First Deep Edition Image

Henry Blewer · September 17, 2009, 12:58:38 PM

This is my first image using the full version. I noticed that I need to add more detail to the shading/shaders because of the higher resolution. It was fun having more than three populations.
If you have a favorite in my Flickr Photostream you would like to have rendered/reworked, let me know.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2653/3928643261_832b4c8fc6_o.jpg

FrankB · September 17, 2009, 01:53:22 PM

I'm glad for you having the full version now. From this first render with it, you can already see how it pays off - quality wise - to be able to render especially vegetation at a higher resolution, higher AA and so on. Compare this to your past renders to realize how far this is ahead.

Now, if you pay some more attention to the fake stones, and the water (it's too rough / noisy), use a better model for grasses and care for a more realistic distribution of these, you'll easily make this a great render. I would recommend you stay on this scene for a little longer.

Cheers,
Frank

rcallicotte · September 17, 2009, 02:05:02 PM

Now, this is more fun. I like your lighting and the water is transparent, which I think looks cool. Frank has a point about grass and fake stone, etc.

domdib · September 17, 2009, 02:54:02 PM

Great news - now the fun really begins... Or should that be the obsession?

I'd like to see a re-render of your first Towers scene if you have the time.

Henry Blewer · September 17, 2009, 04:46:28 PM

Thanks guys! I used Walli's palnts for the trees and grasses. The grass is too large I think. You are also correct on the fake stones. They interfere with the grass population; I used a distribution shader with slope and altitude constraints. The AA quality was left at 3. Render quality was 0.7. It took just over sixteen hours to render.

I posted this on my Flickr Photostream, where I use tags to give Walli credit for his plants.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/njeneb/

I also render using one thread since I only have a Pentium 4 HT 3.0 gHz. This allows me to do other things on my computer. Renders take a long time. I started this one on Wednesday at 1280 x 1024 with the AA set to 6, quality set at 0.9. When I came back from work, it was only 1/3 done. So I stopped it. It will be some time before I find the best settings for my computer. I was curious how objects would look at higher resolution. It's one thing to see these on the web, another in BMP image format from my computer.

Seth · September 17, 2009, 04:56:04 PM

ahaaah brand new toy !
good job.
you should do as Frank said and work to smooth your water. and do more work on your stones.
good light and mood

Henry Blewer · September 17, 2009, 07:56:29 PM

Modified render started. AA 5, GI 1 and 2, supersample prepass, and render detail 0.8.
It will be interesting to see how much different it looks and how long it takes.

Henry Blewer · September 18, 2009, 05:02:40 PM

I'm 21 hours into the image render. I've found the 'sand' has vertical spike issues. I'm going to let the image finish. I'll post the tgd file with the new render. There should not be any displacements to cause this. I'm puzzled...

schmeerlap · September 18, 2009, 08:13:07 PM

The one thing that can't be much fun for you is the long render times you are experiencing (I know you say you're only using one core, but even so). Has your computer only got one core, or are you only using one core for rendering by choice. You haven't got ray traced shadows enabled in the atmosphere or cloud layers, or soft shadows enabled? Seeing your render, lighting, atmosphere and cloud layer settings when you post your tgd may reveal why your renders are taking so long. Twenty plus hours for a render would dishearten me.

John

aymenk2003 · September 18, 2009, 08:22:24 PM

Hi njeneb
I m very happy that that you ve got the full version...
#this is the full version then let s go render#...

NKAID...

Henry Blewer · September 18, 2009, 09:06:04 PM

The image is looking cool. There is only one spot which looks really iffy. I have a new canyon landscape ready for a test render ( a reason I only use one core). The shadow/light areas are looking great. I think the main reason it's taking so long is the 2.7 million grass instances of one population.
Anyway, I'll post it tomorrow. It'll be done about 40 minutes after I go to work.
I have to look at how I have been doing things with the free version. They may not all work as well with higher AA and resolutions.

Henry Blewer · September 19, 2009, 08:21:29 AM

It's done. The problem is I forgot to enter a new seed number on the largest fake stones. I made the scale larger, 10 to 60. I am happy with the rest of the image. Maybe a large tree used to live in the foreground.

(I watch too many Bob Ross painting videos)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3456/3933326799_4df0933ac5_o.jpg