This is an ocean (SLIGHTLY UPDATED) (again) (and again)

Artwork Works in Progress
1

NEWER NOTE :
since i still have my problems, i did a direct link to the page in my site, so that you can check the images there without having to click too many links. Newer images are added at bottom of the page.
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/pagina_tb.html

NOTE :
i have some problems with my webhost, so the images could not show here. If so, you can go and see them on my site, in the blender —> wips —> “terra blu” section of it. The newer are at bottom of the page. Sorry.

OLD MESSAGE :
Hi. Just some images about a project i am working on. More info on my site http://antoniobianco.vze.com.
I am pretty happy with the ocean shading, since i never saw anything better, done in blender (apart from caronte’s amazing animations, but now i am talking about surface rendering).
I used a quite tricky technique to get it that way, since blender has not a crumple texture. It renders not too slow, though i guess the python part of the shading needs to be optimized. Anyway I am not a professional coder neither a MIT genius, so this is all i can do right now!

IMAGE EDIT 2:
just 2 more wip renderings for a poster i will print (about the videoclip i am workin on, the one this ocean is being developed for); i need to do a lot of things for the videoclip, to get it out before xmas, and since i have no time, i guess that there wont be no more ocean wips for some time;

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/gfx/fullsize/ennesimaprova1.jpg

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/gfx/fullsize/ennesimaprova2.jpg

IMAGE EDIT 1 :
those are some new wips about the ocean rendering technique i am studying – now i have only 1 script instead of 2, and i reworked out the parameters of the procedurals so that the animation will be easier – anyway, the images are not so good ones but nowdays i have really few time to work in blender, so i could not setup better scenes :

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/gfx/fullsize/altraprova.jpg

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/gfx/fullsize/altraprova6.jpg

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/gfx/fullsize/altraprova10.jpg

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/gfx/fullsize/altraprova12.jpg

IMAGE EDIT 0 :
This is the first material test i did (no python; really different from the current implementation, though still useful for far water surfaces):
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/gfx/fullsize/materialemareprovauno.jpg

This is an early closeup to the sea (the starship is out of scale and horrible, i know that; the sky (only in this pic) is made in terragen; the fog is screwed):
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/gfx/fullsize/MareAlto4_cinema_a001.jpg

This is a screenshot from the opening of the animation (the widescreen is faked with black shadeless planes, cos i need them to move; edit:i changed it and now it’s less highlights-rich):
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/comandancia.zapatista/gfx/fullsize/terrablu%20sshot%204%20wide.jpg

If you are interested in similar techniques, you can start looking at this pdf:
http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~ash/waterCGF.pdf

el sup (subcom_antonio on irc)
:Z

2

I’ll read the pdf. That is superb ocean.

3

That is great. Really excellent water.

/me downloads the PDF as well.

BgDM

4

Well!!! I surched for info on your site, about this…
but saw nothing??? :frowning:

I am pretty happy with the ocean shader, since i never saw anything better, done in blender.

You CAN be happy, even proud of it. Yes your right until now.

I used a quite tricky technique to get it that way, since blender has not a crumple texture. It renders not too slow, though i guess the python part of the shader needs to be optimized. Anyway I am not a professional coder neither a MIT genius, so this is all i can do right now!

I’m really interested on your technique, why shouldn’t you do a sort of
tutorial on your site for this technique ?

If you are interested in similar techniques, you can start looking at this pdf:http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~ash/waterCGF.pdf

Thanks, I have downloaded the pdf, seems interesting even after just a first sight. :o

Hope to see more about your tricky technique :wink:

A+ Fmurr

5

Outstanding. Thanks for sharing that.

6

That´s state of the art, that is!

Lovin´ it man! :o :o :o

7

Very nice!

Stefano

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fmurr : yeah, i am putting away some material for a tutorial, but i wont post it before finishing the animation i guess, since i am still “developing” it

i am glad you people like it, and i hope i will soon show you all the complete videoclip (it is supposed to be 4:40 in lenght, and right now i just have some tests of the opening, of some seagulls flying, of some rocks with waves on them and of a leaf falling :P)

thanks for the good words

el sup (subcom_antonio on irc)
:Z

9

Awesome looking sea. Looks real. The sky is good too. I look forward to seeing the animation. :slight_smile:

10

Very impressive.
I am curiuos about a few things.

  1. The first picture in your post. Is it the same water that is used in the second picture ?
  2. Is the water surface actually animated through scripting ?
  3. The paper describes a physically based approach, with heightfields and displacement. You describe this as a shader. I am sure that it is both a combination of material and modeling. For the script part of your project, are you using any external images as a source of displacement ?

If it is a script that you are developing, this really belongs in the python forum. There are coders there that would be happy to help you with this script.
There is not a “crumple” procedural (yet), but I have had some interesting
results from using a bumpmap from a modified scan of crumpled tinfoil.

