Freelance Terragen - One off render of sunset clouds from high altitude

Started by JohnCameron, June 19, 2015, 07:16:11 PM

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JohnCameron

UPDATE: Offer finished, thank you Terragen forums.

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I'm working on a shot for a short film which includes a cool shot a rocket blasting into space.

This VFX shot is going to be largely 2D affair but I need my "background image" to work against.

There is a famous photo taken from the ISS of the shuttle. I've attached that. I've also attached a few others images to show what I need. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/iss022e062672.jpg

Basically I'm looking for a 4.5K wide (4,500 pixels or better) 100% quality render of the cloud tops at sunset. Then, haze into the blackness of space. This insane width gives me some latitude for a camera move or projection. Vertically, I really need the cloud detail. From there up its really a gradient so the cloud detail is where I need Terragen.


I'm hoping it's something fun for the users here and an afternoons work.

Thank you SO much in advance for your time.

WAS

Have you tried playing with the demo?  You can set altitude constraints on your atmosphere to get these looks. Try raising your Blue Sky and Haze altitudes. Haze at 8000, and Blue Sky at 12000 may help ya.

I'd help ya but I don't own Terragen under my own name and I don't think lawfully I can use my friends software to do this for you. Sorta like I couldn't use school copies for profit (I believe)

But making a TGD yourself, you may be able to find someone to render it for ya for free here. For example, I made a mockup of the second image in about 2 minutes.


Hetzen

This has wind up written all over it. Sorry John Cameron, for a single still to do what you want, you'd better off photo shop it. To get a launch plate to go through those atmosphere stages, you will get perspective shift on the horizon. Now this could be done in After Effects with clever use of 3d layers, but for $90 you should try Craigs List.

JohnCameron

In one breath I'm told this is an easy job and in another this is refered to as a wind up. Which is it?

Terragen is a brand new program to me - I just don't have the spare afternoons to figure out how to do this but got an inkling it might be a few clicks. I had assumed this was an easy job for the right person which seems to be confirmed two posts up.

Regarding use of a still image as a plate;

The shot is a lock off and for that reason a still image will certainly be adequate.
The main constraint is the fact I'm seeking something rendered at high quality and 4K wide. Otherwise, there are readily available images (up to 2K).
I'm not interested in a photoshop solution, really keen on the results of this program.



One person has kindly offered to assist me via private message.

Hetzen

Don't take it personally John. Lets look at WASasquatch's render. You have a cloud layer below your pov and you have another above it.

So...

How do you get from one to the other to outer space without shifting that pov?

JohnCameron

Maybe I should have articulated this properly ;

In the first post I linked to this image. http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/3/17/1268833384070/Earths-orbit-The-silhouet-001.jpg

This is what Im hoping to create (the background). The Terragen sunset will just be the thin strip you see. The rest, created from gradients.

This image taken 50KM up or so. The 'limb' is very far away. The shuttle (if it had gone straight up) would have come from the night side of the Earth.

Does this help?

Hetzen

John, this program can do what you initially asked. If a sunset terminus at 50k is all you want, well then that's within the realms of a 4k still in an afternoon. Good luck with your project.

Oshyan

I think, depending on the level of detail, this should be fairly do-able. A note for anyone who tackles it though: if you're trying to actually emulate that shuttle shot, that's probably a very long telephoto image. That's what's giving you the very straight horizon and huge atmosphere gradient, despite being at an orbital altitude. I don't think you'll be able to achieve such an effect with a normal camera focal length.

- Oshyan

JohnCameron

Stop Press: I've got a solution for this, now. Thank you for all of the nice messages and assistance.

WAS

Yeah I would imagine you'd be stitching multiple renders which may or may not ruin the illusion of realism.

Glad you got an idea figured out.