I can't help it... I love the spring time! ;D
Love it Frank, except for the big tree trunk. There is one spot where there is a really angular section that would look better if it was more curved and natural. A limitation of the model no doubt.
Lovely.
I agree with RArcher about the tree, but the rest of it's stunning - the lighting and dof effect in the foreground is particularly amazing :D
Ooo man ! This is a render ! The DOF ... Mostly it isn't good made here. How did you made it Frank ?
The big tree trunk is really the single problem for me . But i (i think most of the guys here too) really see everything as polygons most of the time.
So it doesn't matter to me much . Can you alter your objects self ? I would like to see a image with a little more soft-natural tree.
Cheers.
Kadri.
I looked ones more. Did you use transparency in the DOF layer (if it is like i think made of course ) ?
Kadri.
Actually, almost the entire image is a demonstration of Walli's plant modelling skills. Everything except the crab tree in the foreground and the young cherry in the background is made by Walli.
The crab tree is out of the box from the blossoming library of xfrog. It is beyond me why most trees from these libraries have a 5 or so sided trunk! Why? I don't know.
I will alter the model, give it a couple more polygons and render it again.
The DOF is the experimental DOF from the alpha version. I also think it looks amazingly well in this render :)
Cheers,
Frank
forgot to say:
5 grasses, 4 flowers, 4 bushes and 2 trees have been used in this render. As I said, all but the trees are from NWDA.
If you're interested in the render specs: detail 0.8, GI 2/2 + ssp, render time 99 minutes. AA 8.
Renders like this will make a good effect on your business , Frank ;D
If you can say anything ( NDA ) about the DOF how does it influence the render time Frank ? In other software it is really hefty most of the time .
Kadri.
can't and won't say anything, but I think 99 min total render time for a high-res quality render speaks for itself ;)
Quote from: FrankB on January 14, 2010, 04:15:45 PM
can't and won't say anything, but I think 99 min total render time for a high-res quality render speaks for itself ;)
Wow ! That is enough Frank. Thanks ;D
Kadri.
astonishing!....love it Frank!
Great render Frank. I think the tree may be made for a different 3D app. If surface subdivide catmull ___ were applied the trunk would round out nicely.
These are the close up scenes I love. Question: What was your 'Y' dimension for this scene? I almost never have been able to reach one meter when hunting for that special POV.
Absolute Gorgeous!!!
stunning work. i'm very interested in how you went about lighting this scene if you really wouldn't mind sharing. just general info or detailed like your light strength, angles, elevation, etc. i've been finding that lighting will make or break a scene and you seem to do it so flawlessly every render you put out.
Great image. The DOF is fantastic.
Quote from: choronr on January 14, 2010, 11:37:48 PM
These are the close up scenes I love. Question: What was your 'Y' dimension for this scene? I almost never have been able to reach one meter when hunting for that special POV.
Again, the cam is just above the ground. I would guess that the visible terrain in this scene barely covers 15x15m, rather less.
I find it easy to position the cam low near the ground. I usually use the 3D preview with bounding boxes enabled to help find the right position.
Then I usually fine tune the position with the navigation controls, set to make the smallest possibe steps.
Regards,
Frank
Quote from: dlefik2008 on January 15, 2010, 12:48:01 AM
stunning work. i'm very interested in how you went about lighting this scene if you really wouldn't mind sharing. just general info or detailed like your light strength, angles, elevation, etc. i've been finding that lighting will make or break a scene and you seem to do it so flawlessly every render you put out.
I agree that lighting is very important. Lighting and colors. I don't mind elabortating about lighting a bit...
In this scene, pretty much everything is left like in the default project. The sun elevation is at 25 degrees, the sun strength is default 3.5.
Now the sun is heading in directly from the left. This is important with close up shot for vegetation, that you have both enough light and shadow. I made a few small detail test renders to find the right exposure. I don't have it open in front of me now, but the lighting on the vegetation looked acceptable near exposure 2. GI 2/2 was important to bring out enough detail in the plant shadows.
Then I rendered away, and took the result into iphoto, where I cautiously increased exposure and contrast once more, added a tad saturation and a hint of a pinkish tint, increased shadow lightness very very slightly. And that was about it. It's important to undo your color and level changes from time to time, and least that's what I do, to really make sure the changes I apply actually improve the look of realism. You know, when I keep tweaking I am easily fooled into overdoing it without noticing ;)
Cheers,
Frank
Quote from: FrankB on January 15, 2010, 01:57:27 AM
Quote from: choronr on January 14, 2010, 11:37:48 PM
These are the close up scenes I love. Question: What was your 'Y' dimension for this scene? I almost never have been able to reach one meter when hunting for that special POV.
Again, the cam is just above the ground. I would guess that the visible terrain in this scene barely covers 15x15m, rather less.
I find it easy to position the cam low near the ground. I usually use the 3D preview with bounding boxes enabled to help find the right position.
Then I usually fine tune the position with the navigation controls, set to make the smallest possibe steps.
Regards,
Frank
I guess I do it different than you. You mention 'bounding boxes' in the 3D preview meaning you already have the objects in place?
Either the objects are in place already, or I put them in later and then adjust the camera position accordingly. See the other thread where you asked me that question, I have provided more detailed explanations there.
