Hey guys, I am just wondering if you want a cycles grass tutorial. I struggled quite a bit in making realistic grass (all the tutorials were either out of date, or gave poor results), but when I found the right technique it became very easy. He here is what I’m asking:
Is there need for a tutorial?
Anything specific you want to know about?
What style of tutorial? Written, video, whole scene, technique, etc…
Here is the result that honestly took like 5 minutes to make:
Would you want it more like a scene, or do you want just the technique?
Also, are there any critiques or suggestions on the grass itself?
I hope this helps,
Jonathan
P.S. Mods, I wasn’t sure where to post this 'cause it’s not a tutorial yet, but kinda a critique on the result, but also not a discussion or off topic. So feel free to move this if needed, I won’t be offended or anything.
Yes, thank you. If you know how to record good loud clear audio and have the equipment, then a 5 minute video tutorial would be the best. If you can’t record good audio, then it would be better to make a good text based tutorial.
I think the technique is all that matters, unless it’s an essential detail to get the results that you got. 5 minutes to the point is better than 30 minutes of… “stuff”. The goal is to be able to incorporate grass into our work rather than recreate a scene.
Video tutorials are always awesome. Make sure you get the sound right, that’s crucial. And I strongly disagree with ‘niverik2k’ and say you should do it in your own way, your own tempo. Do what feels right and natural to you - if you don’t it will suck. Be yourself, it works the absolute best.
@ Farmfield. I am not sure what you disagree about Farmfield. I never said not to do it natural, I said if you can’t get the sound right, then it’s probably better to do it in writing. Even you admit audio is important. He asked if he should do an entire scene, and I suggested no. It’s common sense that he should do what feels natural, at his own tempo, and i never suggested not to so I am still trying to figure out what you disagree about. O wait, you must disagree about my response to whether he should focus on the entire scene or the technique. So are you saying you want him/her to do an entire scene? Or do you disagree about the fact that I am answering his question. I’ve read enough critiques to know that people will do what they want to do.
@ Jonathan - I suggested focusing on the technique, because it’s less work, rehearsal, and opportunity for things to go wrong, and it’s less time time to try to figure things out. It also gets the information out in a more concise way.
Timewise, sorry, maybe I should have clarified that better (though I wrote ‘your own tempo’). If Jonathan does his first tutorial trying to get it all in a short amount of time it most likely be stressed and not very good. So I suggest he’d be as calm and comfortable and slow as he needs to be doing this, his first tutorial.
And I don’t disagree with the rest of what you said. Imo sound is more important than image quality. Bad sounds makes for unwatchable tuts.
Yeah, I only mentioned 5 minute tutorials because he said it took him 5 minutes. I didn’t mean it as any time limit. Only as a comparison, between short technique videos vs long scene videos.
@ macktruck.
I would say try and listen to what you have and what it sounds like. It’s more about knowing how to use what you have. Speak into the mic properly, making sure it’s not to quite or too loud and clipping, make sure there is not a lot of background noise, and make sure there is not a lot of echo, make sure it is not muffled. I think if you test what you could test what you have. I’ve heard amazing audio voice recordings from someones iphone voice memo. Sure better equipment can make it easier to get good audio, but it’s more important to just make sure you know how to use what you have.
It’s amazingly hard to make short tutorials, but it’s easy doing ones where you get stressed out trying to make it short. In my experience. ;D
And good tips in that link. Though; “Be funny” - that was funny. But I absolutely agree. It’s futile if your not. “Be yourself” and if your funny it’s a bonus. Otherwise I think planning is generally the key to good tutorials. And, as I said, being calm - as it’s really easy to get stressed out.
Haha thanks for the tips guys! While not directly pertaining to this tutorial I did a quick test of close up grass. While not totally photo realistic, I think if I added textures on the grass plus moss on the ground, it would be pretty close. Anyway, I’m going to be gone for a week with no internet or computer, so I will do the tutorial afterwords. Sorry for the wait, but I thought I’d judge interest now before seriously diving into practice like this.
