Dutch 'polder'

Dune · July 03, 2010, 03:28:22 AM

A new project I'm working on. The hardest part was to get the embankment just right, with the road (gradient-colored by distance shader) going down on the land side. And I'm not satisfied with the reflection of the clouds yet. I made patches of windblown water, but this distorts the clouds. I'd rather have a vague reflection, so there's work to do. And the sharp edges of the dike/water gives some strange artifacts, have to make it softer I guess.
The gray patches will have some buildings, and there will be more variety in trees, vegetation...

---Dune

domdib · July 03, 2010, 03:57:44 AM

Shows your usual superb attention to detail, and is very nicely lit.

FrankB · July 03, 2010, 06:22:17 AM

completely agree with Dominic!

Henry Blewer · July 03, 2010, 08:20:54 AM

Just awesome. This can easily be mistaken as a photo.

Dune · July 03, 2010, 11:56:09 AM

Thanks, guys. Here's one with another light angle, and some improvements (embankment, water, vegetation, little roads, fields...). I think I like this one better. Now has the houses and sheds as well, though these still need some work.

schmeerlap · July 03, 2010, 12:37:34 PM

Agree with Henry; this is top drawer TG2 work. I especially like the textures and colours in the marshy grasslands.

John

inkydigit · July 03, 2010, 02:30:07 PM

echt nederlands!
awesome work, reminds me of my time in the bollenstreek!

Henry Blewer · July 03, 2010, 05:05:06 PM

This really shows off your skills Ulco. The light in the 2nd render is better.

PG · July 03, 2010, 05:18:42 PM

I like the second as well. I'd probably have it a bit brighter like the first and if possible tone down the sunlight reflection a bit, maybe just move it a bit lower so less of it is visible but that's just a niggle for me.

Dune · July 05, 2010, 04:18:58 AM

What wonders can a little extra do; soft shadows on (5/5), environmental light from 1-1.5, detail=0.5 and AA=4, GI 2/2/8. I did reduce the size to 80%. It's getting there....

domdib · July 05, 2010, 04:55:14 AM

If you can reduce the reflections from the house models, then you have photo-realism. Great stuff!

Dune · July 05, 2010, 04:59:47 AM

Actually, they have very shiny roofs. I've seen them and taken pictures. In the centre of the large roof is a long 'airing window', which is glass, so really shiny. And some small glass roof windows. The thing that I don't like is the dark walls. They are dark, but not this dark.
Thanks for your C&C!

domdib · July 05, 2010, 07:25:42 AM

I take your point re the shiny roofs, but what I was really trying to get at is that the overall reflectivity of the house models seems at odds with the rest of the scene, giving them a definite CGI feel, as if they're made of plastic. I'm not a modeller, so I don't have any good suggestions for how to fix it, but I guess it's a minor point anyway.

Henry Blewer · July 05, 2010, 08:02:54 AM

What I like with Terragen 2 is the new AA. Even lower settings does quite well for many scenes.

The houses may use a gloss paint which makes them look more shiny than most house paints commonly used today. My grandparent's house was painted gloss white. It was difficult to look at when the sun was shining on it at times.

Walli · July 05, 2010, 11:45:19 AM

very nice scene with a lot of attention to detail!

As you did not say its final, I will raise some points that have a cg-ish feeling to me:
- some of the greens seem to be slightly off. But often you can take a reference picture and proof the greens, so I might be wrong ;-)
- the greens of the trees seem to be to "regular"
- the trees lack some "definition", probably thats a matter of GI detail
- roofs and even walls are often way more shiney then most people would believe at first. Still something makes "pop" them out of the rest. The boats for example blend in perfectly. Again this might be a matter of GI (detail), as the small hut in the front almost seems to be hovering

But all the above is nitpicky

So to make this long answer short: great work!