June 2015 New User Contest - Scenes and Landscapes [WIP Thread]

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Comments

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    ewcarman said:
    Daz 4.8 iray - no post work

    I've done a lot to this which is probably not readily obvious. So many items it is a challenge to navigate the image. I think I've got the foreground broken up a bit. I've tweaked a couple hundred thousand trees to make it less obvious that they are copies of themselves - only a few hundred thousand to go :).

    DollyGirl: Thank you for the feedback. I've filled in behind the "Ghost Town" with a mountain and more trees (which I still have to tweak). This really makes a big difference.

    I've been playing with the Depth of Field. You can see some of the effect in the foreground images (trees of course) which are little blurred. I haven't got it set up correctly yet to blur some of the background. It's a process....

    Since I'm calling this "Ghost Town" and there is a hearse in the image, I thought I'd add a ghost. If you look closely behind and to the left of the hearse, you will see a lady standing there. I set her and clothing/body/hair/etc. to 50% opacity to make it ghost-like. Not sure if I like it yet, but I like connection it makes between story (such as it is) and image. We'll see....

    Also, there are some really cool images here so far. @h_habash - really nice. I love your water and the way the cliffs envelope the area. I tried to create a small stream in one of my experiments to break up the foreground. I was less than successful. Perhaps water will be a theme in a future contest. :)

    @robborfla1 - I really like the cliffs with the balloons. I almost think the person you added for scale is too much. Also love the rapids. Sort of brings the image to life.

    Best Regards,
    Eric

    Your welcome Eric. Yes it is amazing what a false horizon can do to an image. I like what you did. I would add some bushes to the foreground that follow the lowest lying ground dip. this will break up the area and give you the same kind of idea as the stream. Out West a creek bed can be dry but there are bushes and grass that live in it soaking up water does come down and collects in those low lying areas.

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    Xangth said:
    Happy Fathers day to all the fathers out there.
    Here is my second image for this contest.
    Title: Paradise
    DAZ studio 4.8
    Bryce 7.1 Pro
    no postwork, all suggestions and comments are welcome as this is a WIP before the month ends.

    Love the colors in this one Xangth. I would try and do some framing in the lower left and right corners. Left corner could be higher and right corner not so high as to hide the horizon. I think maybe adding some tropical plants on the left and some more of your shells to the right. Remember to keep the number of shells odd. Then keep where the dog and girl are in focus and make the foreground and background out of focus to give you a sense of depth.

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    Limun said:
    is it better now?
    i added Dust And Atmosphere from here
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQuaK-ft0I8
    but now it seems like unfinished render ,right?

    Limun, I would reduce the amount of haze don't make it so noticeable. I would also add the same kind of trees that you have on the right side of the image to the left side. What you want to do is force the eye to travel along the whole length of the picture. I have painted a green line where I think a line of tree tops should go. Just make the tops of the trees visible. It will add some depth to the image. An idea would be to add something in the right hand corner. Either some foliage that goes down to the water or a tree branch that is close to the camera. This would add more depth to the image as well. The last suggestion would to see if some of the red rock could be added to the cauldron sides like make the big grey white boulder on the right have the same red color as that used on the left side. I would expect it to be darker due to the shadow being cast. But a touch of red on the lower right side might make the eye travel to that area. Don't know if you can do it but maybe make the red mountain, on the far right, higher so that it plays a part in the reflection in the water like you have on the left side. This would add balance and interest as well. These are just suggestions. Looking forward to seeing what you do.

    Image8.jpg
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  • h_habashh_habash Posts: 230
    edited December 1969

    ewcarman said:
    Daz 4.8 iray - no post work

    I've done a lot to this which is probably not readily obvious. So many items it is a challenge to navigate the image. I think I've got the foreground broken up a bit. I've tweaked a couple hundred thousand trees to make it less obvious that they are copies of themselves - only a few hundred thousand to go :).

    DollyGirl: Thank you for the feedback. I've filled in behind the "Ghost Town" with a mountain and more trees (which I still have to tweak). This really makes a big difference.

