Loosely inspired by the similarly titled movie from the past summer (great special effects [except the wolves] but lame everything else.) It is a skyscraper buried in snow and frozen over with ice. I have my two best versions so far here. In the second one, their is too much spec on the top, which hides some cool (I think) ice formation, but I’ll try to get a better render soon. Tell me what needs fixing. Also, if anyone else has created realistic snow and ice in blender, I’d like to see it for guidance.
Kansas, you would be wise to look into Monet’s time and light studies. Your answer lies there.
That said, for the color sky you’re using, NQE1, the hue of your snow’s reflection might take on a little more blue and light colors. The color you’re using is more indicative of overcast or stormy sky, IMO.
I think the second one is much better than the first too.
But the skyscraper doesn’t look very “skyscraper-ish,” if you know what I mean. There are no ventilation ducts, communications antennae, or other things of that sort on the top.
I’m also finding it hard to believe that it’s actually a skyscraper. Real windows are slightly indented, so maybe you could add indentations where there are windows to give a proper sense of proportion. Those lines running across the skyscraper look more like a regularly-forming ice pattern. Making the lines farther apart might help too.
The snow also needs a bit of work. It doesn’t look grainy enough; give it some texture. That mound of snow at the bottom of the image looks too sharp. The snow also doesn’t seem to rise around the skyscraper; it should sort of “wrap around” it. The mound of snow in the background also looks a bit sharp.
The ice looks really good though. I think with some more work, this could look awesome. Good luck with it!
Thanks for the comments. First off, these weren’t really focused on the snow on the ground, so I didn’t pay much attention to that, but will fix that as I move on. Secondly, my justifications for the skscraper are 1) it’s been there awhile and all the small things like ducts and stuff are virtually invisible under all the ice and 2) I really did model all the windows into it, but the thickness of the ice hides that. That being said, I will use your advice in a future update . I was hoping to add some bent antennas with icicles growing from them.
Pavcioo, I changed the icicles on the antenna, I changed the snow texture and terrain, and I adjusted the lighting. Normally I wouldn’t do that many updates, but I wasn’t getting much useful feedback that I could implement.
AgeLesS, the ice is a very simple mesh that is an outline of the building. I’t’s very basic, and all of its shape and everything is due to procedural textures.
. I was hoping to add some bent antennas with icicles growing from them.