June 2015 New User Contest - Scenes and Landscapes [WIP Thread]
DollyGirl
Posts: 2,656
New User's Contest - June 2015
Sponsored by DAZ 3D and XP Pointblank
Are you new to the 3D World? Are you at the beginning stages of learning 3D rendering? Have you been around for a little bit but feel you could benefit from some feedback or instruction? Have you been around awhile and would like to help other members start their creative journey? Well then come and join the fun as we host our newest contest...
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"Scenes and Landscapes"
This month's focus will be scenes and landscapes. If you haven't noticed when you look at images made by the various 3D software some of the packages do a lot better then others in treating an expansive scene or a magnificient landscape. Ones that come to mind are software such as Bryce or Vue. Both have some built in features that make those wonderfully big expansive images come true. DAZ Studio on the other hand does not have any handy dandy features built into it but if you know the tricks there is no reason why you can't get those same kind of results. For this contest we will be exploring the principles of how such scenes and landscapes are built and how to control the environment to create the sense of expansiviness a scene or landscape creates for the viewer.
There are some key elements that should be considered when creating a landscape, they are the inspiration, lighting, perspective and depth of focus. I have gathered some links for you that talk about each of these elements.
Inspiration:
Photos and Renders:
Landscapes
starscape photography
Perspective and Depth of Focus:
What a Painter Considers
What a Photographer Considers
Transform 3D Renders: Part 1
http://blog.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/tutorials/transform-3d-renders-part-1/
Transform 3D Renders: Part 2
http://blog.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/tutorials/transform-3d-renders-part-2/
Things to consider when setting up your landscape:
As stated by Jon A. Bell in his book, 3ds maz 6 Killer Tips, "For more realistic outdoor scenes, especially if you're seeing a distant horizon, you should always add a slight amount of atmospheric haze.... If you look at a distant mountain range (or if you don't have one right outside your window, just grab a travel magazine or pretend), you'll notice how colors become muted and washed out with distance. You can use just a slight amount of atmospheric fog (it depends on the scale of your scene), and the colors will determine the clarity or quality of your "atmosphere." For clear outdoor settings, using a slight bit of white fog is desirable; for sunset or urban settings (where the air might be more polluted), a slight yellowish or reddish cast makes your horizons look better." In DAZ Studio you have a couple of options in getting that affect. The first would be to add just a tiny bit of DOF so that the objects become a bit more blurred and muted. Another way is to have a volumetric camera that will add the fog feature to the render.
Lighting:
Approaching Realism in DAZ Studio and Gamma Correction Demystified
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/54913/
Using HDR Files In DAZ Studio 3delight renders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okaYS1jeAew
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/37753/
For a list of the current contest rules, please see this thread : Contest Rules.
To enter the contest, please post your completed image to the Entries Thread.
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For those veterans of the forums that would like to help, because this contest is designed for the beginner to learn from, we will be randomly selecting posts offering helpful tips and/or critiques to receive a special voucher as well so whether you are a seasoned artist or an aspiring one, there is fun for everyone!
XP Pointblank has graciously agreed to award:
Choice of 1 product to each of the winners
Closing Date: June 30, 2015
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Comments
So I have a few things I want to do the first is to let everyone know that if you have Vue or Carrara questions we have someone that can help. His name is Totte and he is a very nice fellow. His first piece of advice is:
"Never have more polygons that are truly visible, below are two scenes setup, one in Vue and one in Carrara."
He also thinks that for us DAZ Studio users we might want to consider Infinito here at DAZ as a possible means of achieving that grand looking point of view of a landscape. Don't forget about Flipmode's Easy Environments as a possibility as well.
And for those that just want to play here is a list of some of the terrains I have collected over the years in my pursuit of a wonderful landscape:
Terrains:
Dirt Road Land Prop For Daz Studio 4.6 by fictionalromance http://www.sharecg.com/v/74852/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Dirt-Road-Land-Prop-For-Daz-Studio-4.6
"Fober's World Dome ""The Hills"" by Fober http://www.sharecg.com/v/39996/browse/11/Poser/The-Hills-environment-for-DAZ-Studio-Poser"
Free Cliff Scene by mostdigitalcreations http://www.most-digital-creations.com/free_poser_poses_textures_morphs_props_24.htm
Hope Islands by maria http://www.sharecg.com/v/10039/3d-model/Hope-islands---ground,-rocks-and-3-backdrops
Wilmap's Set of Scene Bases Part 1 by Wilmap https://www.wilmapsdigitalcreations.co.uk/view_product.php?id=188
Big Rock basement/scenery by aerysoul http://web.archive.org/web/20101204211440/http://www.aerysoul.com/free.html
Morphing Ground V. 2 by Porsimo http://www.porsimo.net/3d/terrains.htm
Andi3d Rocks by Andi3d Mortemvetus http://www.mortemvetus.com/free_downloads.php?page=9
winter-wonderland by EyesblueDesign http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/details.php?item_id=66803
Attempting a Landscape is a real challenge for me. I'm hoping to learn a lot in this exercise.
Welcome wohaver. I am pleased that you ready to roll up your sleeves and play. Since I don't know what software you are using at the moment I will just talk in generalities that apply to any rendering software.