    I've been playing with the Depth of Field. You can see some of the effect in the foreground images (trees of course) which are little blurred. I haven't got it set up correctly yet to blur some of the background. It's a process....

    Since I'm calling this "Ghost Town" and there is a hearse in the image, I thought I'd add a ghost. If you look closely behind and to the left of the hearse, you will see a lady standing there. I set her and clothing/body/hair/etc. to 50% opacity to make it ghost-like. Not sure if I like it yet, but I like connection it makes between story (such as it is) and image. We'll see....

    Also, there are some really cool images here so far. @h_habash - really nice. I love your water and the way the cliffs envelope the area. I tried to create a small stream in one of my experiments to break up the foreground. I was less than successful. Perhaps water will be a theme in a future contest. :)

    @robborfla1 - I really like the cliffs with the balloons. I almost think the person you added for scale is too much. Also love the rapids. Sort of brings the image to life.

    Best Regards,
    Eric

    Thanks Eric for your complement, you've done a great work and efforts as well in your scene, it's really cool and the tree combination and arrangements are great, I suggest for the ghost lady to be on the front near the bottom trees (either left or right), in this position I think you'll give more effect to the ghost character, maybe if you try to reposition it you'll like it.

    I'd add my voice to yours for the future contest to be water theme, it'll be an excellent challenge to all of us.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,780
    edited December 1969

    h_habash, that a great place to be, very nicely done!
    robborfla, I like your green place very much, the colours work together very nice and the water looks refreshing.
    and xanght that shure is a tourist trap there, they'll charge you a lot of buck to come to that beach, no?

    here is what I have come up with the meantime, I added a little story element.
    I'm not yet sure of the size relations though, but yes they are on their way to greener pastures now, will they succeed?

    greener-pastures.jpg
    1000 x 800 - 916K
  • h_habashh_habash Posts: 230
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly said:
    h_habash, that a great place to be, very nicely done!
    robborfla, I like your green place very much, the colours work together very nice and the water looks refreshing.
    and xanght that shure is a tourist trap there, they'll charge you a lot of buck to come to that beach, no?

    here is what I have come up with the meantime, I added a little story element.
    I'm not yet sure of the size relations though, but yes they are on their way to greener pastures now, will they succeed?

    Thanks linwelly, your scene is nice as well, if I may suggest that you try and give them some path through the scene and going behind the left mountain, I think it'll give effect to the scene story.

  • cherpenbeckcherpenbeck Posts: 1,409
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly, the first of the wagons is standing at a place which looks like a square depression, thus looks artificial.
    Could you either cover this structure with grass or move the wagon a bit?
    Your scene would look more natural, I think.

  • cherpenbeckcherpenbeck Posts: 1,409
    edited June 2015

    I think I got my mountain scene working now. Took an asteroid from renderosity, pumped it up really big in DAZStudio, added the man and the dragon, exported everything to Bryce.
    Just in case you try this: every clothing item, every prop and even the hair has to be separately selected as well, or the figure will arrive nude and bare.
    Then I de-grouped the whole thing, selected the asteroid (which was now a huge rock) and adapted the texture of the background mountain to this rock.
    Re-grouped everything (in top-view), copied, pasted into my mountain scene.
    Again I had to resize and reposition, and then I needed to fiddle around with the sun, so that the dragon's head wasn't totally in the shadows.
    As you can see, the shadow of the dragon is now visible on the mountain. Too huge, too sharp, with all the distance there should not be a shadow at all, or just a very subtle shadow.
    I now try Bryce skylab, diffuse shadow, that might look better. But it takes ages for rendering, so for today you get the sharp shadow version.

    Well, and the dragon is talking to the man, of course.

