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General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: RArcher on July 23, 2008, 11:00:00 AM

Title: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: RArcher on July 23, 2008, 11:00:00 AM
Looking for suggestions to improve this one.  This is the first time I have tried using real data for a render.  I created a reasonably detailed .ter file of most of the Canadian Glacier National Park, then using the vector basemap layers overlayed the exact positions of the treed and permanent glacier areas.  There are some streams and rivers from the hydro layer as well, but you can't see them here anyway.

This view is above the Loop Brook campground looking up at Mount Bonney and the Bonney Glacier.

Thanks for taking a look.
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: rcallicotte on July 23, 2008, 11:22:00 AM
The lighting on this looks good, especially through the trees.  It actually looks perfect, except something (I can't put my finger on) looks just a centimeter away from being photorealistic. 

How did you do the glacier?  That looks pretty cool.
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: Mahnmut on July 23, 2008, 11:43:29 AM
The Ice looks amazing.
The placement of the trees is great.
Maybe that centimeter mentioned above is the groundcover which seems to bight to me.
you could make it a bit darker or more yellowish, if it is supposed to be dry.
But I have never been there.
Best Regards,
Jan
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: inkydigit on July 23, 2008, 11:49:44 AM
looks very very good!
love the ice and trees...it just needs that extra little something....dunno what that is yet though!
5stars from me!
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: ZStar on July 23, 2008, 12:30:15 PM
This really looks good.  Like others have said, it is almost there.  For me, the thing that doesn't look quite right is the uniform greenish coverage of the sun lit slope on the left.  I think the color is fine but if you could break it up just a little and get some patches of bare dirt and/or rock showing it would help.  This is one of the things I struggle with so I'm afraid I can't provide any pointers.
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: MacGyver on July 23, 2008, 12:53:17 PM
Top notch! :-*
The trees on the lower right side are much brighter than the rest of the image, I don't know if this may be the thing that's falling out of place? ???
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: lightning on July 24, 2008, 03:56:33 AM
A good start Racher just a bit more work and you will have another classic on your hands ;D
i have a few issuses though
#1 the specularity on the trees where i have circled in the foreground is to high
#2 the glacier is coming along great but where i circled it looks a little soft and at first i thought it was a cloud so try sharpening it up.

thats it really everything else looks top notch!
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: Tangled-Universe on July 24, 2008, 02:27:49 PM
Great work so far :)

I agree with Lighting about the specularity on the trees. Especially in the foreground it could be toned a bit down.
It also accounts for the glacier's ice. It seems almost glowing like it is hot instead of terribly cold :)
The lighting is very cool, I like it as well as the background mountain shapes. Maybe you could try add some extra displacements like strata for example?
The colors are well done too but I think the bushes and some of the surface layer have too much of an olive-green touch.
All in all still a good image :)

Martin
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: otakar on July 24, 2008, 02:28:22 PM
Looks great, but if you're going for realism you need more trees in the foreground and darker grass. Also, not sure those trees high up close to the glacier would really be there in reality, seem like very harsh conditions. Check out this reference photo from the area: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Glacier_np_canada.JPG

Mind you, we're talking high elevation, very steep terrain, harsh weather. Your render projects something a bit different (not saying it's bad).

Yeah, it's a wonderful place :)
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: RArcher on July 24, 2008, 03:19:08 PM
Thanks very much for the comments and suggestions, I have another version in the works with improved groundcover, rocks, and hopefully improved trees.

Martin:  I did add a fair amount of fractal and strata to the mountains, but I have tried to avoid distorting the actual shape of the mountain too much since it is technically a real place.  The colours are a bit bright and I have toned it down a bit in the next version, but I have been trying to base them off a few reference photo's I took the last time I drove through the area.

Otakar:  The trees are actually that high up according to the current vegetation reference data from the Canadian Government, as well as good old google earth. ;D  The park is a wildly different place depending on the time of year.  During the summer it can be quite warm, and in the winter downright miserable!

