A visit to Ulco's valley (Terragen 4 Benchmark)

Started by Tangled-Universe, August 07, 2019, 01:55:45 PM

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Tangled-Universe

Curiosity about my benchmark score (25-26 minutes or so) eventually made me try an idea or two on shading vs lighting research I did recently.
I changed 3 things and added a fog layer.
Rendered it with the path tracer @ AA16. Can't wait for a new machine and render this in under 6 hours instead :P

Credit to Ulco for designing the scene, it contains a wealth of learning opportunities for anyone getting started with TG.

WAS

Quote from: Tangled-Universe on August 07, 2019, 01:55:45 PMCuriosity about my benchmark score (25-26 minutes or so) eventually made me try an idea or two on shading vs lighting research I did recently.
I changed 3 things and added a fog layer.
Rendered it with the path tracer @ AA16. Can't wait for a new machine and render this in under 6 hours instead :P

Credit to Ulco for designing the scene, it contains a wealth of learning opportunities for anyone getting started with TG.
Exp Atmo bloom or post? Atmosphere does look nice. The river shore wetness may have a little too large of a spread but the scene is sure lovely under these settings.

Tangled-Universe

Quote from: WASasquatch on August 07, 2019, 01:57:55 PM
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on August 07, 2019, 01:55:45 PMCuriosity about my benchmark score (25-26 minutes or so) eventually made me try an idea or two on shading vs lighting research I did recently.
I changed 3 things and added a fog layer.
Rendered it with the path tracer @ AA16. Can't wait for a new machine and render this in under 6 hours instead :P

Credit to Ulco for designing the scene, it contains a wealth of learning opportunities for anyone getting started with TG.
Exp Atmo bloom or post? Atmosphere does look nice. The river shore wetness may have a little too large of a spread but the scene is sure lovely under these settings.

Yeah the reflection shader on the shore is way off with these settings and it makes sense (that it looks wrong/too bright).
This should help you figure out what my 3 changes to the scene are.
The silly obvious one is the sun's position/elevation, so only 2 left now.

Oshyan

Cool change. I like the light rays in the fog. The light surface higher up the cliff in the shadows seems unnaturally bright though, eh? Not sure if that's a change you made or was in the original file and just not evident...

- Oshyan

WAS

Quote from: Oshyan on August 07, 2019, 02:38:59 PMCool change. I like the light rays in the fog. The light surface higher up the cliff in the shadows seems unnaturally bright though, eh? Not sure if that's a change you made or was in the original file and just not evident...

- Oshyan
Probably a result of a reflection shader used on the stone and the PT trying to interpret physical reflections. It's very blue tinted so figure it's ambient reflection.

Oshyan

I was thinking the same WAS. Even without PT a reflective shader would do that, but PT would probably result in a more blue tint still.

- Oshyan

Tangled-Universe

Everything in the scene was way too bright from a photographic perspective so I multiplied the whole setup by 0.25 to get them around the 18% grey ball-park. Then change light and exposure accordingly.
The reflective shader on the shore was set up to show reflectivity under Ulco's daylight condition and thus was way way too strong fpr this type of lighting and the PT tends to handle reflections in much more sensible way anyway. You can quickly over-do them with the PT. Anyway, these were the 3 changes made.
The chalky cliffs look pretty good I'd say, actually.

DocCharly65


Dune

I really like the mood and vapor shadows. I think with an additional greyish PF mask over the shore mask you could decrease, and patch up the amount of reflection. I like the difference in color of the sunlit and shadowed cliffs, but there might be too much difference. Shadowed areas look like chalky indeed, but sunlit are more like sandstone, and sun is not that low (15-20ยบ or so?). But at a glance and without nitpicking this is really a very nice change!

bobbystahr

Quote from: Tangled-Universe on August 07, 2019, 01:55:45 PMCuriosity about my benchmark score (25-26 minutes or so) eventually made me try an idea or two on shading vs lighting research I did recently.
I changed 3 things and added a fog layer.
Rendered it with the path tracer @ AA16. Can't wait for a new machine and render this in under 6 hours instead :P

Credit to Ulco for designing the scene, it contains a wealth of learning opportunities for anyone getting started with TG.

great version man...
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

DannyG

New World Digital Art
NwdaGroup.com
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