Hazy Valley

[Splus12]

Thought I would post this.  I will probably add a tree or two.  This was done with TG2. 

Ken

[Henry Blewer]

I like the terrain very much. It looks good, and offers nice places for different camera locations. Did you use a perlin mix 1 for the lower clouds? I use the reduce coverage slider to reduce the 'bridging' effect between the clouds that this noise flavor produces. This leaves the nice, more ragged edges, and allows for higher altitude displacements.

[Splus12]

njeneb,
   I don't remember exactly what I used for the clouds, will have to check.  I think I'll post the tgd in the file share in case anyone wants to look at it.
Ken

[Splus12]

I made some changes to this.  Hope you like it. 

Ken

[Henry Blewer]

These clouds look much better. I like the stretched look.

There are many settings to be used to make clouds. I learned how they work by the settings in each tab, one by one. The density shader is also very important. Try adjusting the setting one by one and make small renders to see how the clouds change. When you have a feel for this, try combining settings from different tabs. In a couple hours you'll have the basics.

The function tab is the most fun, and one I use least. My old computer does not handle volumetric calculations very quickly.

It's also possible to mask the cloud coverage by using the blend by input at the bottom of the cloud control. That is also fun. Remember to look at the scales in the cloud's density shader. Making the scale of the blend power fractal (if you use one) larger breaks up the cloud pattern. Using smaller scales will make the clouds break up into smaller units; the scalloped look they get in high winds would be an example.

[Splus12]

njeneb,
   Thanks for the ideas, I really appreciate them.  The last render took almost 9 hours to complete in order to get the detail I wanted.  The cloud layers came exactly as I wanted.  My biggest limitation is the computer I use, it doesn't always cooperate.  The next one I would like to do will contain stacked cumulous to alto cumulous clouds.

Ken

[Henry Blewer]

I am using a Pentium 4 for my renders. You'll learn what settings will provide the best possible render time with practice. I used to spend two or three days on a single image. Matt optimized his code significantly; that really helped. Now I can get 1920 x 1080 with high detail and AA settings in ten to eighteen hours.