Planetside Software Forums

General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: RArcher on March 30, 2009, 02:41:07 PM

Title: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: RArcher on March 30, 2009, 02:41:07 PM
Figured I would repost this here instead of at the bottom of Frank's thread.

Single population of Klas's incredible Oak tree, with some slightly adjusted leaf textures.

Took just under 40 hours to render using reasonable settings (0.8 Detail, 10AA).

Postwork included creating a soft light layer, adjusting levels and adding a slight lens blur to the corners.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: nvseal on March 30, 2009, 02:48:47 PM
Fantastic colors.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: Seth on March 30, 2009, 03:22:27 PM
marvelous !
really like your light Ryan ^^
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: FrankB on March 30, 2009, 04:08:55 PM
as I said in the other thread: great render!
I'm curious if you could get something going in this render that I liked particularly well in the MentalRay image: the really bright spots where the sun hits the bark (plus the rays, of course). Maybe through specular highlights through a reflective shader or the texture's default shader?

that's usually the difficult bit with tg2 (at least for me): dynamic lighting, without making the overall image too bright, or some places pitch black.
40 hours are a lot of course, but I would really like to know if you can give the image the same or similar lighting dynamics.
It could well be that it's easier to achieve in post, though.

Cheers,
Frank
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: RArcher on March 30, 2009, 04:34:18 PM
I think that increasing the reflectivity and specularity would definitely give you those bright spots, though you may need to increase the effect after the fact.  Working with .exr (because it throws out all your contrast and gamma adjustments), you are never going to get away without doing some post colour correcting anyway.

I'm still trying to get some more defined sunbeams, but I am thinking that I will need to reorganize the trees and add some additional elements that will scatter the sunlight (like the large tree trunk in the image you posted).  The major hurdle for me is the near impossibility of organizing multiple populations of trees and then the sun position to hit the right trunk.  I dream of the day when we could have some simple wireframes of the models we are working with.  For these oak trees the population bounding boxes are huge because the branches spread so far, so you really have no idea where the trunk is going to end up.  Add on to that the painful render times when trying to add sunbeams and you start having a pretty miserable time doing dozens of lengthy test renders.

For now I will simply keep trying because I know that a quality result is possible!
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: rcallicotte on March 30, 2009, 07:28:39 PM
Beautiful.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: inkydigit on March 31, 2009, 11:35:11 AM
stunning!....love the light/mood here!
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: MacGyver on March 31, 2009, 01:09:44 PM
Quote from: FrankB on March 30, 2009, 04:08:55 PM
as I said in the other thread: great render!
I'm curious if you could get something going in this render that I liked particularly well in the MentalRay image: the really bright spots where the sun hits the bark (plus the rays, of course). Maybe through specular highlights through a reflective shader or the texture's default shader?

that's usually the difficult bit with tg2 (at least for me): dynamic lighting, without making the overall image too bright, or some places pitch black.
40 hours are a lot of course, but I would really like to know if you can give the image the same or similar lighting dynamics.
It could well be that it's easier to achieve in post, though.

Cheers,
Frank

Well done!
I wondered where the thread with the MentalRay image is?! :P
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: Luminos on March 31, 2009, 01:24:10 PM
Why is it that when you said reorganize trees I saw I'm my head trees getting up their roots and shuffling a little...Something wrong with me or just the realism in your renders

Excellent work of art!
Ryan
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: FrankB on March 31, 2009, 03:53:20 PM
Quote from: MacGyver on March 31, 2009, 01:09:44 PM

Well done!
I wondered where the thread with the MentalRay image is?! :P

it's here: http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=5925.0
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: cyphyr on April 01, 2009, 11:16:27 AM
Great image here. I got one question, how high did you set the translucency on the leaves?
richard
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: RArcher on April 01, 2009, 11:53:35 AM
I don't have the file with me at the moment, but I am pretty sure that I had the translucency set between 3 and 5.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: Mohawk20 on April 01, 2009, 02:47:29 PM
I was just thinking... can you get the shadows of the rays darker by decreasing the evirolight settings?
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: FrankB on April 01, 2009, 03:11:02 PM
Quote from: Mohawk20 on April 01, 2009, 02:47:29 PM
I was just thinking... can you get the shadows of the rays darker by decreasing the evirolight settings?

maybe, but it's more effective to use a negative value for the ambient light in the fog layer... but a cautious negative, such as -0.2.

