Planetside Software Forums

Ok, this is where I'm at the moment, mid to distance. I think I have my composition mapped out, but thought I would throw this out there to see what people thought.

There's only one external model in this at the moment, and the only image maps are for that one model, a crappy wheat model from Vue. Everything else is native to Terragen.

I'm not too happy about my Altocumulus, it's straight out of the box, ie add mid level 3D volumetric. Will need to work on that a little.

Earth in the foreground has a long way to go yet.

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Looks nice, especially the background. Here's a wheat model which looks pretty good http://www.terragen.org/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item239 (http://www.terragen.org/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item239)

Buzz, brilliant mate, much appreciated.

Very nice.  A little higher quality clouds would be peachy.   :)

Excellent realism in the mid ground with the coppiced hill and the hedgerows. It's looking good.

John

EXCELLENT :) You say that you've only used one image map but surely the field colours and hedges are made up of another two image maps or do you have a secret technique going here? Looking forward to this one, no particular suggestions, I think your nailing it nicely :)
Richard

Very nice indeed, couldn't tell what's wrong with the clouds. Is there a reason why you left the foreground without any plants? I mean it gives a good contrast but have you tried with a population?

the middle 25% of the render are completely photorealistic to me!!
Agree that the clouds give it away. I don't want to appear too "sellie" here, but I think some of the presets of the sky starter pack would be ideal for this scene.

Greetings,
Frank

Believe it or not - when I'm looking out the window, I see exactly the same... amazing! The landscape in Gloucestershire seems to be very similar to where I live :)
Frank is right about the clouds, they could use some tweaking ;)

Great work so far already!
The mid-ground is very photorealistic.
What are you planning for the foreground?

Quote from: FrankB on June 07, 2009, 07:29:00 AM
the middle 25% of the render are completely photorealistic to me!!
Agree that the clouds give it away. I don't want to appear too "sellie" here, but I think some of the presets of the sky starter pack would be ideal for this scene.

Greetings,
Frank

Agree, the first cloudtype which came in my mind is the "windy clouds" from that pack.
Used that also in my latest canyon-image. Think it will fit this scene perfectly.

Cheers for the feedback all.

I agree, the clouds need some work, I'm trying to do all this on my own as a learning exercise, although eventually I will buy those tech packs.

Quote from: cyphyr on June 07, 2009, 05:57:19 AM
You say that you've only used one image map but surely the field colours and hedges are made up of another two image maps or do you have a secret technique going here?

It's all being done with blue nodes. Those fields and stone walls cover the whole planet and is being generated with voronoi noise. I've managed to make four seperate and conforming masks for the field types. The bushes along the field edges and the woods on the hill are actually rock populations. The only bitmap used so far is for the wheat model.

QuoteIs there a reason why you left the foreground without any plants? I mean it gives a good contrast but have you tried with a population?

The fore ground will be a broken dry stone wall, again made with functions. It's not quite ready yet. Then in front of that will be some detail on the earth with a load of grasses and nettles.

Once you get the foreground working and crop the top half of the sky you will have a winner with this. Like almost all of your work, and best wishes for the contest.

Nice sense of scale.  It will be really interesting seeing how your foreground plans come along.

With some more work in the immediate foreground it will be a real photorealistic work!
Someone might think it is a photo ;D
Maybe I'd decrease the coverage in the altocumulous, but it is a matter of taste.

The fields look great - maybe once the contest is over you could give us a quick tutorial?

The clouds look pretty good to me. I think once you nail the foreground and the wheat it will be superb.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Here's an update, I want to play with the birch a little more, not too happy about the leaf colour and need to have a go at the bark tile, especially the displacement map at the branch roots. The GI on this one is 1 2, so there's room for improvement in the shadows, maybe need to make the stone gaps wider, but as there's going to be plants infront of the wall, I may leave as is. Oh, the wall is completely procederal btw. 50 mins to render on a quad core 2.66 XP32bit.

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Wow. That stone wall rocks!

