Gotta say, even if it had been faked, the result is good to my eye, and the result is what matters.
In music they say “if it sounds good, it is good” and here I say “if it looks good, it is good”.
Even more impressive that it wasn’t faked - but if one can get it to look nice, I don’t care if they cheated.
Also, maybe the highest compliment on a performance is to have someone call you out for cheating 
I was among those who doubted initially, but the images posted afterward are just amazing.
The tree trunks especially are very convincing.
Do the tree trunks have any multires sculpting or are they just the models in the screenshot with textures?
Are the textures for displacement modifier or just bump?
Can you tell me the polycont when you’ve rerendered?
Amazing work here, gotta agree with that, 5 stars 4 sure. Still I’m lookin’ forward to a higher res.
greetings, Kologe
ah thanks kelmmer, I suppose I could try to look at it that way 
rozmiarek:
sure no problem, I can sort of understand. I’m not really that happy either when people use projection mapping too liberally
mik1190:
I’m not sure which version it is, but I always grab one of the latest builds from graphicall. That must be why
GodOfBigThings:
They’re sculpted a little bit but not with multires modifiers. The viewport version is the resolution its being rendered at. I added in some moss particles and mushrooms to add a little detail on the trunks.
Kologe:
I dont know how to get the face count on this with all the particles included. I would have to do a little math for that one… Let me think.
uh, About 3-5 hundred million polys with everything, I think?
I tried getting the high res render today but that kept happening was that I found a little mistake on it while it was rendering and then I had to fix it and start over. I did manage to update the main low res image though
Thanks Everybody!
really nice
im wondering how much RAM does it grab while rendering?
So many details, this is visual richness everywhere, very nice scene!
My only critic: it’s a bit too dark, maybe you can check color levels in gimp/photoshop
Nice Photo. Say hello to your RAM.
Really impressive render!
My only feedback would be that the light falling on the hand rail makes it seem studio shot.
Perhaps some leaves between the light source and the scene to give a dappled lighting effect?
Looks really nice! 
…but the scene seems very inefficient overall.
Holy cow… I gotta say. At 1st glance i was thinking that the 1st image was the result you where shooting for and hoping to achive.
Then i realised it’s a render.
Hat’s off to ya sir. It’s quite stuning work. 0.o
Was that actually a computer generated work of art…? That realtime image looks twice as good as the very best of my nature abilities. Terrific work! It deserves the gallery for sure.
Amazing work, it really gives the impression of a quiet hiking trail in the woods, in part because it has similarities to sections of real trails I’ve been on.
The image is about perfect the way it is in terms of the stylized tonemapping and the detail, but perhaps you could use displacement or sculpting to give some more depth in the tree trunks.
Well I have to say Very Impressive work…sorry for my assumptions:) There is obviously a lot of skill here and you should actually be a bit honored that so many of us found it too good to be true:) Very realistic work and a nice display of cycles possibilities:) Congrats!
When I saw the top image in the first post I wanted to ride there on my mountain bike - I just can’t give you better critique than that, hehe… Just awesome.
kilbee:
Im using over 8 gigs, Im not sure exactly how much over but I know Im using the page file a little bit.
Shilam:
I hope thats bright enough now, I think I went a little overboard with the dof in that render though. I will rerender later today
radek:
haha thanks, ram is a nice guy.
rg-designs:
I swapped out the spot lamp for a legitimate sun lamp. hope that looks nicer
magiciandude:
Good point. I turned down the woodchip count thats further away from the camera. I just really like messing around with these instances
Farmfield:
Antirales:
Owldude:
thanks a lot
Ace Dragon:
I’ll try to get more detail into the tree trunks into the next render run
DerekG1080:
Oh dont worry about it I can look at it that way lol
I’m just glad everybody doesnt think Im a cheat anymore haha
Whoa! Incredible work!! By far the most realistic nature scene I’ve ever seen created with Blender. Top stuff. I’m gonna get the word out! 
Wow! great work!
Man, i was staring it for minutes and still hard to believe my eyes. :eek:
No crits. Knowing that this was made using free open source software makes it even more special.
Superb! 5* indeed.
took me a while to figure out if it was CG or real… great work there …love everything about it …
is it by any chance your entry for the ongoing blenderguru competition ;)…
Wow! great work.