Valles Marineris Dusty Morning

Started by sweetcement, December 15, 2013, 03:36:22 PM

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sweetcement

Mars render using MOLA data (used as an "sgi" image for displacement terrain, scaled appropriately in size and displacement) looking over the side into some part of Valles Marineris.  Tried to make photorealistic, with no vertical exaggeration and an appropriately bright and dusty sky.  Foreground a set of "power fractal" and "fake stones" shaders distributed by a number of image maps and functions.

Using what seem to be realistic dust (haze) values, the sky looks as bright as it does in the Rover pictures, and the other side of the canyon, miles away, looks kind of washed out in the haze.  Walls not as steep as I expected, either, once the vertical exaggeration was eliminated.

Next time I render, I really should use soft shadows...



pclavett


sweetcement

Another picture, from another part of the canyon.  More relief here.


Oshyan

You can also load MOLA data directly using the MOLA Shader.

- Oshyan

sweetcement

Another version, more work on surfacing, etc.  Also a sunset shot...


Mahnmut

Very cool!
It´s really hard to get a sense of scale with these landscapes. Did you adjust the planets size?
Best Regards and happy holidays,
Jan

sweetcement

Jan - adjusted planet's radius, air and dust (haze) depth and size of the landscape.  Avoided vertical exaggeration.  This whole thing is just a "I wonder what it looks like in real life, so maybe I'll render it to see," and trying to match the Rover pictures as closely as I can regarding colors, surface textures, sky, etc.

Yes, it's really, really hard to get any sense of scale in these views.  No trees, buildings, people, etc....so the rocks might be an inch across or 100 feet across.  No way to tell.  Only sense of distance is the haze.  Rocks I used are actually 10 to 30 meters across (3 fake stone populations), which might be bigger than they really are on Mars.

Sky color - wonder how much the dust in the sir in Mars varies from year to year, and if the sky's hazier during dust storms.  Thought about trying to have dust clouds, but don't see them in the Rover pix.  Learned while setting up these scenes that the color of the haze (dust) has a huge effect on sky color.  Make the "dust" more chromatic, or redder, or yellower, and it changes the whole look of the sky.

By the way, I really like your pictures of a terraformed Mars!


sweetcement

Another picture, midday.