Re the birch model, where did you get it from? The twigs seem a bit too straight to me - they usually are slightly curved - and the leaf distribution seems too regular, and the leaves a bit too big. See this pic for an example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamorin/2086241765/

Thanks for the link, that does help. It's an Xfrog birch from their European collection.

Awesome rock wall!

Mmm, I may have spoken too soon on the birch, as I'm thinking of the silver birch, but there are other varieties, such as the downy birch, that don't have those distinctively curved twigs as in the picture. Nevertheless, the twigs do look a bit too straight for a real tree - I'm surprised to hear it's an Xfrog model.

Well to be fair, one of my colleages had played around with it a bit, so he might of bastardized it somewhat. I'll check with him tomorrow.

I love the rockwall! Really great.
I agree about the tree, though, the leaf spacing is too regular. Not your fault at all, just find a better tree. :)
This is a fantastic render already, you shouldn't take it down a notch by using the wrong model.

That wall! It even has moss! :o

rockwall Oo

I'd put some higher tufts of grass at the foot of the birch to conceal its rather simple roots, work on the branches and perhaps put some ferns or moss on the stone wall. And some fill in light in the very dark shadow.

---Dune

Wow - love the rock wall - I've wanted to do one myself; I must give it a blast.  The background is especially realistic in this one - let's see some more :)

Outstanding render. the mid to background is totally believable, but, do you know what...? because of the strength of the back/mid ground and the wall, I don't think you need the tree at all. Just my 2p worth  ;D

Miles

not far from my home town...looks great...wouldn't be the west country without a crop circle though!;)

All great suggestions, many thanks.

I think you're right about the birch, and it had been tinkered with, it originally had autumn follaige. So it's now been put to the chainsaw. I'll have to find something else.

The naked “earthy” foreground seems useless to me!

I haven't got there yet. :P

Perhaps a gnarley old English oak would fit?

Ta. I've been playing around with an Evermotion model. I think I need to get into it a little, and delete a few branches which look like a plumber's been at it. I also think I need to put in a fake light source to help with the shadows, but think I'll leave that until after I've put the fore ground together.

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 :o :o :o

amazing

Yep, this tree is a BIG improvement - loving the bark texture. Frames the landscape beautifully.

very very good job !

Wow, this looks pretty darn realistic!

Thank you. The next part is going to be an even greater challenge to get right.

Nothing to add, this is looking very good :)
I'm interested in how you light the tree, good work on the bark too.
Richard

(stunned expression on my face)
I think this pic is finished. It is photo quality! Well done.

Pretty awesome image - dont get rid of the trees on the hill though!

I forgot to switch them back on in the last render.

astonishingly realistic...amazing!

Perhaps a tad less distinct seperation (blurring?) on margin boundaries of the top farm fields with the higher slopes of the background hills.

Kudos from me too, I love the bark *wouf* :-*
Hehe, just a little word play ;D

I really like the bark displacements, awesome good work.
:)

Wonderful realism. When you're finished with this scene it's going to take a real practiced eye to determine that this isn't a photograph.

John

Very inspirational work here. Makes me think I better go back to finger painting!

Very nice...

How is this one going so far? Near finished or did you make it even better? :)

Martin

Been busy the last couple of weeks, so not had much TG time. Did a little bit the other night. I need to get this job out of the way before I can get stuck in.

Holy crap!  Stunning stuff!  You should be proud :)

Almost there...

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Not sure I like the previous colour correction.

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Simply awesome work, very good!
I prefer the 2nd one, the 1st one is a bit too contrasted and too dark in the shadows (especially in the upper left)

Martin

Glad to see you're finally working on this again. As TU says, awesome stuff, and I agree the second image is better. The one thing I'd remove is the house in the midground, as its colour makes it look shopped in.

I like this latest image. Something you might consider is a fill light giving a bit of light to the lower shadowed area. This would give more detail to the broken wall and surrounding area; yet, I don't think it would take away from the primary focus. Beautiful work here.

This is great. I agree that the house looks out of place. It's probably because of the atmosphere settings.

very very good realism !

