This would, unless I change my mind, be my entry. Regard it as a WIP for the time being. Although the large renders of this project were done with 'real' local vegetation, the pops would be HUGE for the whole park. Too huge for an animation. So I replaced the grass by a simple procedural grass, consisting of two fake stones, and two PF's for color variation. And some 'fake flowers'.
I'm not yet sure about the last standing stones, currently building some more...
Any comments are welcome, of course. There's always room for improvement.
---Dune
8) 8) 8)....super cool, this looks like a place I want to explore, love it!
Edit: The standing stones, remind of Dolmen like structures, but need another stone ,as these are often balanced on at least three stones...still great textures and design!
Fine work
Nearly all of them are good as separate images too , Dune ! You are not making the life easier for the others :)
I second that! ;D
this looks really good, great scene. :)
how many populations do you have in it? ;)
@zaai999: There are 4 'normal' trees, one very lowpoly tree for the far distance (just 7 or so angled planes with leaves), and 4 bushes. Oh, and one daffodil. The grass is fake.
@inkydigit: I know. As a matter of fact I have just built a 6 stone dolmen. I might put that in, or some 'modern' monument. Or perhaps something like two large stones balanced on top of each other. Saw that once on a mountaintop in France. Huge stones, with much force to be moved just a centimeter or so.
AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!! IT'S TOO GOOD!!! ;D
great storyboard, Ulco! I wonder if you can add in more flowers in some scenes? just in a few places. For example, some dandelions would look great on the meadow of the last shot.
Also, here's one more suggestion: the paths look very straight, or in other words, their boundaries are too perfect. What about warping the blending mask for the paths a little bit. In case you have used real world scales for the scene, I would image that a warping fractal with 1m feature size, and 0.1 smallest size, displaced (for the warp) at 0.1m, could make the path look less straight, and add a little randomness.
Cheers,
Frank
impressive, I wait to see where this one is going :D
@ Frank: I can add a lot, but I wanted to keep it as low on resources as possible for animation sake. The path of this 'animation to be' covers quite some ground, and I don't want sudden changes in flora. The original renders from this park are much more detailed, and comprehensive, but locally adapted. That wouldn't work in an animation, or you'd need supercomputers. I will try to get some local stuff in, where you go to ground.
I have also made another dolmen, might fit that one in. Like one of these...
The paths are supposed to be quite straight, especially the main Park Lane. But I was also thinking of distracting just a bit, have some grass grow over the paths here and there. Depends on the client >:( Indeed I'd prefer rougher paths, they might as well.
By the way, never thought of warping mask... good idea, let's try.
Thanks guys.
Small update on frame 6.
the surfacing on the boulders/rocks looks really good, :) are they procedural or just image maps???
I just looked at the last image. I like the haze at the tree tops. This was done with a cloud layer?
Nice work.
@zaai999: They're image maps, I'm afraid. But it could be done procedurally, no doubt.
@Henry: Yeah, the cloud layer is localized near the water, also to give the view from above the 'labyrinth' a softer background. You then fly over the mist veiled lakes, then down near the final stone monuments.
I cannot choose which one to use for the storyboard... ??? Any suggestions? This is near the final monument in the animation, where the viewer flies into the light, and that's the end.
The top render shows the objects off better. But the bottom render has better mystery. I would use the bottom render.
Wow! Definitely the top one, Ulco, that's the money-shot!
The raytraced atmosphere is lovely and best visible in the first shot. Very good work.
Let's say that you need both for camera moves ;D
Agreed! :D
QuoteLet's say that you need both
@Seth: This spiral of stones by itself would yield an interesting animation if properly done, I suppose. Working with the light and darks in the mist, and adding some more mystery by passing cloud shadow (to name something), it can result in an artistic little 'movie'. But the storyboard must have some totally different areas to cover the whole Garden. I also thought the Labyrinth would be great to animate, lots of shots to be made there, even entering and going up a flight of stairs, etc...
I'm still looking for a decent shot between the entrance and the Labyrinth, but it's mainly dark wood with boulders and little paths, so I might even skip that for the storyboard's sake.
And I am still haggling with the client, as he wants things to be feasible in reality as well. To really build it physically. If the waterways (e.g.) are too narrow they'll grow full of weeds, and they don't want maintenance once the Garden is there.
It would be good to use both, but the bottom one is my fave. Excellent work! Where, if I may ask, is this Garden going to be? Somewhere in Holland?
It will be in Holland, but it's still initial stages. They need sponsors, then purchase terrain and build it. So don't hold your breath...
Done. No time anymore, so here's a teaser. The story board is on its way to Frank.
---Dune
I decided to keep the dark forest out, and replace it by a low shot when you fly across the lakes towards the final 'Threanta' with it's monument. Added a pair of swans.
I didn't read the rules , but if you can , would you please post these as separate images and bigger too , Dune ? :)
Wow, the swans are gorgeous. Looking great!
- Oshyan
@ Kadri: I rendered these images especially for the contest at the precise size needed. I did do a number of other big renders for the client, but I cannot show these at top resolution. They differ anyway, in number of populations and amount of detail, as they were not to be animated. For the animation renders I eliminated all 'memory consuming' stuff, and had to use the same lighting all over, and restrictions like that. But here's a reduced crop of a larger render of the Labyrinth, which I like very much.
OK! I understand you , Dune and thanks :)
This is really beautiful! Superb details!
This looks fantastic - I really hope the garden does get built.
Dune,
You are a creative wild man.
Thanks, guys. I do my best.
The storyboard is dreamy! I love it all. It's a pleasure to view your work, Ulco. Good luck, Sir!
Congratulations! Can't wait for the movie and making-of story!
It's been a while, but there's news about the animation. Due to several circumstances, like data loss, it has taken some time to get things going for Oshyan, but I just saw a first rough. Very promising! So hang in there!
---Dune
Thanks for updating the thread Dune. I'm sorry that I neglected to earlier! All is well now though, and moving forward quickly. I think you'll all really enjoy this when it's done. It will be a little while yet as we need to finish the sequence and then of course render it, but soon enough you'll all be able to appreciate this great scene in motion. :)
- Oshyan
Any word on this animation yet? I'd love to see Ulco's scene rendered out, it's coming up a year since the last post.
Yes, it's far past time for an update, sorry about that. Essentially all that remains at this point is rendering. Unfortunately it's a very demanding scene and was originally cut rather long (over 2 minutes) so a lot of time was spent paring it down, and render times at 720p are not ideal (not unreasonably by any means, but remember this is donated render farm time!). So basically I just need to settle on optimized final render settings and submit it for rendering. There are issues of whether to go with GI, motion blur in render or post, etc. that still need to be settled. Truth be told I've just been very busy with other things. But it's a real shame to have let this go so long and obviously that wasn't at all my intention at the start. I will push it up the priority list.
- Oshyan
Cheers, Oshyan. I just thought it had maybe been forgotten, I'm sure everyone would love to see it. I can imagine how render intensive it is, though! :)