It's been so bitterly cold recently I figured I'd join with everyone else making winter renders. Mine however is not bright and icy fun, it is dreary and miserable and cold. Not sure if it is finished yet or not. It might be fun to add some downed trees, or a partially buried fence or something of that sort.
*Updated version on page 2 http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=11179.msg114696#msg114696 (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=11179.msg114696#msg114696)
*New version 2 on page 2 http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=11179.msg114763#msg114763 (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=11179.msg114763#msg114763)
*3rd version on page 4 http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=11179.msg114897#msg114897 (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=11179.msg114897#msg114897)
Looks like a photo :)
Looks like a photo is right. This is my kind of day! :)
That is some cold and dreary looking photorealism! Only thing that's detracting to my eye is in the foreground on the right, some obvious fractal shapes.
- Oshyan
First class render! Very nice :)
WOW!!
Excellent render! The sky is spot on, as well as the tress and grass in the mid-ground. AS Oshyan pointed out the fractal shapes up front are the only detraction from an otherwise perfect image.
excellent render !
very realistic, you did an awesome job with the atmo and light. i love the tree distribution
Very, very nice, except for the cold ;) And I agree with Oshyan and Darthvader1 about the strange black shapes on the right. Rid them and it's perfect!
Wow, great realism!!!!
it´s an excellent render, few points like the procedural patterns on the right have been mentioned.
I would love to se this scene with a low, warm sun shining in and bringing some contrast/drama.
Impressive work !
I do not know if it is deliberate or not, but your picture looks a bit blurry and here I would say it improves realism
Fine work indeed
Execellent work, photoreal as others have said :) Agree about the obvious fractal nature of the right foreground but the lighting is top notch :)
Richard
bbrrrr..... that's cold :)
its pretty much perfect,
i like the feel of this render, makes me wanna get away, head to the north.
This looks very natural, great work! :)
Cheers,
Martin
WOW, agree, agree, agree...
Very well done piece.
If it wasn't for the image ratio it could almost pass for a polaroid.
Also very nice lighting and layout.
Oh my. Brilliant! /- Bill .
Thanks very much everyone. Here is an updated version with the foreground cleaned up a little bit. Next up a new POV and maybe a bit of a change with the lighting.
Looks like a photo from an old National Geographic. Was this done using the forthcoming update? The atmosphere and shading are superb.
very nice, with the cleaned up procedurals, there´s almost no clue giving it away as rendered picture.
Wow! Absolutely amazing, that's the shot right outside my front door in Northumberland it was -5 last night .... brrrrrr!
stunning!
I didn't care for the foreground in the first version either. However I think you have "now" nailed it Ryan. Very very nice. :)
That's fantastic, Ryan! Congratulations on a superb compoition and render! ;D
incredible realism !!!
most realistic render ever !
congratulations for this one Ryan *bow*
Beautiful stuff. I neglected to comment on the sky previously, but I really think it's one of the most outstanding aspects of the image. It's very "unremarkable", but in being so it is extremely *natural*. Very well done lighter clouds.
- Oshyan
Thanks so much everyone, I'm glad you like it. Here is another view with a few changes. New camera position, new focal length and aspect ratio, new sun elevation and direction. A much warmer, tighter framed image. The changes make it so different it is almost an entirely new project from what I was originally going for. My personal preference is for the first one, but this one does have some charm.
This one definitely looks different. Warmer, as you said. I hardly get any snow (and none in the area I live) here, so really, snow's never been my strong point. Still, looks great, and looks like a picture, and looks like realistic snow! Just a quick notice for v3, it kinda looks like there was some oil spilled there.
thats a real nice variation!
I really like this scene, as everything is so subtle - but it all works perfectly together and as result you get a beautiful render!
This is some fantastic work, Ryan. I prefer the earlier, bluer one, but the overall detail, terrain structure, and textures are all quite realistic and beautiful.
I more liked the previous version, because now you really see XFrog in the treetops. That's always the trouble; the closer you get the harder it is to get a photographic likeness. Distance is a lot 'easier'. And the trees are very straight, why not give them a slight angle of 1-3 degrees. It'll just break up the regularity perhaps.
