landscapestudies...

[Michael W]

EDIT:

THIS STUFF IS NOW COMPLETED IN FINISHED PROJECTS:

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=177721

[Michael W]

Wow, animating grass is hard! I've had to slow the original speed down to 1/16th the original!

The sky was scrolling about 8 times too fast as well...

Anyway, here's a colour corrected version with some of the animated elements added...

I'm running out of time to deliver this, but really want to add lots more animated elements... trees, leaf particles drifting... insects, dust motes and maybe a butterfly...

enough talk though here's an update...

(the planet is just roughly comped in for now as a compositional element... i aim to improve that bit...

[Shay Tessler]

wow thans an amazing jog

[secundar]

Stunning, Mike. Would love to see it in motion. Thanks for sharing!

[Michael W]

Thanks Shay and Secundar!

I'll definately post a version of the movie at some point (still tweaking!)

i'M also working on two more shots with only a few days 'till the deadline....

here's some of the process:



dirty photomontage:




first blockout in 3d:




Luckily this one probably won't need to animate, so I MAY GET IT DONE IN TIME!

[Michael W]

Ok, nearly done with the modelling, some basic lighting and populated with particle boulders and grass "bushes"...

need to block out the materials and texturing now, then see where I am (probably more modelling and detailing!!!!)

Here's the picture:

[kbot]

Looks like a sci-fi/fantasy abandoned martian mining outpost or something at the moment. Your artistry skill is superb & look forward to the completed render. No doubt the client will be over the moon once this completed.

[secundar]

I'm especially enjoying the behind-the-scenes look. Keep em coming!

Blender internal? 2.4x or 2.5?

[Michael W]

Thanks, kbot.... this client is always a bit hard to read sadly! never quite sure whether he likes it or not...

Glad you're enjoying the "behind the scenes" bits Secundar!

here's how the model got modifies after laying down some materials (still working on the extreme foreground, but hey....




and here's how the lighting and shading is coming:




got some weird dots in the specular that i don't know where they''re coming form and also a weird "matte-line" (even though this is a single render layer)... which I think is down to the volumetric spot light I'm using for the sun...

This is all 2.4x internal.... I tried to use 2.5 for this, but found too many bugs and instabilities.. esepecially with sequencer and compositor a few are fixed already so maybe I'll give iot a shot ion the next one....

Sadly I have to finish this still and do another by monday....

here's the "rough for the next shot:

though it'llchange quite abit I'm sure!

[secundar]

It's good to be busy!

I like that rough -- it communicates just enough to get the idea of the environment across.

[ElAkimein]

Have you used color ramps? Sometimes adding a slight spec ramp to the material can smooth the specular-shadow interaction, which you can get with starkly backlit scenes.

Solid landscaping work, I am looking forward to the forest scene.

[Michael W]

Thanks ELAkimein, I'll give that a shot....


I've replaced the desert picture above with one with improved road... not worthy of a new post, still need to fix the foreground rocks and get more separation between extreme fore ground and mid ground...

will do with compositing nodes...

Anyway, here's the jungle shot s far... a little bit more modelling block out and then I'm going to try and "grow" vines over this:



I really like the style of these reduced forms.... Ah well, aybe I'll explore that some day!

[micah702]

Im liking the style. Very nice work

[Michael W]

Thanks micah,

it's not going so well... need to think more on composition...








I need to get on with some texturing and will use a lot of stuff from "the blender greenhouse", but thi sis the "dark phase" that I always seem to get to.... when I first start texturing a blockout and things start to get worse rather than better for a long time....

[GRoss]

WOAH!! Dude, this stuff is amazing! I am trying to do a landscape myself, but you work is top notch! How long did it take you to complete the first image if its no secret?

[Michael W]

Originally Posted by GRoss WOAH!! Dude, this stuff is amazing! I am trying to do a landscape myself, but you work is top notch! How long did it take you to complete the first image if its no secret?

Thanks,


To model,compose, light and texture it probably took 2 days at most.....

I spent about a week and a half on it, but most of that was on the animated version... hard to say though, because I was also re-rendering stuff then tweaking an ipo setting then re-rendering over and over for a couple of days after that first week.... so not intensive!

I'd not used the hair stuff before, or the boids...and needed to figure out how to do volume rays quickly! Also I hadn't used the sequencer in absolutely ages..... in the end I just used the compositor... I wish the two were more integrated!


nearly wrapped this up.... need to start worrying about getting the next contract soon!

[Michael W]

Finally i'm done with these.... see how they turned out here

[Infinitewave]

The fact that you invested the time to share these with the community WHILE working so diligently on them against a deadline is just so ... yeah. You really set the bar, man. The behind the scenes stuff IS my classroom, if that gives you an idea of it's importance and value to me. Thanks.