Ulco about the rock surface, and I think, a little DOF would be a nice addition, since the camera lens seems to be quite close to the surface.
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: pixelpusher636 on April 10, 2022, 11:37:43 AM
Thanks guys! I agree with the both of you. I'd thought about adding a little DOF after a few test renders and put it off to just get a decent render. The DOF settings are probably intuitive to most people, it eludes me and I usually have to spend a lot of time fiddling. Is their a trick? I.m going to see if I get lucky and get results quickly with it today, sometimes this happens.

The graininess on the rock was a failed attempt to add some subtle texture. Turns out it wasn't so subtle. :) I had tried a series of failed attempts to mask to rises crevices etc. and I was unsuccessful.  I will attach, maybe I have the nodes setup incorrectly. In the meantime I think will just remove it and give Daniil's erosion a go and see if I can get some interesting results that way.

I appreciate the feedback gentlemen.
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: WAS on April 10, 2022, 11:56:44 AM
Crevices probably won't be obtainable without compute terrain, and a surface layer. At least procedurally.

But you can go in and pipe out components you need. Like largest ovtave voronoi with Use Normal A conditional. This will outpout the largest voronoi map mixed. You can then use a colour adjust and lift white point to like 20 (depending on your normal amplitude; 20 is based on default amplitude of the shader) and adjust until you get a nice map. Then you have a rises mask, then invert for crevices. You can do this with the other maps as well, like Use Normal B

Bringing Gamma Down in your colour adjust can help with a smoother transition zone. See second image. WP at 15, Gamma at 0.25.
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: pixelpusher636 on April 10, 2022, 12:15:06 PM
Quote from: WAS on April 10, 2022, 11:56:44 AMCrevices probably won't be obtainable without compute terrain, and a surface layer. At least procedurally.

But you can go in and pipe out components you need. Like largest ovtave voronoi with Use Normal A conditional. This will outpout the largest voronoi map mixed. You can then use a colour adjust and lift white point to like 20 (depending on your normal amplitude; 20 is based on default amplitude of the shader) and adjust until you get a nice map. Then you have a rises mask, then invert for crevices. You can do this with the other maps as well, like Use Normal B

Bringing Gamma Down in your colour adjust can help with a smoother transition zone. See second image. WP at 15, Gamma at 0.25.

Thanks for your input WAS! This will be very helpful indeed!
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: pixelpusher636 on April 10, 2022, 10:19:07 PM
No luck getting erosion to do what I wanted but some success with some DOF.
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: Hannes on April 11, 2022, 11:25:45 AM
The DOF looks good!
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: blattacker on April 11, 2022, 02:19:19 PM

Quote from: pixelpusher636 on April 10, 2022, 11:37:43 AMI'd thought about adding a little DOF after a few test renders and put it off to just get a decent render. The DOF settings are probably intuitive to most people, it eludes me and I usually have to spend a lot of time fiddling. Is their a trick? I.m going to see if I get lucky and get results quickly with it today, sometimes this happens.

 I don't necessarily find the DoF settings intuitive, but you can use a website like DOF simulator (https://dofsimulator.net/en/) to set up the shot and visualize the depth of field (though it is, admittedly, geared more towards portraits than anything else). Anything inside the gray box around the subject will be in focus for the selected distance and focal length, and everything outside that box will be out of focus.
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: pixelpusher636 on April 11, 2022, 07:13:08 PM
Quote from: blattacker on April 11, 2022, 02:19:19 PM
Quote from: pixelpusher636 on April 10, 2022, 11:37:43 AMI'd thought about adding a little DOF after a few test renders and put it off to just get a decent render. The DOF settings are probably intuitive to most people, it eludes me and I usually have to spend a lot of time fiddling. Is their a trick? I.m going to see if I get lucky and get results quickly with it today, sometimes this happens.

 I don't necessarily find the DoF settings intuitive, but you can use a website like DOF simulator (https://dofsimulator.net/en/) to set up the shot and visualize the depth of field (though it is, admittedly, geared more towards portraits than anything else). Anything inside the gray box around the subject will be in focus for the selected distance and focal length, and everything outside that box will be out of focus.
Thanks for the link Blattacker! After spending some time with these controls yesterday I started to get a much better feel for the effect. Still not especially intuitive but your link might help further in taking out some trial and error. 
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: Dune on April 12, 2022, 01:42:20 AM
I think there is some sort of formula that states to what extension things are 'sharp' with a certain distance and aperture set. Sudden thought; purchase a second-hand lens, that has the dials, and you can read distances ;)  But there should be something online.
I wish there was a way within TG to show not only the distance (with the red overlay) but also the extent of sharpness. Crop renders is what I do.
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: blattacker on April 12, 2022, 08:34:58 AM
Quote from: Dune on April 12, 2022, 01:42:20 AMI think there is some sort of formula that states to what extension things are 'sharp' with a certain distance and aperture set. Sudden thought; purchase a second-hand lens, that has the dials, and you can read distances ;)  But there should be something online.
I wish there was a way within TG to show not only the distance (with the red overlay) but also the extent of sharpness. Crop renders is what I do.
There absolutely is a formula to determine depth of field, but it's about as clear as mud ahaha! It's
(2 * [distance to focus object]^2 * [f-number] * [circle of confusion]) / [focal length]^2
which is why I prefer things that let you visualize it instead (especially since I'm not entirely clear on what a "circle of confusion" is). What is this red overlay, though?
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: Dune on April 12, 2022, 08:48:02 AM
This here. But it just gives the distance you set in camera. Perhaps a nice feature addition would be to do something like a distance shader based on aperture and distance set with a blurry zone to check what's (more or less) sharp. It should be possible to incorporate that formula into TG.
I understand this formula more or less, but not the 'circle of confusion'.
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: blattacker on April 12, 2022, 09:45:56 AM
Oh, that is not at all what I thought that button did! I saw "DoF Preview" and assumed it'd be trying to preview the DoF blur in the 3D preview! That's really good to know!
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: pixelpusher636 on April 13, 2022, 07:40:16 PM
Quote from: Dune on April 12, 2022, 08:48:02 AMThis here. But it just gives the distance you set in camera. Perhaps a nice feature addition would be to do something like a distance shader based on aperture and distance set with a blurry zone to check what's (more or less) sharp. It should be possible to incorporate that formula into TG.
I understand this formula more or less, but not the 'circle of confusion'.
Right there with you Dune. I'm slightly confused about the circle of confusion as well. I like your idea. 
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: Dune on April 14, 2022, 02:10:33 AM
I just had a short browse and found this; DOF calculator (https://www.photopills.com/calculators/dof)
And this one is handy too: DOF table (https://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html)
And an offline tool: offline DOF calculator (https://www.dofmaster.com/custom.html)
No, it's no spam, but an online calculator, which makes it easy to see what will be sharp at a certain aperture and distance. Very handy. Looking for an offline version too, now.
Title: Re: Nearly at the Top
Post by: pixelpusher636 on April 16, 2022, 12:12:43 AM
Quote from: Dune on April 14, 2022, 02:10:33 AMI just had a short browse and found this; DOF calculator (https://www.photopills.com/calculators/dof)
And this one is handy too: DOF table (https://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html)
And an offline tool: offline DOF calculator (https://www.dofmaster.com/custom.html)
No, it's no spam, but an online calculator, which makes it easy to see what will be sharp at a certain aperture and distance. Very handy. Looking for an offline version too, now.
Thanks for the links Dune! I didn't see this as spam at all. If you have too many that's all you need in this case. Thank you!