Random Seed + V.5

[RArcher]

Maybe also add some overall population shade variances and a splash of a red or yellow chest or markings here and there.

[dandelO]

I've used a fractal function for the colour map so it isn't so uniform, looking a fair bit better now. I also have some little grasses peeking through here and there. Upped the AA to 6/max from 5/max, as well. I'll post again later...

Cheers!

* Edit: Oh yes. GI RD upped to 3/3, from 2/3, too, since it's quite a close-up render of terrain detail only I can afford it, GI prepass was only about 10 minutes at this level.

[dandelO]

Maybe also add some overall population shade variances and a splash of a red or yellow chest or markings here and there.

I considered this but I opted for the flat, boring brown, with no colour variation. I really can't tell one little brown bird from the next when I see them outside.
I think the fractal variation per object has made a nice improvement. I might not be finished with this for a while so, I've lots of room for further experimenting after this one that's running at the moment. We'll see.

Cheers, Ryan!

[Tangled-Universe]

Is the GI of 3/3 really necessary, I wonder? There are not extreme displacements going on here I'd say, nor do they create difficult to light crevices etc.?

[dandelO]

Nope, not necessary at all! Just thought I'd crank it since I was knocking out images in half an hour at a time. Upping the GI and AA as mentioned above doubled the render time, for very little(if any) benefit at all.

For the next one I'll revert both of those settings to their previous levels. I'm going to work on the texture images for the bird first. I think it isn't meeting together properly on the back of the bird, there's some stretching on the back and little black empty areas on the back of the head.
Here's the first iteration with some little greenies in.

[Kadri]

DandelO , i can not say if it is a day or night kind of image .
The shadow looks like the sun is nearly over 50-55 degree high.
But it is so dark that it seams more like the light from the moon or so.
Did you tried it with a default scene for the lighting ? Maybe you did over done (under done ?) your fill lighting setup ?
The birds can be very dark sometimes but in this kind of picture we should (of course if it is daytime , not very cloudy or so) see them more clearly.

I think the main problem is the texture or-and lighting of the ground.

Just some random thoughts as you know, DandelO  

[choronr]

Now I believe I think I know what you are doing here; eventually, you will tilt the camera upward and lower it to fix a horizon - and, add a farmland background with some clouds. The final touch will be to add a scarecrow in the center of the seeded land which the birds will ignore ....right? - Or, am I dreaming?

[dandelO]

Cheers, folks!

Bob: Good ideas, I might take some of them up later on. Just when I thought I'd walk away from this image after this post!

In the meantime, here's v.5:



I took some advices given here earlier. Again, I lowered the height of the furrows, now they're not so sharp and steep, and I reduced the red in the mud layers. I fixed the bird textures a bit, could be better, I'm not keen on the white of the wing tips and tails but, they're far better than before, regardless.
I also added some overall population colour variations, after all, and added a little more green stuff than I had before. I didn't post v.4.

Probably come back to this for a fresh take another day soon, hopefully with some more of the suggestions that I like the sound of. Not sure about a scarecrow because I'm not very good at modelling but, it had already crossed my mind, if I could find a decent one.
I didn't, however, intend on lifting the POV because this started as a simple surface shader test, where I was concentrating solely on the mud. Now that I'm sick of it, though, I might just take it in a different direction, later. Five full sized iterations in a day is plenty much for me, not to mention all the smaller LQ and HQ test renders. It's about time to empty the temp directory, anyway! I like searching through those before I delete them too because I'll probably come across a few things I've forgotten about, to go back to for a fresh take, it's been a while since I emptied it...

Cheers for the repeated lookings and input, everyone!

[Walli]

looking nice. About the birds - could it be, that the model is using a mirrored UV, or is it really just stretching?
In general, as it has been mentioned, it looks a bit to dark to me. That might be fine if later on there will be horizon/sky. But if you photograph the soil only, I guess you would increase exposure.

[Tangled-Universe]

I like the "new" birds They look much better I think. The speculars will still be a problem since the model itself doesn't really provide much bump, probably.

Maybe this scene is a nice opportunity to test the GI fill method we discussed?
A thing I haven't discussed there (yet maybe) is that the detail in shadows and fill of GI is mainly regulated by atmosphere, but that also albedo of surfaces is of importance. I think that that's the reason here that your lighting looks rather dark because the albedo of the surfaces is rather low?
Well, it doesn't matter that much, I think you could still try the double atmo method.

Martin

[dandelO]

Cheers, guys.

Thanks for the advice, and the grasses, Walli.

[dandelO]

Small update, an un-muffled version.



Game over. Next.

[choronr]

Now this is a very good improvement Martin. The density of the birds is right on. It seems when these little guys prepare for the winter they chomp down on lots of seeds (building fat/carbohydrates) for the winter; whereas, in the spring the feast on bugs building on protein getting ready for egg laying ...whats this got to do with digital art?

In all, this is your best so far!

[dandelO]

I went to great lengths to get here... Actually, no, I didn't. It's just a levels-edited version of the last image(v.5).
I visited a great PS help/tutorial site that Kadri posted somewhere here recently and learned far better methods for image manipulation than I'd previously been aware of how to do myself.
I'd normally simply balance contrast and colours, sharpen/blur, overlay/blend etc. when post processing renders. Now I've learned far better ways to decipher and tune an images' actual histogram and such.

I should probably read more fact, instead of fiction, then, my head wouldn't be so far in the clouds!
Cheers, man!

[Henry Blewer]

Yes! This is right on. The birds are quite real looking. The small detail grasses are great.
People would mistake this for a photo easily; wondering why take a photo of birds in a plowed field.
Jungian s would be wondering what to prescribe for your condition.