trying to improve the cumulus clouds...
just a starting point, though. I'll post updates here.
The lighting of the cloud is absolutely spot on! However, there is just something about either the edge sharpness or the cloud density that doesn't seem to mesh with the shape of the cloud. Nice work Frank!
yep, that's exactly what I'm improving right now :)
It was only a matter of time before Frank's secret identity as der Wolkenmeister reasserted itself... ;)
hahahahaaa ;D
... but mind you: I'm not done yet.
next iteration. I've got the shapes now and changed the lighting to late afternoon.
The top third looks slightly grainy/dirty. What's the veg, by the way?
Quote from: domdib on February 09, 2010, 05:12:23 PM
The top third looks slightly grainy/dirty. What's the veg, by the way?
I agree with you here. I'd say the bottom half looks very good, shape and density wise. The top half needs to be a bit in between those 2 halfs.
The vegetation is "cracked willow" from XFrog I think. European Library if I'm not mistaken.
Cheers,
Martin
wait guys, the next one's coming and the small tester render looked like it will most definitely address your points ;D
last one for today
That looks pretty cool :)
The top structures are very very good.
Hopefully you can improve this further tomorrow, by getting those structures more or less similar over the entire cloud though less dense at the bottom, for example.
Looking forward to your next iteration :)
Cheers,
Martin
There's a storm coming! This is looking good Frank. All it needs is some areas of sharper billows.
amazing the third one! will this be in the cumulus pack v3? if so I will buy it for sure ;D
That #3 is spot on. Lighting has so much effect on the clouds' appearance as does atmospheric decay. Since I have moved from the mid-west to the southwest, I've never seen so many different cloud formations here. I guess it is the 'wide open skies' that give you a much better view.
That last cloud is absolutely amazing, Frank. I really like the softer lower half plus the billowy top, it gives the cloud some sort of growing acceleration, as they often do when thunder is brewing... How long do they take to render, what's cloud settings are needed? Beacuse that's the reason I hardly use highrising clouds.
---Dune
The last one is perfect I like the combination os softness and sharpness at the top. The colour and background colours are also spot on.
Mick
ok, so here's the final. I have slightly increase the sharpness again, compared to the last version, and it's *exactly* the look I was shooting for.
So I'll call this one done.
The last one took 1.5 hrs to render, mostly due to strong GI settings of 3/3
AA was at 6, but I have sharpened the plants againt in post - a bit.
Cheers,
Frank
Fantastic work Frank.
Nice and different cloud Frank .
Kadri.
Very very good work Frank!
Just 1,5 hours, damn :)
Cheers,
Martin
Looks incredibly dramatic Frank! Awesome.
Frank, these have evolved to become really spectacular!
damn I'm gonna have to save my pocket money!!
;)
Wow! Great progressions on this. The last is just perfect. Nice one!
many thanks, guys :)
same settings, except a new seed for the cloud fractal and evening light.
Cheers,
Frank
impressive, Frank !!!
very very good cloud !
Very reminiscent of the types of clouds we see here during mid July through early September. The best cloud structure I've seen here.
Excellent work :) A new addition to look forward to?
I'm particularly impressed by the fact that all it took was a new seed for the latest one, rather than the usual continual tweaking.
Richard
The billows of the last one are really awesome ;D
Fantastic!
Thank you all, glad you like it :)
As for the "new seed": yes it's indeed just a new seed, but it takes a couple reseedings to get the right thing in front of your camera. So it's not like *every seed* produces a cool result. If I would dare a guess, I may have reseeded like 30 times before I got this.
Cheers,
Frank
Der Wolkenmeister is in da building... ;) The last one is definitely my favourite - really verging on photorealism.
Still, getting a great cloud to happen in thirty seedings is not bad. Moving the camera around might have made this easier. It looks just right.
The Cloud Master.
Nice.
Marc
That last one is amazing, Frank. Good work!
wow, man i couldn't help but to comment but that cloud seriously looks awesome. if i hadn't know better, i would never have guess that was even a render.
Lovely, lovely, lovely clouds!
Very nice!! It looks like a building cumulus with glaciation on the lower section.
Glen
You've got a monster of a cloud brewing here :D
Der Wolkenmeister, indeed! ;D
Excellent results Frank, a nice improvement on the great past work that you and others have done. I have a thought: with no terrain in this shot, it might be an excellent candidate to test the experimental "Raytrace Everything" mode. Try turning it on, then set cloud detail to 1 only (even if you felt you needed higher samples for the original render), use conservative atmosphere samples (no more than 64, even if you used higher originally), and then set AA to 4 or so and let it go. See if you get higher/equivalent quality in less time than with the default renderer. My experience is you can often get less noise this way, and in similar render time...
But note to all: it is *rare* that Raytrace Everything is actually "better" for rendering speed or quality, since it handles terrain very poorly. So we still advise strongly against its use unless you really know what you're doing.
- Oshyan
If you have an easy distinction between land and sky, it would perhaps be worthwhile to render in two parts, one with RTO and one with RTE, then blend them in PS (sorry for all the abbr.). Never tried it, so I wouldn't know if the lighting would be different.