    "You didn't think this place was named `Dragon Mountain´ for nothing, did you?"

    test4.jpg
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    Post edited by cherpenbeck on
  • cherpenbeckcherpenbeck Posts: 1,409
    edited June 2015

    Soft shadow does look better on the background. Much better.
    But now the front lacks some definition. Perhaps I must do two different renders and combine them later.

    test4a.jpg
    950 x 633 - 376K
    Post edited by cherpenbeck on
  • LimunLimun Posts: 182
    edited December 1969

    Dollygirl said:

    Limun, I would reduce the amount of haze don't make it so noticeable. I would also add the same kind of trees that you have on the right side of the image to the left side. What you want to do is force the eye to travel along the whole length of the picture. I have painted a green line where I think a line of tree tops should go. Just make the tops of the trees visible. It will add some depth to the image. An idea would be to add something in the right hand corner. Either some foliage that goes down to the water or a tree branch that is close to the camera. This would add more depth to the image as well. The last suggestion would to see if some of the red rock could be added to the cauldron sides like make the big grey white boulder on the right have the same red color as that used on the left side. I would expect it to be darker due to the shadow being cast. But a touch of red on the lower right side might make the eye travel to that area. Don't know if you can do it but maybe make the red mountain, on the far right, higher so that it plays a part in the reflection in the water like you have on the left side. This would add balance and interest as well. These are just suggestions. Looking forward to seeing what you do.

    My English is comsi comsa so i dont understand perfectly what you are talking about..(e.g - added to the cauldron sides - make the big grey white boulder )
    Anyway if i understand i made this changes ....
    Thanks
    (Stopped at 61% rendering)

    cont23.jpg
    1999 x 750 - 1M
  • h_habashh_habash Posts: 230
    edited December 1969

    Limun said:
    Dollygirl said:

    Limun, I would reduce the amount of haze don't make it so noticeable. I would also add the same kind of trees that you have on the right side of the image to the left side. What you want to do is force the eye to travel along the whole length of the picture. I have painted a green line where I think a line of tree tops should go. Just make the tops of the trees visible. It will add some depth to the image. An idea would be to add something in the right hand corner. Either some foliage that goes down to the water or a tree branch that is close to the camera. This would add more depth to the image as well. The last suggestion would to see if some of the red rock could be added to the cauldron sides like make the big grey white boulder on the right have the same red color as that used on the left side. I would expect it to be darker due to the shadow being cast. But a touch of red on the lower right side might make the eye travel to that area. Don't know if you can do it but maybe make the red mountain, on the far right, higher so that it plays a part in the reflection in the water like you have on the left side. This would add balance and interest as well. These are just suggestions. Looking forward to seeing what you do.

    My English is comsi comsa so i dont understand perfectly what you are talking about..(e.g - added to the cauldron sides - make the big grey white boulder )
    Anyway if i understand i made this changes ....
    Thanks
    (Stopped at 61% rendering)

    Limun, your scene become better, but if I may add to dollygil one small suggestion, about the Dock location and appearance, I have Two suggestions for you to make it more realistic :
    1- reduce the hill hight and make path from the building towards the dock, or
    2- move the dock to the left side of the hill near the lower side.

    Try this and see for yourself how it would look.

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    Limun said:
    Dollygirl said:

    Limun, I would reduce the amount of haze don't make it so noticeable. I would also add the same kind of trees that you have on the right side of the image to the left side. What you want to do is force the eye to travel along the whole length of the picture. I have painted a green line where I think a line of tree tops should go. Just make the tops of the trees visible. It will add some depth to the image. An idea would be to add something in the right hand corner. Either some foliage that goes down to the water or a tree branch that is close to the camera. This would add more depth to the image as well. The last suggestion would to see if some of the red rock could be added to the cauldron sides like make the big grey white boulder on the right have the same red color as that used on the left side. I would expect it to be darker due to the shadow being cast. But a touch of red on the lower right side might make the eye travel to that area. Don't know if you can do it but maybe make the red mountain, on the far right, higher so that it plays a part in the reflection in the water like you have on the left side. This would add balance and interest as well. These are just suggestions. Looking forward to seeing what you do.

