Iceland of frustrations

[FrankB]

... no, not really . Just shelled out quickly, in absence of new inspiration, and it was fun making it.

Cheers,
Frank

[Kadri]

....Just shelled out quickly, in absence of new inspiration, and it was fun making it...

You say this intentionally , do you?...depressing  

Nice render , Frank  

Kadri.

[Zairyn Arsyn]

i really like the clouds

the terrain looks right too,

[inkydigit]

super clouds Frank!

[FrankB]

tried another cloud fractal flavour. Not sure which is better.

[Zairyn Arsyn]

i like the first cloud flavor, looks a but more realistic.

[Gannaingh]

I love the light and fluffy cloud layer up top, it looks perfect! Very cool image, especially for a lack of inspiration.

[Oshyan]

Wow, excellent work Frank. Great cloudscape. I like the first version best, something about the "climbing" effect on the cumulus really looks great; not only realistic but also "interesting", which is often hard to achieve since "interesting" usually equates to "different", and any difference from expected reality in renders usually makes them seem less realistic. But here it works really well. The high altitude layer is also excellent. It looks like we're finally getting some better cloud variations, not just the nice, big, fat cumulus, but cirrus and more...

- Oshyan

[Seth]

lovely light and ground too Frank !

[Jack]

We NEED internal scattering
these clouds are Beautiful frank but they are not quite on the point of total realism which I think you want.
well thats my personal opinion.
I love the fresh feel of both the images

[Oshyan]

Quite honestly I think these look a lot more realistic than some of the older cumulus attempts where the *incorrect* faked internal scattering was making the dark parts of clouds look odd and "oily" or blotchy. The lighting here actually seems quite natural to my eye. Not to say the current system does not have its limitations, but in this case I think it works fairly well.

- Oshyan

[Jack]

im meaning Proper internal scattering like spectral 3 clouds in vue 8

[FrankB]

I have to agree with Jak, these clouds are "not quite there yet". You need to consider that a lot of postwork is included here, with regards to light and color, so that the shadow areas would not appear so flat dark. These are the two things we need:
1 - some sort of internal light scattering, above and beyond what's there now
2 - an easier way of mixing small scale cauliflower shapes with larger soft patches.

Other than that, thanks everyone for the kind comments, which were unexpected for this quick shot

Frank

[Jack]

hey Frank do you have an exr file of the first render I could put it through photomatix and see the difference my clouds always seem to come out supper detailed I also have topaz adjust which is a plugin for photoshop and that brings out massive amounts of detail with out sharpening.

[FrankB]

Jack, I think the current problems with clouds need to be addressed elsewhere that in post, eventually. Postwork can go a long way, but in the end, it costs a lot of time, plus you can't bring out what's not there.
I have used the exr for postwork, and was able to produce  some details from that. That's great. But whatever program you use, there is no internal scattering, at least not like we'd need, and I am still not satisfied with the cloud shapes.
It seems to me that tall clouds like these have areas with different densities. Sometimes you have these cauliflowers on the outside, which appear very sharp and dense, and have that dark halo or outline. And these cauliflower shapes then melt into less dense and softer flanks or other soft areas, each of which seem to scatter light somewhat differently. I've been watching interesting clouds ever since I work with Terragen. It's a miracle I don't have a bull neck by now from tilting by head backwards all these years