Here are a couple photo's I took last July, around 8:00 - 9:00am if I remember right.

http://www.archer-designs.com/galleries/photo-galleries/west-coast-p1/images/20070719_DSC_0077.jpg (http://www.archer-designs.com/galleries/photo-galleries/west-coast-p1/images/20070719_DSC_0077.jpg)
http://www.archer-designs.com/galleries/photo-galleries/west-coast-p1/images/20070719_DSC_0053.jpg (http://www.archer-designs.com/galleries/photo-galleries/west-coast-p1/images/20070719_DSC_0053.jpg)
http://www.archer-designs.com/galleries/photo-galleries/west-coast-p1/images/20070719_DSC_0045.jpg (http://www.archer-designs.com/galleries/photo-galleries/west-coast-p1/images/20070719_DSC_0045.jpg)
http://www.archer-designs.com/galleries/photo-galleries/west-coast-p1/images/20070719_DSC_0037.jpg (http://www.archer-designs.com/galleries/photo-galleries/west-coast-p1/images/20070719_DSC_0037.jpg)

I will post an update when it is finished, if it finishes  ;D
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: otakar on July 25, 2008, 12:58:23 AM
Great pics! Never made it to the Canadian side, but love the Montana area - Going to the Sun Road is one of my all time favorites in the lower 48. Can't wait to see the parks in Alberta.

But take your photos and you'll see the green colors, how dark they can be, that's what I was trying to suggest. And yes, I guess the trees are that high up, quite amazing. As for the weather, summer mornings can be spectacular. But summer is usually quite short  8)
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: Martchi on July 25, 2008, 04:57:28 AM
Beautiful work!!!
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: Seth on July 25, 2008, 05:42:51 AM
great pictures RArcher !
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (work in progress)
Post by: Phylloxera on July 27, 2008, 06:18:25 AM
Beautiful work, so natural !
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: RArcher on July 29, 2008, 08:50:33 PM
Here is the update.  Major changes to the trees and groundcover (trees from the free xfrog download as well as Jcinbama, groundcover from lightning).  Having some issues calibrating my monitor, so I am not sure how the colours are going to look.  I've checked a couple places and they seem alright.  Thanks for taking a look.
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: rcallicotte on July 29, 2008, 08:55:47 PM
Better...but I still liked the lighting through the trees on your first one.  I love how real that glacier looks.
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: FrankB on July 30, 2008, 09:00:59 AM
I would disagree - the second version looks too dull. The first version had something that was lost in the second.
I would actually keep the setup of the first version, and only increase tree density, while at the same time reducing the size of the trees.

Regards,
Frank
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: RArcher on July 30, 2008, 10:09:18 AM
I knew it was off.  I need to calibrate my monitor at home better.  Here is the reworked file done on the computer I usually finish my renders on.
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: FrankB on July 30, 2008, 11:18:40 AM
Yes, much better now!
I would still decrease the size of the trees, though. I believe it would give an awesome sense of scale if you did.

Frank
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: Seth on July 30, 2008, 11:23:01 AM
very good colours, like dreamy...
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: old_blaggard on July 30, 2008, 11:58:16 AM
Much better - you've really hit the spot with the texturing now.
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: Tangled-Universe on July 30, 2008, 01:43:49 PM
Wow, awesome work!
I really love the trees. Agree with Frank that they could be a tad smaller for improving the sense of scale, but damn...they look so photorealistic. smooth and detailed. How did you do that? Just rendersettings or tweaking specular and translucency? Can you tell me something about that here or via PM? I'm glad to see how :)
The displacements look nice, like the patchy strata and voronois here and there.
The ice surface could use some lateral displacement but I know it ain't easy...I still keep my opinion about the ice's glow. It looks rather like superdense glowing cloud to me than a glacier. But I might be too much after realism rather than something more artistic.
All in all still fantastic work!

Martin
Title: Re: Bonney Glacier (updated)
Post by: rcallicotte on July 30, 2008, 03:11:14 PM
Oh my God!  That's wonderful work.  GREAT!  This last one is my favorite.