    My English is comsi comsa so i dont understand perfectly what you are talking about..(e.g - added to the cauldron sides - make the big grey white boulder )
    Anyway if i understand i made this changes ....
    Thanks
    (Stopped at 61% rendering)

    You have understood well Limun. Your lake is inside a volcano and this area is called a cauldron, which means pot. Much better balance to your image. I am beginning to feel happy when looking at it. A suggestion, can you add a couple of smaller boulders up next to the big boulder? A set of three might be more pleasing.

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly said:
    h_habash, that a great place to be, very nicely done!
    robborfla, I like your green place very much, the colours work together very nice and the water looks refreshing.
    and xanght that shure is a tourist trap there, they'll charge you a lot of buck to come to that beach, no?

    here is what I have come up with the meantime, I added a little story element.
    I'm not yet sure of the size relations though, but yes they are on their way to greener pastures now, will they succeed?

    I think your hunch on the size is correct Linwelly. I would make them just a bit smaller in size. I would also see about increasing the bump on the foreground terrain. Remember I did that with my example. I think it helped give more interest. You will have to get serious about the amount because of the distance. I like your added foliage.

  • LimunLimun Posts: 182
    edited December 1969

    h_habash said:

    Limun, your scene become better, but if I may add to dollygil one small suggestion, about the Dock location and appearance, I have Two suggestions for you to make it more realistic :
    1- reduce the hill hight and make path from the building towards the dock, or
    2- move the dock to the left side of the hill near the lower side.

    Try this and see for yourself how it would look.


    i m sorry but which hill ? and whic path / building towards ?
  • LimunLimun Posts: 182
    edited December 1969

    Dollygirl said:

    Thanks
    A suggestion, can you add a couple of smaller boulders up next to the big boulder? A set of three might be more pleasing.

    sorry which big boulder ? the red new one ?
  • h_habashh_habash Posts: 230
    edited December 1969

    Limun said:
    h_habash said:

    Limun, your scene become better, but if I may add to dollygil one small suggestion, about the Dock location and appearance, I have Two suggestions for you to make it more realistic :
    1- reduce the hill hight and make path from the building towards the dock, or
    2- move the dock to the left side of the hill near the lower side.

    Try this and see for yourself how it would look.


    i m sorry but which hill ? and whic path / building towards ?

    I've marked the two suggestions, see the attached

    suggestion 1 marked with yellow text and arrows, suggestion 2 marked with white text and red arrow, the dock is circled with red :red:

    cont23.jpg
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  • XangthXangth Posts: 127
    edited June 2015

    Thanks for the suggestions and comments Dollygirl and Linwelly. I added more shells and foliage and a couple of small crabs. I'll try some of the depth of field settings that Bryce has. Any way here is what I have. This was rendered in Bryce with no postwork.

    paradise7.jpg
    1200 x 563 - 134K
    Post edited by Xangth on
  • LimunLimun Posts: 182
    edited December 1969

    now ?

    land24.jpg
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  • cherpenbeckcherpenbeck Posts: 1,409
    edited December 1969

    The composition looks good, the mirroring lake as well. If it was my render, I would give a bit more light to the shadows, but that's my personal preference.

    At the moment the shadows look like seen with a camera. The human eye does some tricks, so that, if we look at shadows, they don't look as dark as they really are.

  • cherpenbeckcherpenbeck Posts: 1,409
    edited June 2015

    As the shadow of the dragon on the mountains was very unrealistic, considering the distance, I did two separate renders for background and foreground (by making the part I didn't wish invisible), and put them together in photoshop.
    Now it looks "right", I think.
    To get the same lighting for both renders I needed a visible sky. Without the sky the render looked totally different in colors and lighting.

    test5-1.jpg
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    Post edited by cherpenbeck on
  • h_habashh_habash Posts: 230
    edited December 1969

    Limun said:
    now ?