Frank
Quote from: FrankB on January 15, 2010, 02:12:32 AM
Either the objects are in place already, or I put them in later and then adjust the camera position accordingly. See the other thread where you asked me that question, I have provided more detailed explanations there.
Frank
Will do; thanks.
great, th lighting is top notch. About the tree in the foreground - run the trunk through another 3D application and apply a mesh smooth, then there´s no "that´s to close" problem.
Quote from: Walli on January 15, 2010, 02:30:21 AM
great, th lighting is top notch. About the tree in the foreground - run the trunk through another 3D application and apply a mesh smooth, then there´s no "that´s to close" problem.
Thanks Walli, you're over-estimating my skills, though, because have no idea how to do that :)
My thought would be to run it through xfrog and give the trunk shape some more sides....
that would be of course also possible!
Quote from: FrankB on January 15, 2010, 02:06:12 AM
Quote from: dlefik2008 on January 15, 2010, 12:48:01 AM
stunning work. i'm very interested in how you went about lighting this scene if you really wouldn't mind sharing. just general info or detailed like your light strength, angles, elevation, etc. i've been finding that lighting will make or break a scene and you seem to do it so flawlessly every render you put out.
I agree that lighting is very important. Lighting and colors. I don't mind elabortating about lighting a bit...
In this scene, pretty much everything is left like in the default project. The sun elevation is at 25 degrees, the sun strength is default 3.5.
Now the sun is heading in directly from the left. This is important with close up shot for vegetation, that you have both enough light and shadow. I made a few small detail test renders to find the right exposure. I don't have it open in front of me now, but the lighting on the vegetation looked acceptable near exposure 2. GI 2/2 was important to bring out enough detail in the plant shadows.
Then I rendered away, and took the result into iphoto, where I cautiously increased exposure and contrast once more, added a tad saturation and a hint of a pinkish tint, increased shadow lightness very very slightly. And that was about it. It's important to undo your color and level changes from time to time, and least that's what I do, to really make sure the changes I apply actually improve the look of realism. You know, when I keep tweaking I am easily fooled into overdoing it without noticing ;)
Cheers,
Frank
thank you very much for sharing those tips frank. i'll definitely keep this all in mind. by the way, i know this may be obvious, but what's your opinion about using soft shadows when doing a shot like close to the ground but in an area that has lots of trees, like in a forest. i'm sorry if it goes a bit off topic here but i was just thinking about that when i was looking at this image. my eyes see some harder shadows on the tree but softer shadows on the ground. did you use soft shadows here?
no soft shadows used, although I should have. Just couldn't stand waiting the extra time for the final result. Soft Shadows slow things down significantly.
Frank
I looked at the topic but couldn't find it . Which AA filter did you use Frank?
Kadri.
uhm, can't look it up now. But I usually use narrow cubic. MN shoud be be fine too at higher AA levels.
Martin did a comparison recently (for this yellowstone image actually), and MN was ever so slightly superior at AA 8.
Thanks , Frank :)
Quote from: FrankB on January 15, 2010, 02:41:31 AM
Quote from: Walli on January 15, 2010, 02:30:21 AM
great, th lighting is top notch. About the tree in the foreground - run the trunk through another 3D application and apply a mesh smooth, then there´s no "that´s to close" problem.
Thanks Walli, you're over-estimating my skills, though, because have no idea how to do that :)
My thought would be to run it through xfrog and give the trunk shape some more sides....
just noticed you said something about this because i was having this horrible problem with a black split going sdown the sides of my trees and was banging my head on the desk trying to figure out what i was doing wrong. well turned out i overlooked the option to adjust the number of sides on the trunk in onyxtree, and like a dummy was exporting my tress out of onyx with only 3 or 4 sides :P. of course it'll shoot up the poly count significantly, depending on how many sides you really need, but i guess the whole point is anyone having problems with sharp curves on tree trunks should consider adding more sides, it helps.
Smoothed tree trunk version. Unfortunatley I had lost the exact tree position, but this one is similar :)
I'll call this the final.
Thanks for all the comments, guys :)
Frank
The lighting is just wonderful - brilliantly realistic!
Sorry Frank. :'( I would have chosen a different tree. ::) The branches are still a bit square. Everything else is spectacular!
(It looks so much better on my new monitor! I can see 128 gray levels, and the color is awesome.)
I have to second that. The tree looks quite unrealistic compared to the incredible photoreality you achieved in this picture. I can't wait to use this DOF for this kind of images. Brilliant!
Frank i think you are in a way on the last (final) stage problem ; finding-making really good objects that look realistic from near .
Otherwise your images are topnotch :)
Kadri.
You are right, the tree is giving it away as cg. I would love to have better trees. I would love to see us all have better and more realistic trees :)
I think Walli and plant creators like him know this. They will make more realistics ones if there is a demand.
I have nothing bad to say about the old ones , but they are not good for nearer look . They will maybe more difficult to make and sell .
Software is getting better , more ram and cores to render ...
But there is a demand definitely in my opinion . As we see here :)
Kadri.
Both Walli and Marc have been wonderful to provide very good plants for us to use. Thank you. Others have done some very good objects also and they need to be thanked also. Fortunately the plant diversity is getting better!
This is CG, right? ;)