Unnecessary to say that those renders are great, what they are.
But I don´t trust the snow in that last one ;)
Cheers,
Jan
That is a great suggestion Dune, now I am kicking myself wondering why I haven't bothered to angle the trees.
On a side note, I tried to post the first one to cgsociety.org but it was rejected as being not good enough, must need more cars or close-up faces I guess, or perhaps I should tag it as Vue. ;)
Quote from: RArcher on November 25, 2010, 09:43:09 AM
That is a great suggestion Dune, now I am kicking myself wondering why I haven't bothered to angle the trees.
On a side note, I tried to post the first one to cgsociety.org but it was rejected as being not good enough, must need more cars or close-up faces I guess, or perhaps I should tag it as Vue. ;)
Hahaaa....I knew it!
All my submissions recently have been rejected as well.
Apparently you must indeed tag it as Vue. Something very smelly is going on there lately :(
But on the other hand, CGS seems to become a dead place anyway.
I liked the first version a bit better as I think the yellow/orange tints on the snow don't look so well.
I always use size variation on models to be 50% different (min = 0.8 and max = 1.2 for example) and I also use a standard rotation of ~5 degrees.
Looks much better, you'll see!
Cheers,
Martin
I think there are still a lot of people around that think TG2 is a push button->get nice render thingy. They don´t understand that sometimes days and weeks of work are put into those renders.
Maybe they thought it was a photo. :D
If only that were the case... I expect this is just a stock reply but:
QuoteYour submission has been declined for the following reason(s):
* We're very sorry to let you know that this work does not yet meet our standards as a completed piece for the Showcase Gallery. We'd like to encourage you to post your work in the WIP forum to develop it further before submitting it again.
Like I said, I think it needs a bright red Ferarri sticking out of the snow before they will consider it finished ::)
It is a pretty tough situation though. If we can't get any renders posted showing what TG2 can do then it is really tough to educate people in the CG industry that it isn't a magic button redering engine. I can only hope that Matt and the other folks working with TG for blockbuster movies will start putting together and publishing some case studies showing their work and how it was integrated into the movie.
great work Ryan!
cg society-pah!
I can't believe that this render was declined !!!
What happened back there ? we sent them some renders during the last years and we had good feedback so far...
Why would you want to post at cg society? Is that beneficial in some way? I never actually look what they do. Maybe I should?
They seem to be into pushing software from their sponsors.
Ridiculous that your initial render was declined, unless they really had quibbles with that foreground bit (but I doubt it). ;) It's surprising and dismaying too, since as Seth said, many nice TG2 images were submitted within the past year or two and were approved, receiving very good comments. I do think though that there have been some rather poor TG (and other app) artists submitting work perhaps the past 6 months or so that may have made them less tolerant. Still some bad work from other apps makes it in, inexplicably, so it's really not fair.
We are planning to do some "case studies" and the like, similar to what Frank did in his "procedural detail" article on NWDA (which was very well done). Hopefully as we improve the understanding of how TG2 works, people will come to see how really amazing many of the artists here are.
By the way Walli, speaking of great TG2 work and many weeks of effort, what ever happened to this? http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=6413.105
- Oshyan
Quote from: Dune on November 25, 2010, 01:24:36 PM
Why would you want to post at cg society? Is that beneficial in some way? I never actually look what they do. Maybe I should?
go get a look to this website and the average quality of renders there and you'll understand ;)
it is a "pro" CG website, so you can get some really honest feedbacks, critical comments, etc...
It certainly seems strange that their policies would change that much, but it is possible. It was the cleaned up version that I submitted so the foreground should not have been an issue. I will likely follow their "suggestion" about posting it in the WIP section to see what is suggested, but as far as I was concerned the initial cleaned up image was exactly what I was going for and to me is considered complete.
Dune: I like to try and get my nicest renders posted on the site as it is good exposure for both me and TG2 as a professional medium. The site does get viewed/read by professionals in many different CG industries (games, movies, architectural etc.)