Though I am just a Hobby Artist, who has been lucky to be paid a few times, I think your grass is fantastic, a few more variations in color for younger sprouts a lighter green and older a wider leaf leaning to a blue or slightly red tinge depending on the species I’d say no one could tell the difference from the real thing. At first glance it looks like new greenhouse grass of all the same age and very realistic. Good job, I hope you do this for a living as you stand to be an artist of importance. Fantastic work.
Another great thing would be your lighting setup on your scene! Just a 5 minute overview on how you did the lighting in your scene would be a great help to alot of the community!
Good job, I hope you do this for a living as you stand to be an artist of importance. Fantastic work.
Thanks for the tip! Sadly no, I don’t do this for a living, but I hope to eventually. My modeling and animation skills are rather below par, so I should improve those before a job I think. I’m still learning.
Everyone is always learning.
To be honest, my mic isn’t that bad. It just has some faint static. I run recordings through audacity and it sounds perfect. Unfortunately audacity doesn’t support video files. Any ideas?
I think a better consideration then length is being concise. Topics are to complex to compress them into 5 minutes. Could you imagine trying teach how to model a realistic human in 5 minutes. It’s not going to happen. The idea of doing 30 second snippets is good. It allows you to rehearse the section. To help be concise, i think making an outline or even a text tutorial will help keep the author stay focused.
I don’t know what to say honestly…The grass looks perfect and that video tutorial idea…brings tears to my eyes.You should make it.Even if you are not amazed with how your voice sounds you can make a video tut. with no sound in it.Trust me they are almost as good as the ones with sound.Advice:You don’t need internet to record and edit your tutorial and stuff.So you can make it while you don’t have the internet (push it 'till perfection).And post it when internet is back.
Much Love.You have my full support.I believe in you!
I like your artwork very much. It’s always full of detail and looks beautiful. Of your portfolio images I like best all environment related or nature stuff. It’s amazing! Thanks for creating.
Thank your for your work and explanations.
(nice UI color setup also)
Jon Ardaron (i’ve created some somehow colourless meadow following it, but for now it’s all but good, especially the colours of the flowers seem missing and there is no variation and deformation, now, the first evidence for my missing talent ah yes, and I couldn’t handle more particles, system response was floating away to nirvana - oh, and the wall was an accident, too, didn’t want it to be shown, but hiding in 3dView by CTRL+H hadn’t the effect, should have put it on a different layer and modified the default render lay to exclude this layer)
I think there is something to be said for longer tutorials covering a whole scene. These are great to learn a bunch of stuff at once when you are not in a hurry.
That said; I think most of us have wanted to know how to do something specific, had to try and find the relevant info burried in 30-60min tutorial (I already know I can press ‘x’ to delete the cube!)
Thanks faerietree for the nice compliments. Nice result, I’m glad you could learn. It does take a more modern system to show all the grass at once, but in the particles settings go to the display tab, and you can change the # of blades displayed in the 3D view so your system does not slow down while editing. Also, you can choose to not render an object by pressing it’s camera icon in the outliner. I hope that helps!
Senorz: thanks for the tips. The tutorial is already completed (a month or so ago) and it is on the Blender Cookie website. Enjoy!
Hey, never mind the expression “photorealistic.” There’s nothing particularly “realistic” about a photograph, anyway. What matters is making content (in this case, grass) that serves the purpose at hand, especially “cheaply.” Definitely would like to see a tute on that.
Hehe, like flashlights in the movies. Take away the volumetric beam and they look totally unrealistic - but you never get a visible beam IRL, unless you’re in a really smokey/dusty environment…
ah yes, and I couldn’t handle more particles, system response was floating away to nirvana - oh, and the wall was an accident, too, didn’t want it to be shown, but hiding in 3dView by CTRL+H hadn’t the effect, should have put it on a different layer and modified the default render lay to exclude this layer)
