Fireweed Valley

[pclavett]

Hi guys ! Have been toying on this one for weeks. Started with experimenting with water currents using Merge Shader for 3 different water shaders and masks done in Photoshop. The terrain was made in WorldMachine and Gaea. Then came the rocky beach and afterwards, all the plants. The large rocks were done in Blender. The fireweed is an original I did in XFrogs a few years back (getting the leaves and petals from actual fireweed not far from my house) and will look to share soon. It can function from afar but not good enough for closeups ! No time on atmospherics for this version but will do other renders in the coming weeks with this project. In these times of COVID-19 and humanitarian disasters..... Terragen is a fine place to set anchor and spent your days..... and our prayers for all those that are suffering in these sad times ! Take care all ! Paul

[Dune]

It's a nice setup, but I wonder why your renders are so dark. It's really a pity, as it can be much nicer. The shadows are virtually black and the water is hardly recognizable as water. What settings do you use? For a scene like this, with scarce plants standard renderer will probably do as good as PT, btw.

[pclavett]

Thanks Dune for the comments.....have done the render on a new computer with new display that is definitely not calibrated and the image done on that display does not come out as dark as what I am seeing right now on my MacBook Pro...... and you are right in that the shadows are extremely dark and everything in fact much too contrast driven. I tend to use a lower gamma on the render and that may be one issue and also will have to see about the enviro lighting that might need a bit more strength. I will post a corrected version later ! Again thanks for the pointers ! Take care ! Paul

[pclavett]

Here is a render with better lighting and other adjustments. Not perfect but much better than the first post ! I did change some of the water parameters to make it look more transparent ! In the previous....noted that some of the fireweed actually was seeded in the river and did correct this as well ! This render was just 2000 px at 5 of detail amd 3 of antialiasing....for a quicker view. Now will try a larger and more detailed version. Thanks for any comments and have a great day all !

[Hannes]

Quite an improvement! Way better now.

[Dune]

Indeed, but I still think the water isn't right. Too transparent, especially towards the horizon it should reflect much more of the sky, like in this photo So I wonder what settings you have for the water.

[WAS]

I think the issue is how deep the sky is being added to reflections. Your reference has a much brighter sky to be captured by reflection and not blend in with the depths and darkness of the water itself. 

[pclavett]

Further tweaks done on the lighting and the water with reflectivity boosted..... does seem better but will appreciate your comments. The initial post had reflectivity downgraded into the 30's.....thinking that this would improve seeing the rocks at the bottom. I had also toned down decay distance thinking this would promote more colour in the water...... but this was really out in left field. Now the decay is closer to nominal, reflectivity up in the 70's and I have another cooking with reflectivity at 100%. I have also worked some mild tweaks in the waves and the water is actually a merge of 3 water shaders with all the same settings except for the waves. Masks were used to get a simulation of rapids in some areas....with larger waves. Really appreciate the time that you are giving to helping me improve this image ! Take care all ! Paul

[Hannes]

Yes, the water looks definitely better. Looking forward to the 100% version.

[WAS]

Looking a lot better. If you want to see the rocks while having good reflections, you may think about having two types of water displacement. More subtle on the boundaries of the stream, and more rough in the centre where the current is faster.

Rough example attached.

[pclavett]

Thanks guys for all the help ! I think this one will be done....... and then looking at the images posted again.....I can see a mild repeating pattern on the beach......my image texture despite being seamless having a mild repeating pattern visible......well something else to fix ! I really enjoy and appreciate your guidance and wish you a great weekend ! Take care ! Paul

[mhaze]

Good work, I particularly like the shapoe of the river. The lighter versions are much better IMHO.

[Kadri]

Looks very nice.