Neptuns Garden

[KlausK]

Hi, this is the first version of what I named "Neptuns Garden".
Hopefully more to come. C&C welcome, as always.

Louvre Museum Staute of Neptune, Archonforest Grass, CG Axis Flower. Path Traced.

CHeers, Klaus

[Hannes]

Beautiful!! I see the dark line of the statue's water level. This has been mentioned before, but I don't know, if there was a solution to get rid of it.

[KlausK]

Thanks Hannes.
I searched for this here (the black waterline) but did not find anything helpful so far.
But I am sure also that this has been discussed before. The black line is also on the rock waterline but the plants cover it successfully.
Maybe somebody else chimes in later. Would be nice to get rid of this.

CHeers, Klaus

[Dune]

Maybe the subdivision settings (RDM) help (default=0.25, try 0.5-1 in a crop, but it makes longer render time).

Nice render, btw. Contrast is great.

[KlausK]

Thanks Dune.
I am gonna try your suggestion.
Meanwhile here is the Standard Renderer version of the scene. I did not adapt any setting or shading. Just switched to the other renderer.
The black edge is much less pronounced for sure. But look at the Statue of Neptune! Completely different shading!

CHeers, Klaus

[KlausK]

Tried the Path Tracer with Subdivision (RDM) set to 1.
It made the black edge thinner and regular but did not make it disappear.
And render time doubled. If that was an effect you could enable only for certain edges or objects - that would help.
But the time penalty for the whole picture seems just too high.
So, trying to figure out another solution must be the way to move on, I guess.

But anyway, here it is.

CHeers, Klaus

[Dune]

Maybe it's something that can only be changed by Matt? In cases like this, you can also do a crop render of the particular area and comp into the main render.

[j meyer]

Maybe it is an AO problem, like the black line on intersecting objects.
Just a guess, though.

[DocCharly65]

I'm unfortunately not helpful for the line-problem...
But I like the idea and the look of the render so far

[KlausK]

Thanks DocCharlie

Neptun in his garden is now accompanied by some friendly companions.
The dolphins need better surfacing but that has to wait.
And the Lilly pads should get some more treatment as well.
For now it is one population. That`s why they are all identical.
So, this is perhaps more a inbetweener to a final render.
Out of time for now...tbc.

CHeers, Klaus

[Dune]

Nice update. Two things I notice. The lilypads are enormous, unless that's on purpose. Usually they are about 25cm across. And I would darken and green the rock the plants sit on, like algae-covered wet rock.
Perhaps the statue can even have a waterline, slightly above the water level with a somewhat darker and greener color.

[mhaze]

Excellent work!

[KlausK]

@Dune: Thank you.

I liked the rose colour of the rocks which played well with all the green in the darker misty surroundings.
Now, that the Lilly pads added colour to the picture it might not be needed anymore. I`ll render another round with darker rocks.

The waterline on the statue is a great idea.
Going to try to figure out how to do that when I have time again for this.
I`ll do it in post first and decide then. That`s faster.

Regarding the Lilly Pads. I was thinking more in the line of the giant Victoria Amazonica but I did not want the more or less perfect round shape and the standing edge it has.
As you surely know most Water Lillies grow together in larger fields / groups like carpets on the water. I tried that as well at first - larger numbers and clumps of pads.
But that really destroyed the scene.
The distribution of the Lilies I have now is not too good looking at the picture a few hours later, but that will work itself out I am sure.
And they will serve another purpose later as well. I`ll have to wait and see how that works out. Until then I will leave them be as they are, I think.

After all it is supposed to be a kind of surreal fairy tale like scenery, so too much realism is not really needed, not wanted even.
And it should give the impression to be a strangly living and lifeless world at the same time.
Which could disappear in the mist again any moment.

@mhaze: Thanks very much for your nice comment!


CHeers, Klaus

[KlausK]

Here is a version with darker rocks.
Also higher AA/8 and MPD/8. Softshadows with default settings (can`t really make out a difference ).
Customized Sampling and higher Atmo Samples.

That`ll be it for the moment.

CHeers, Klaus

[Dune]

I see the value of the 'surrealism', and indeed the lily pads are great as they are in that sense.
Waterline on the statue is easy with a (no color) surface shader under the default, and altitude set as final and 'use Y', small fuzzy zone, you can even break it up a bit (play with value) with Y stretched PF (smallish sizes, and taken through a transform shader set to world space), so you have some sort of 'hanging' areas of algae on that statue. You could alo apply a little bump with a PF (through transform shader too, as color to the displacement tab, really tiny displacement, or without color, but tiny displacement set, as child). Add a color adjust also as child to the surface shader and set gamma at 0.7 with a slightly greenish color.

I would also give the dolphins a reflective shader (under the default), and better even as a child to a no color surface shader under the default, so you can mask out the underwaterpart (min altitude same as water altitude, use Y and final). So only above water bodies are shiny with wetness.
It'll be a stunner!