Very interested to see where this project will go… :smiley:

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oh, i forgot to say here : the sky in the close up is an horrible terragen rendering i did, while the sky in the faked-widescreen is made of images mapped on various planes (like i said in the site, i think), since i need the clouds to move slowly in the animation

el sup (subcom_antonio on irc)
:Z

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I’m a little lost because the second image looks entirely like a terragen image. Is the water in the second image done with blender? And the first? You said the clouds were horrible in the second image but they’re better than the first. Please share more details :slight_smile:

13

QWERT :

1 - do you mean the material test? i posted 3 images: the first is a test missing some features, the second has basically the same shading of the third, except that in the second i added 2 layers of textures (to attempt a crumple simulation that is needed to get the sharp look of the real ocean waves)

2 - right now i am animating the parameters of the procedurals involved, since i need only far views on the ocean. It gives a nice effect, quite realistic. I tried animating the close up “shading” too, but i am not happy with it. I hope to get around a little problem i am having about this.

3 - yeah it’s both modelling and shading. I only talked of the shading part cos the modelling is quite simple. I am using displacement too and yes, i am using an image in the script part. Man you got me :stuck_out_tongue: !

Talking about sharing the scripts (i am using 2 of them) in the forum, i am not doing it now cos of two reasons:
1- my python coding is still quite bad. I am coming from asm coding so i cant think too well with oop programming tasks :frowning:
2- since i will probably sell the animation to the studio i work for as freelance, i prefer to finish it alone, and maybe later i will see if someone can help (i am sure there is a LOT of people better than me that could do this stuff 1000k time better)

thanks for the interest

el sup
:Z

14

desoto :
the first image is the test;

the second image HAS the terragen sky, while the sea is NOT made in terragen!!!

teh third image is entirely done in blender. i can post the blend if you are thiking i am a lamer, though i hope you dont ask for this, since it’s still a wip – but since i dont like people to think i am a liar, i can post it

el sup
:Z

15

What really impresses me about this is how you have gotten the look of the wind shifting on the waters surface. Really nice.

16

:o

Wow…really impressed that thats all blender. Sorry I ever doubted you!

My only suggestions are:

  1. Perhaps add a tiny bit of green to the water. I’ve lived near the ocean all my life and I’ve spent a lot of time staring at it, and although it often looks very blue, there’s usually a bit of green there too.

  2. Maybe just turn down the spec brightness a tinsy bit on the small peaks of the waves. Right now it looks very “noisy”, which is accurate to a degree, but the higher and farther away you get from the surface of the sea, the smoother it looks, not the opposite.

Overall you did an excellent job caputring something that even the studios that made Titanic and The Perfect Storm had difficulty doing convincingly. I really like it :smiley:

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Oh i am glad you are not in doubt about me anymore… actually i was thinking about stopping posting on elysiun, since i hated the feeling of someone thinking of me as a lamer! now i feel better thanks. and beside that, i will post the tutorial and some blends when i will finish, so that i will clean every doubt, if there are any.

about your suggestions : i lived all my life in an island in the mediterranean sea and this is the only sea i know. i toke some pictures and movies there to inspire me too. i never saw an ocean, so your suggestions are really appreciated!

i will implement some green gradients on it after finishing the current scenes i am working on (the futuristic 4x4 and the daemon, they are in the wip threads here on elysiun).

about the too bright highlights : they are wrong and not related to the illumination, since i had no time to implement the sky in the variables that are workin in the “shading process” ; so they are here just to be a bit “spectacular” :stuck_out_tongue: – thanks for the hint, anyway ! :slight_smile:

el sup (subcom_antonio)
:Z

18

I’ve heard that the mediterranean is beautiful! I’ve never seen it though, only in pictures :frowning: But if thats your impression of the ocean I’d stick with it. Don’t add too much green or you’ll risk making it look as though the weather should have some presence. (The darker the sky, the greener the ocean looks for obvious reasons). Of course…I’m used to the briny North Atlantic which is full of phytoplankton, algae, and sunken ships. So my point of view is slightly biased as well. I would say you’re on the right track, and I know I suggested adding green, but be careful you don’t make the effect too drastic [!] Perhaps you should render several variations and then pick the one YOU think is the most realistic. Good luck :slight_smile:

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el sup. I don’t think that anyone is actually questioning the authenticity of the file, but you had to expect questions after posting a picture as good as that one.
One more question. You refered to combined procedurals, which is a technique that can work very well with varying offset values. Are you interested in writing procedural plugins, as well as python scripting ?

20

Desoto-111: I’ve heard that the mediterranean is beautiful!

I’ve been there this summer, great place, beaches, chicks … euh ooh and water. :slight_smile: I can post some photo’s, I think I’ve still some on my pc. :slight_smile: