Planetside Software Forums

General => Image Sharing => Topic started by: Zero_G on October 20, 2009, 10:10:37 AM

Title: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Zero_G on October 20, 2009, 10:10:37 AM
Here we go, an attempt to make a realistic sunset on the sea... the next step is to insert some background islands to add more depth to it! ;D

(http://www.zerog.biz/files/pictures/3D/forum/YACS.jpg)
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: littlecannon on October 20, 2009, 10:42:28 AM
Lovin it... the god rays look sweet as do the browns running through the clouds.
Cheers,
Simon.
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: inkydigit on October 20, 2009, 10:59:35 AM
some islands would be great...a beauty as is though!
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Zairyn Arsyn on October 20, 2009, 11:20:25 AM
that is a very good render :)

i really like the part of the image where the clouds overlaps the sun, that caught my eye....

what were your render settings?
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: j_petrucci on October 21, 2009, 07:28:04 AM
Thanks to everybody! ;D

@littlecannon: yes, I love it too... actually I was happy to find it, because I didn't think that TG2 was able to calculate such light dispersion so accurately, but I was underestimating it! ;)

@inkydigit: eheh I'll show the progress of it in the next days...

@zaai999: yeah, it's very "Neverending Story" style! the rendering settings, apart from default values, were:


The final resolution was 1200x750px and TG2 took about 2 hours to render it on a AMD Phenom x64.
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Henry Blewer on October 21, 2009, 07:59:51 AM
What is your impression of the AMD Phenom x64? AMD processors are a little less expensive than Intel. I am saving for a new machine, and I want to get the best value/cost I can. Thanks.
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: domdib on October 21, 2009, 09:23:40 AM
I agree that's it's a lovely render - the underlighting of the clouds is great. I'm surprised you had GI surface details on, as I don't think it would help anything, and it does increase render times. Have you read the Sticky on Render setting recommendations in the Terragen 2 Discussion Forum?
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Zero_G on October 21, 2009, 10:15:09 PM
@njeneb:
The AMD Phenom x64is a quad core and in fact TG2 creates four rendering threads pushing the usage to 100%... the processor is very fast, but it also creates much heat! when rendering I hear the fans speeding up and throwing a lot of hot air out of the case! :'(
Personally I've never been an AMD fanboy, I always had Intel, in fact this wasn't on my computer, actually I borrowed a currently unused machine from my university lab for rendering! ;)
If you want the raw power for a desktop system, I would go hands down for the new Intel Core i7, it beats AMD in every benchmark and embed some really advanced technologies like HyperThreading, TurboBoost and Demand-Based Switching: http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Feature/135063,head-to-head--amd-phenom-ii-vs-intel-core-i7.aspx (http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Feature/135063,head-to-head--amd-phenom-ii-vs-intel-core-i7.aspx)

... and for comparing the new i7 against old Core 2 Duo models, take a look here: http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=35605,35428,37151, (http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=35605,35428,37151,)

@domdib:
Yes, you're right, the GI Surface Details toggle was a mistake, because I actually had no close ground object, so it is useless... thanks! ;)

PS: the post with settings by "j_petrucci" is also mine, it was the old name of my account that is now deleted... sorry for the confusion!
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Henry Blewer on October 22, 2009, 03:22:31 AM
Thanks for the information. It has been very helpful.
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Thelby on October 23, 2009, 12:17:40 AM
Wow, this is nothing short of Amazing,........ Really!!!!!
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: choronr on October 23, 2009, 12:47:18 AM
A breath taker; extra fine work here.
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Mr_Lamppost on October 23, 2009, 05:51:19 PM
Excellent work.
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: PorcupineFloyd on October 24, 2009, 03:32:35 PM
dark / black water = win.

Really good use of colour distribution. Very dramatic in overall. I like it :)
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: rcallicotte on October 25, 2009, 08:35:21 AM
Beautiful.  The clouds look real.  The water looks like it has too much noise, though.
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Henry Blewer on October 25, 2009, 08:42:16 AM
Maybe a larger wave scale on the water? It's hard to judge the camera altitude. I still like this.
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Zero_G on November 09, 2009, 06:10:08 AM
@everybody: Thanks!! ;D

@njeneb,@calico: the wave scale was intentionally lowered to give the illusion of flying high above the sea level (low roughness and smooth waves would suggest a lake rather than the sea...), but I followed you suggestions, and I tweaked the settings to achieve an even more dramatic scene, as well as adding a background island to fill and balance the overall content... the final name of this WIP is now "Promised Land", I hope you like it! ;)

(http://www.zerog.biz/files/pictures/3D/PromisedLand.jpg)
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Henry Blewer on November 09, 2009, 07:48:38 AM
I still like this very much. Creating ocean waves is quite difficult, but for this time of day, I think you've done well. Nice work.
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: inkydigit on November 09, 2009, 08:26:49 AM
perfect!
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Zairyn Arsyn on November 09, 2009, 12:03:28 PM
nice!!!! :) :)
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: domdib on November 09, 2009, 04:37:19 PM
Excellent stuff!
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: davidgilmour1234 on November 09, 2009, 04:47:22 PM
that is sweet, how long did it take to render..
Title: Re: Y.A.C.S. (Yet Another Cloudy Sunset)
Post by: Zero_G on November 09, 2009, 07:35:04 PM
Quote from: davidgilmour1234 on November 09, 2009, 04:47:22 PM
that is sweet, how long did it take to render..

a lot...  :-\

I pushed render quality to 1, anti-aliasing to 10, cloud samples to 256 and atmo samples to 80 (some noise is still present above the island!)... it took about 6 hours to render at 1600x1200 on a Athlon Phenom.
I made several test renders using the crop region to fine tune the settings, but finally I wanted the clouds looked really realistic, so I gave TG2 all the time it needed for best quality...  ;)

PS: apart from backlit clouds and godrays, I'm also particularly happy about the light distribution on the far right clouds, the sunset reddening effect TG2 achieve here is very realistic... congratulations to developers!