Mor's Roadside WIP

[otakar]

Yeah, that's an improvement over previous versions! I guess some larger rocks wouldn't hurt, but I like the work on the vegetation (with the exception of that already mentioned issue on the median in the distance).

[Dune]

Fantastic update. The broken field edge works great. I agree with the flat lighting and noticed the stripes immediately. If you can repair that it'll be a stunner.

[Mor]

Yet another version. Second sun removed and it indeed was a great improvement for the lighting. I also tweaked and changed populations on the road and tried to remove the visible lines. Spacing variation was 0.5 and finally I added PF to break the distribution even more. I also increased exposure a bit, but are the pines in the upper right corner still too dark?

This version is rendered with:
Detail 0.7
AA 6
GI 2/2
Rendertime 1:41

[Hannes]

Much better imho! But I think it still looks a bit flat, especially in the lower right corner. My suggestion: as I wrote, try using a fill light setup instead of the environment light and give GI relative detail and GI sample quality a value of 0. Don't forget to delete the new sun that comes with the fill light setup, or you'll have two suns once again .
I made the experience that you get more depth and detail especially on plants in areas that are in the shadows than with GI unless you use insane GI quality settings. You can play with the strength value of the fill lights to find out the right balance between them and the sun.
The downside is, sometimes you get nasty shadow edges of the additional lights, but not always. I used a fill light setup in my entry as well.
Once again, fantastic image!

[mhaze]

some specular on the veg might help

[TheBadger]

Getting beter and better!

The stripe of grass in the middle of the path is looking really good!

[inkydigit]

I echo the above...this is looking excellent!

[Simius Strabus]

Really like the last one 

[Oshyan]

Latest one is great, just about the best it can be, to my eye. Little tune-ups from here perhaps, but avoid any temptation to make significant changes, if you ask me. You're very close to "photoreal" in my view.

- Oshyan

[choronr]

Beautiful ...at some point the tweaking stops; and, I believe you're there.

[Mor]

Thanks a lot! It is true that there is very little to be done anymore. I however pushed the clouds back a little. Here's version with fill light setup. I increased the fill light strength a little. I have stared this image whole weekend so I can't really say is it any better or are the shadows too dark now 

Detail 0.8
AA 8
GI 0/0
Rendertime 4:30

[Oshyan]

I do like the lighting and contrast better in the latest version, though the shadows are indeed a bit dark. Maybe something you can take care of with post processing? Did you save out an EXR?

- Oshyan

[Mor]

Yes, I saved out the EXR version too. I'll try to get something done to it

[Hannes]

Oh yes, this is it! The plants look way better now with the fill light setup imho. Maybe a last suggestion: you could try the cubic B-Spline pixel filter in the renderer's extra tab to make it look a bit smoother. Otherwise no crits. Great image!

[Dune]

Terrific. This now has winning chances, to say the least. I do think the shadows are a bit dark indeed, it's a bit harsher than the previous. And I think the translucency of the high trees is very low, they're very dark and you hardly see any detail in the top 'lumps' of needles/branches, if you know what I mean.