Water's Journey

[sjefen]

It's been a long time since I've posted a image. It's been a long time since I actually made something with Terragen.

This is my newest image. I started this as a project for the contest over at Ashundar called "Death Valley", but I just couldn't get what I wanted and it was too boring with just sand and stones. Then the water came along and brought some vegetations to life and suddenly I had something to work with

It was a pain in the a** to render. All the trees that are behind the mountains got rendered as well as some of the water below the ground.
I also got 26 "Counter error in populator" warnings. It looks like everyting got rendered fine tho.

The terrain is a heightfield from bigben.
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Some technical information for those who are interested:

Image size:  2500x1000

Render detail:  1.0
Anti-aliasing:  10

GI relative detail:  2
GI sample quality:  2

Supersample:  on
GI surface details:  off

Pixel filter:  Catmull-Rom

Total render time:  ca. 30 hours
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You'll find the full render right here.

I hope you like it and feel free to leave a comment.

- Terje

[PorcupineFloyd]

This is very beautiful.

The only thing that I dislike is the frame.
Blurring is ok but I feel that the frame itself is too big. It consumes too much of this lovely picture.

[old_blaggard]

Great image! I agree about the frame (it's a little too big) but the image itself is fantastic!

[sjefen]

Thanks guys.

I've uploaded a new version width a new and smaller frame. I also uploaded a black & white version.

Here is the normal one and here is the black & white.

Hope these are better

- Terje

[Naoo]

Hi

Your Image is realy wonderful.
I love the sand near the river! Very well done!

But the the Frame is still to hard.
Here is my idea for the edge. I hope this is allowed...


ciao
Naoo

[sjefen]

But the the Frame is still to hard.
Here is my idea for the edge. I hope this is allowed...

Hi Naoo,

No problem at all

Are you talking about the white border and that it is too thick? If so, I guess I could reduce the thickness, but I cind of like it the way it is, so it wouldn't be much if decide to do so.

- Terje

[FrankB]

frame or not, this is a nice render Terje! Very pleasant to look at. I like the sense of depth in it a lot, so you chose a good POV.
I'm wondering how it would look like though with the vegation at half their current size... it will probably look even grander.


Cheers,
Frank

[schmeerlap]

Great river canyon pov.
I'm not a great fan of frames and mounts for computer screen pics (used a lot in Renderosity to compensate for less than mediocre to crap renders). This image doesn't need such a crutch.
Clouds are a bit overexposed for me, otherwise excellent render.

John

[domdib]

Looks great. One minor crit. - the edge of the trees looks a little too regular, like they've been planted. Also, they are rather densely packed. I would thin them out a little and try to give a more ragged edge.

[al91]

well done! btw 1 got some qns. how do you create the river with the shoreline ?

[inkydigit]

agree with John and Frank...excellent!

[rcallicotte]

Nice image.  It would perhaps be absolutely perfect, if the edge of the hills had a bit more colorization and perhaps texturing.  But, nothing takes away from its beauty - nice job!

[sjefen]

Thanks guys.

well done! btw 1 got some qns. how do you create the river with the shoreline ?

I take it your talking about the wet sand. If so, that's just another "surface layer" with the same color, only darker.
Of course, it's also restricted to a certain height.

I hope this helps. If not, I can make a simple scene or a Clip File for you if you want.

- Terje

[darthvader]

Excellent image! The trees are colored perfectly and there is a great sense of depth to the image. I also like the green texturing/surfacing on the ground; is it another surface layer with displacement restricted by altitude?

[sjefen]

Hi darthvader,

The grass is also a surface layer yes. It has a image for it's colors and the displacement's are procedural.
There was no need for restricting this surface layer by altitude. I just put the sand layer on top of it.

- Terje