Quote from: RArcher on November 25, 2010, 12:03:04 PM
QuoteYour submission has been declined for the following reason(s):
* We're very sorry to let you know that this work does not yet meet our standards as a completed piece for the Showcase Gallery. We'd like to encourage you to post your work in the WIP forum to develop it further before submitting it again.
pfffffff......
do you know who rejected it? Wouldn't be surprised if it's that one moderator bi#*% who once removed our TG2 contest results post, despite people were showing a lot of interest in it and were commenting.
I wonder if that person's name began with an "L". ::)
Quote from: ChrisC on November 25, 2010, 03:34:19 PM
I wonder if that person's name began with an "L". ::)
+8 - t ;D
Ryan, like I told you, I haven't been able to submit there for the past few months. Tried it four times and didn't try it after that.
To me there's obviously no policy. Yes, rejection policy. I wrote to two moderators (can't remember which anymore) but none ever responded.
I have encountered an anti-procedural response there before. There was a Ansel Adams contest there recently that I thought perfect for Terragen but it wasn't deemed acceptable.
Richard
Quote from: cyphyr on November 25, 2010, 06:04:27 PM
I have encountered an anti-procedural response there before. There was a Ansel Adams contest there recently that I thought perfect for Terragen but it wasn't deemed acceptable.
Richard
That Ansel Adams contest was a perfect example of the current attitude towards TG2 among those people there.
The contest was to model a reproduction of an Ansel Adams picture, keep that in mind.
They have always bothered "us" (TG-users) about TG being too slow, no absolute control, not good enough results etc.
So, with this contest they had the perfect opportunity to show that with the "traditional" packages they could do it much better, faster, you name it...
And?? What do we see?? Everybody is searching for a non-landscape Ansel Adams picture to reproduce, because they have no clue how to model a realistic terrain :) Again we see pictures of buildings and cars, so pathetic. It was just such a big laughter to me.
At least they could have looked at World-Machine for starters, but of course TG2 would have been a perfect choice.
Richard's response proves enough for me again.
Oh well, let's talk on about your nice images Ryan :)
Martin
one last comment: I think Matt or Oshyan should be reaching out to the owners of cgsociety, bypassing this aweful L moderator, and actually complain about the situation until they promise to either fire or instruct that moderator to stop obeying blindly to her own stupid prejudges about Terragen.
Because of the otherwise central reputation and importance of the site, Terragen cannot afford to be effecively banned there.
I'm interested in the situation getting fixed, but I think Planetside must start it.
Regards,
Frank
Sorry to be off subject here but what blows my mind is the elitist mentality at CG Society amongst artists. Is not art an interpretation of ones creativity using "any" medium and materials at ones disposal weather it be graphite, clay, oils, photography, glass or in this case a digital interpretation. I tend to think these artists are rather closed-minded with the arts in general. I mean i like to use my camera, pens and pencils as much as i like to dabble with procedural arts therefore remaining open-mined to many approaches. What is sad is they work in the industry and i can't get into the industry due to my hard financial circumstances and hardships.
By the way Ryan. Your render is frekin' sweet! ;D
Cheers Chris. I am hoping to have a third version sometime today or tomorrow.
The tad of warmth in the last image looks good; but, I prefer the one prior since it seems to display more depth. Fine work here Ryan.
Regarding the CG judgment, I have always felt that judging should be done by a panel of three individuals or more for an average of opinions. This way, perhaps the taste of only one individual could be eliminated.
Next version, bigger. Changed the viewpoint and camera focal length again, added some scrub pines and fixed the too straight trees. Also added a bit of Walli's junk detail in the foreground dirt/mud. For those interested the first image has a 50mm focal length, the second is at 80mm and the third is down to 35mm for a wider angle shot.
Now this is very pleasing. Your adjustments have made a nice impact to the image pushing it closer to realism. I like these gentle hills of the terrain.
Absolutely great, Ryan. I like the way you got this subtlety into it. Even a little light falloff at the edges in your wide angle 'shot'. Great!
Great work Ryan. The wider shot and higher POV really make it work for me.
It really shows off your skill. 8)
And again, an absolutely perfect picture, Ryan! I love this one! Do you want to add this to your NWDA gallery?
Cheers,
Frank
I saved a copy of this onto my machine. It's so well done, I want to study it. Maybe I can get something close to it. ???