    Now it looks wonderful, the dock position got more sense and gives your scene more reality especially with the figure sitting there hunting for fish :) you've done grate and nice scene.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,780
    edited December 1969

    Thanks to h_habash, cherpendeck and Dollygirl for your help and advice.
    I moved the farthermost wagon a bit around so they are a tad bit more turning behind the left mountain, didnt wnat to move the around to much as they are on a sweet spot right now. I tried a bit around wit adding a path or something similar, decided against it for now.
    I made them a bit smaller as you suggested Dollygirl and yes that feels better now, and the tip with the bump was a good oone as well.
    Other than that i fiddled around with the dust they caus a bit mor so the woman is not swallowed by half from it and increased the scatter on the plane for the distanz haze. I tried different f-stop positions as well but ended liking this one the best. Oh, yes the horsed got a pulling pose as well :-)

    overall I'm pretty satisfied with the result, thanks to your help

    I like your dragon mountain very much cherpendeck and yes the shadow of the dragon was to much for the distance you wanted to show, so good decision.

    Very nice work as well from Limun, they are very faithful to put their church in he middel of the volcano lake

    greener-pastures3.jpg
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  • cherpenbeckcherpenbeck Posts: 1,409
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly, what disturbes me a tiny little bit is that light yellow structure behind the waggon. It's usable, because it makes us see the waggons better, but it looks somehow artificial.
    Just to show you what I mean, I cloned the yellow structure away and added some dust behind the waggons.

    But of course the clearer structure for your tiny figures is your version, so you might prefer to keep it.

    greener-pastures3.jpg
    600 x 480 - 191K
  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,780
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly, what disturbes me a tiny little bit is that light yellow structure behind the waggon. It's usable, because it makes us see the waggons better, but it looks somehow artificial.
    Just to show you what I mean, I cloned the yellow structure away and added some dust behind the waggons.

    But of course the clearer structure for your tiny figures is your version, so you might prefer to keep it.

    Hi, Cherpendeck, yes now I see what you mean. Well it's part of that dust and to me it looked clearly as such, so thanks for pointing that out to me. Thats why it's good to have people look at your work. I will see if I can up with somthing more dusty then :coolsmile:

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,780
    edited December 1969

    ok I tried around with that dust behind the wagons, I hope its more clear now that its meant to be dust.

    greener-pastures-4.jpg
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  • cherpenbeckcherpenbeck Posts: 1,409
    edited June 2015

    Yes, that does look much better. No artificial structure anymore.

    Post edited by cherpenbeck on
  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 13,189
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly said:
    ok I tried around with that dust behind the wagons, I hope its more clear now that its meant to be dust.

    Looking good

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,780
    edited December 1969

    Thanks a lot Frank, and cherpendeck, I submitted it now.

    Thanks to everyone for the insights into somthing I would never have tackled on my own. Looking at the developements you all made with software some of you just startet out with made me wish to get into Bryce or Vue or something like that as well, but alas that won't happen any time soon.

    I won't have much access to the internet in the next weeks so I guess I don't have the chance to finish my other WIP in time and therefore I will already say good luck to everyone, I'll be regular again end of July (maybe in time to get into July contest?). So see you then.

  • ewcarmanewcarman Posts: 180
    edited December 1969

    Posted my final render for the contest in the entry thread. Made a lot of changes from my last posted image. Probably needs another million, but that's it for this month.

    Great contest this month. Learned a lot of things. Thanks for all the help - directly and indirectly. I really like DollyGirl's tutorial based approach - helped bring some things into focus (<- get it?). </p>

    Best of luck all.

    Best Regards,
    Eric

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,040
    edited December 1969

    I have worked on this for days trying to get it to look right but it just isn't happening. A few hours on Bryce and I would have had it done :-S

    I usually use DAZ Studio files when working in it but this time I thought I would bring the scene in from Bryce. The terrain and water are made up in Bryce and then textured in DAZ Studio; the clouds are a skydome and the ships are DAZ. Lighting is from the skydome and a spot light for the sun; rendered in 3Delight.

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    shallow-cove-007.jpg
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