Project Iridescent (UPDATE [bottom of thread]: 11/18/2005)

[jaycun]

Ok, here is another art project I am working on. I need critiques

In this picture, how would I simulate distance in which the ground kinda disappears? Would mist work? I am rendering this in Yafray .8 on Linux

This is an early view of the project, emphasizing the caustic and dispersive characteristics of the object.

I am trying make it look like an arctic environment. The landscape is made by a displacement map generated in World Builder 1.0. Please note that these are test renders and therefore are rendered at a low AA setting (1 pass 5 samples). Raydepth =5 with Skydome illumination.(emit pwr set to 1.10) Scene lit by one sun light with a photon light.

[Khnum]

Looks good so far, not exactly sure what else you’re trying to achive, looks like you got it down. What aren’t you happy with so far?

[jaycun]

Looks good so far, not exactly sure what else you’re trying to achive, looks like you got it down. What aren’t you happy with so far?

What really irritates me is lack of continuity with the environment. How would I create a believable sky? Right now I am using a skymap provided for free by [email protected]

If possible, I would like to add some moutains in the background, so it gives the illusion that the ground keeps going and not just a square patch of ice and snow. I am not sure exactly the best way to do this though.

[Khnum]

Adding mountains is fairly easy, just take a plane and mold it into some peaks by adding noise after subdividing it a bit. Check this section of the manual out for details on how. Or you could import a mountain scape from another app like Bryce3D, or simply PS something into the background from a photo you like.

[jaycun]

Update!!!

Redid the displacement map for the terrain. Played around with the specular shaders on snow and steps. Different camera angle. Less dispersion(only because I had to reduce # of photons).

Again, I would appreciates anyone’s thoughts/comments/critiques. Feel free to comment on anything.

[Dani]

The displacements on the background do look good!

Concerning your horizon question… well, you could enrich it with things like mountains to hide the horizon, but mist can do the job too. From time to time I use it with very long distance and a bright white for the horizon colour. You can color the mist with a blend texture. It looks pretty convincing if you take care of that gradient.

Dani

[DracoFodder]

I really like the look of the snow as it approaches the mountains, but up near the steps it doesnt look quite right. I think its because there is no apparent interaction from the step to the ground.

Shouldn’t there be some sort of drifting along some edges, or if this is an object that was placed there, some indication of an indentation on the snow?

Maybe I’m missing it, as the scale of the steps may be huge. But, even so, some small drifts on the steps themselves might be enough to blend it into the environment.

Nice rendering though.

[jaycun]

Is this better? The snow is kind of drifting around bottom step.

[Al_Capone]

Need a “haze” at the end of the horizon.

[jaycun]

No Mist

With Mist

Here are two versions of the same picture . . . . one with mist and one without.

Again, please post any thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc.

[Rogenator]

Greetings:
It`s comig along nice, but, sice the pyramid thingy is in some sort of artic place it should be covered by snow at least in some parts, plus it seams very simple, you would expect it to have some sort of detail, and I think that the disperssion of the crystal could be more focused to achieve a more realistic look.

[jaycun]

I really like the look of the snow as it approaches the mountains, but up near the steps it doesnt look quite right. I think its because there is no apparent interaction from the step to the ground.

Shouldn’t there be some sort of drifting along some edges, or if this is an object that was placed there, some indication of an indentation on the snow?

Maybe I’m missing it, as the scale of the steps may be huge. But, even so, some small drifts on the steps themselves might be enough to blend it into the environment.

Nice rendering though.

Thanks . . .

I like your idea of the snow-drift idea. But I’m not for certain how I could achieve such a thing. Texture-based snow drifts seem to ruin the feel of the size of the environment. I would prefer a direct mesh editing technique. Just FYI, the landscape is a mesh imported from Terragen, with 263,265 vertices! My computer is very slow editing that much. I was thinking that maybe I could model the snow drifts separately, then sprinkle them on the step. BTW . . . would particles render in Yafray. I could use those too.

Does anybody have any reference pics of snow drifts that would fit in this picture? I not really any good at modeling organic curves, but I could give it my best shot. It would be much appreciated.