Thanks for the feedback guys. The house hasn't been textured yet, I thought I'd just throw it in and see what people said. I think it's too large, and needs to drop down a little.

I'm not sure about using a fill light on this one, I'd rather notch up the camera exposure to 3, which seemed to do the trick on a test I did last night.

I also think the moss has become a bit luminous, I think it needs to be darker.

Anyway, I'm now running out of time, and another TG project has become a priority with work, so one more render, and that will be that.

Great progression on this one, time to pack our bags nothing more to see or do its all here.

Final release at 500k.

I decided to dump the cottage, the image didn't need it as others have rightly said, and it would have taken a few days getting that corner of the field to look like the building should be there, maybe my next project.

Thanks to everyone who've commented, it's been helpfull and motivational to get it finished. Good luck in the competition too, there's some cracking stuff been posted.

Cheers

Jon

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This looks like a winner ...absolutely beautiful!

Jaw Droppingly Wow... :o Love the nettles touch... ouch. Good luck.
Simon.

Wow the increased light in the foreground added even more realism to this masterpiece.

Superb.

nope looks horrible you shouldn't submit that....





/sigh... i cant lie its beautiful and perfect... there went the competition.

hmmmm  :-\ imo the last one is too bright, the fields of wheat lack nice contrasts and so does the foreground.
The sense of intense sunshine is very good on the contrary, but no...the previous one really had it for me  :)

agree with T-U. the precedent one was far better to my eyes...

I think it's only the low plants in the foreground. I have a mediocre monitor, but they appear to have too much white. I would post=process the image, adjusting the contrast.

some of the colors felt better in the earlier version but the earlier one was a little too dark... perhaps a inbetween.

Superb and enormous work!
With regard to contrast, the luminosity it is a question of personal taste. What east is to be retained it is the quantity of work carried out! I have true weak for foam on the stones of the wall it is superb!

Quote from: Seth on July 14, 2009, 05:52:46 PM
agree with T-U. the precedent one was far better to my eyes...

Imho I also have to say that it's a bit bright. Anyway, I'll have to consider that I sit in front of a really crappy laptop monitor with very littly contrast and saturation. Apart from this, the image is perfect :)

I think contrast is something you can add really easily, but once added is really difficult to take away. I suppose a couple of notches wouldn't hurt. What I did want to do, was remove some of the 'sharpness' and 'RGBness' that you'll find in a lot of CG work, so the softness is deliberate.

Oh well.

I think it needed to be brighter than the previous version, so perhaps it just needs to be somewhere in between?

Matt

This has progressed really well, and it's now a beautifully balanced English countryside scene. I wouldn't tinker with this any more; sure, someone's always gonna say this should be that, and that should maybe be a bit more like this. You could be forever tinkering to please the pallets of others. If in your own mind it's as good as it's gonna get, then make it a wrap.
But, you see that bit of hedgerow in the middle where you've got . . . . .  ;D

John

could be Dursley...what about Nibley?...damn fine work!...good luck!

Well, seeing this again on my home monitor, it does look too pale. I'll post another more contrasted version later.

Quote from: schmeerlap on July 16, 2009, 05:16:50 AM
But, you see that bit of hedgerow in the middle where you've got . . . . .  ;D

John

Ha ha. Producers eh?

No, there's some valid points there. The comps finished in my head. No more TG, just potato chopping.

When you've finished the potato chopping, is there any chance you might favour us with some ideas on how the stone wall was made? I think I'm not the only one who's curious  ;) (and I'm also intrigued by the Voronoi field set-up)

LOL, ahh a secret to the grave. Ahh. You'll have to kill me. Lol

It's a bit convoluted, but makes sense. Sure, will be happy to share. I think 64bit will be an enormous help!!!....Planetside?

This is cool work because it is very distinctively a British looking landscape.

Honestly, this will be the last time I post this image now, just for closure's sake and my sanity.

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this is such an awesome render, I truly love that scene!

I am glad you have finished this. It's worth all the effort. I think it would have given the judges much more difficulty deciding on the winners!

bravo !

Really good ; Like a photo!

Excellent framing

Lovely superquality work!