Frank
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: Mohawk20 on April 01, 2009, 03:51:23 PM
Ah, never would have thought of that...
Title: Re: Forest Canopy
Post by: RArcher on April 01, 2009, 11:01:12 PM
Update 1.  Unfortunately it is a smaller render (800 x 500) with lower settings, yet it still took longer. 44 hours this time.  On the plus side the beams are now visible.  I am pleased that I managed to not blow out the blue sky this time as well.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Oshyan on April 01, 2009, 11:10:06 PM
Man that's nice looking. Now you just need a better close-up tree model! The branches on this one are a bit too obviously CG unfortunately.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: RArcher on April 01, 2009, 11:15:33 PM
Well there was talk of some "high quality" trees being given away with the TG2 release... :P ;D

That being said.  This Oak tree from Klas has by far the best and most diverse set of leaves of any tree I have used.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Oshyan on April 01, 2009, 11:30:26 PM
Yeah, the leaves look great. Sadly that just makes the trunk look all the more artificial to me. I'm sure it wouldn't take too long to fix up for a competent modeler. Unfortunately that's not me. ;)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: domdib on April 02, 2009, 04:46:02 AM
Fantastic render. But 44 hours for 800 x 500! You're getting into render farm territory here.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Tangled-Universe on April 02, 2009, 05:43:30 AM
This looks fantastic Ryan! :)
I agree with Oshyan about the tree itself, but perhaps this is probably the best model to use currently for this purpose.

Martin
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: inkydigit on April 02, 2009, 06:09:43 AM
agree with Oshyan....beautiful scene!
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Klas on April 02, 2009, 06:16:38 AM
Quote from: Oshyan on April 01, 2009, 11:10:06 PMThe branches on this one are a bit too obviously CG unfortunately.
CG = Computer Generated? I can add more crookedness to them, do you think this will solve it? And other images for the trunk and displacements? Or should the trunk need to be redone?
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Mohawk20 on April 02, 2009, 06:21:54 AM
I think the bends of the branches have a bit too sharp corners with this POV and light, so if you could get rid of the hard edges it would look better... and more curves and bends would also help.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Walli on April 02, 2009, 07:51:19 AM
great render and very nice mood!
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: cyphyr on April 02, 2009, 07:59:57 AM
Looking good Ryan but hey 44 hours, wonder what the new version of TG2 would have done it in.
@Klas great tree, what soft did you use to make it?
:)
richard
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Klas on April 02, 2009, 08:14:32 AM
Quote from: cyphyr on April 02, 2009, 07:59:57 AM
@Klas great tree, what soft did you use to make it?
Thank you. I am using Xfrog 3.5 lite for trees.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: rcallicotte on April 02, 2009, 11:12:23 AM
Wow.  This is beautiful, Ryan.  Realistic and better than anything I've seen in Vue or elsewhere in 3D.

Good job, Klas.  I like what you've done.
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Seth on April 02, 2009, 11:25:32 AM
very good leaves !
love the light (as always) ^^
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Oshyan on April 02, 2009, 02:51:05 PM
Quote from: Klas on April 02, 2009, 06:16:38 AM
Quote from: Oshyan on April 01, 2009, 11:10:06 PMThe branches on this one are a bit too obviously CG unfortunately.
CG = Computer Generated? I can add more crookedness to them, do you think this will solve it? And other images for the trunk and displacements? Or should the trunk need to be redone?

Yes, CG = "computer generated". I think Mohawk covered what I'd recommend for changes. It's great that you'd be willing to do that. :)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Klas on April 02, 2009, 04:02:43 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on April 02, 2009, 02:51:05 PMIt's great that you'd be willing to do that.
Perhaps then someone donates some money - I need it for TG2 before it's too expensive ;)
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: Tangled-Universe on April 02, 2009, 04:05:16 PM
Quote from: Klas on April 02, 2009, 04:02:43 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on April 02, 2009, 02:51:05 PMIt's great that you'd be willing to do that.
Perhaps then someone donates some money - I need it for TG2 before it's too expensive ;)


Looking at the quality of your models I think it would really fair to ask donations for downloads, or simply put: to sell them.
Don't ask me how much though :)
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: moodflow on April 04, 2009, 10:48:36 AM
Fricken amazing!   :o
Title: Re: Forest Canopy - Update April 1st
Post by: efflux on April 12, 2009, 08:00:20 PM
Nice lighting and great POV.