So the first thing I see is that as a viewer I do not know what I am to focus on. Is it the cross, the top of the hill or the tree? Part of this problem is that there are no tricks to pull the viewer from one part of the image to another. The three strong diagonal lines on the roof of the church end at a very uninteresting point. The texture on the church does not have any bump applied to show the roughness of the stone that it is made of. This issue adds to the unattractiveness. We humans are very interested in shadows even if they are subtle.
So my suggestion to you is to first decide what you want to do. Jotting down what you are trying to portray can help you focus on what you can do to get your vision into your render. What story are you trying to tell?
Below I have taken your image and provided some suggestions. I would strongly recommend going back over the provided links to see how other people go about constructing a beautiful landscape. Once we know what story you are trying to create and what software you are using, we can then go into the mechanics of just how to get the lighting, color and mood of the image the way you want it. The white dots are what we call your sweet spots. They show us where the rule of thirds lines would intersect. These are guidelines to help bring focus and interest to an image. They are not hard and fast rules but beginners find it easier to use these are references. As you become more familiar with the medium then you can branch out and try other things.
Looking forward to seeing what you do.
Welcome wohaver. I am pleased that you ready to roll up your sleeves and play. Since I don't know what software you are using at the moment I will just talk in generalities that apply to any rendering software.
So the first thing I see is that as a viewer I do not know what I am to focus on. Is it the cross, the top of the hill or the tree? Part of this problem is that there are no tricks to pull the viewer from one part of the image to another. The three strong diagonal lines on the roof of the church end at a very uninteresting point. The texture on the church does not have any bump applied to show the roughness of the stone that it is made of. This issue adds to the unattractiveness. We humans are very interested in shadows even if they are subtle.
So my suggestion to you is to first decide what you want to do. Jotting down what you are trying to portray can help you focus on what you can do to get your vision into your render. What story are you trying to tell?
Below I have taken your image and provided some suggestions. I would strongly recommend going back over the provided links to see how other people go about constructing a beautiful landscape. Once we know what story you are trying to create and what software you are using, we can then go into the mechanics of just how to get the lighting, color and mood of the image the way you want it. The white dots are what we call your sweet spots. They show us where the rule of thirds lines would intersect. These are guidelines to help bring focus and interest to an image. They are not hard and fast rules but beginners find it easier to use these are references. As you become more familiar with the medium then you can branch out and try other things.
Looking forward to seeing what you do.
Hi Dollygirl... thank you for the helpful tips and input you've provided. I clearly have a lot of work ahead before I resubmit this image. I will no doubt start again from scratch an incorporate many of your observations - as best I can.
I have several software programs available for use (Daz Studio 4.8. Photoshop, Hexagon, Carrara, and Bryce) but I am most comfortable with Daz Studio and Photoshop. However, after reading the thread on including postwork images, I sense that postwork is considered by many artists here to be some sort of "cheating" so I am only using Daz Studio and not doing any postwork.
I will resubmit another image soon and am anxious for further assistance. Again, thank you and Have a great day!!
Hey everyone!
Cool subject this month and perfect timing for me. I never really enjoyed drawing/painting landscapes in traditional media when I was younger. But when I started painting the gaming miniatures I got into dioramas and scenic bases. When I jumped into digital art in Photoshop I started experimenting and discovered I really enjoy creating landscapes in PS. I'm terrible at them but they're still fun. Now that I am using DAZ to create book covers, I need backgrounds to go with them. I managed to pick up Bryce the other day on sale. Yay!
I had just started to dig into learning Bryce when I finished the May contest so thought it was cool when this contest was announced.
But Bryce is posing it's own challenges. It likes to crash on me and I lost my first three attempts because I didn't save fast enough. But now I've got something rolling. I haven't put all the elements in - I'm just working on getting the terrain how and where I want it plus materials and textures. Right now I'm pretty much just using stock stuff that comes with Bryce and I'm starting to dig into various editors but wow - the thing is like an onion when it comes to the editors (no, I don't mean it's an ogre - it's got layers! hehe!)
I'm using the Artists Guide right now and tackling stuff as it comes up. Right now I've got a few issues. In my scene I like the distant mountain and the middle one on the left. I don't like the one on the right but it's all one terrain piece with the other middle mountain and I don't want to screw up that one. lol!
The foreground is supposed to have just a lake - I did one before and it worked - but this time I can't get it to cooperate but I do kinda like how the water is with the foreground so maybe a happy mistake? We'll see.
I'm also struggling with the atmosphere and color. I'm wanting a sunset that's behind the camera and reflecting pink and golds off the snow on the mountain and a lot of times the clouds will reflect that color too as the sun sets. I tried adjusting the clouds but no change. I'm not sure about the haze level either because it seems to be making it a bit too bright and washed out.
After I get the basics worked out I'll be adding details like - shrubbery! ;)
Welcome kathrynloch, looks like a good start on your Bryce image. Cho, who is our Bryce guru says that this 20 minute tutorial is something all Brycers need. Bryce 20 minute beginners project - simple landscape - a tutorial by David Brinnen.She also said to look through this thread for other guidance. There might be something to help you with your sunset and the mountain issue.
Looking forward to seeing your progress.
Welcome kathrynloch, looks like a good start on your Bryce image. Cho, who is our Bryce guru says that this 20 minute tutorial is something all Brycers need. Bryce 20 minute beginners project - simple landscape - a tutorial by David Brinnen.She also said to look through this thread for other guidance. There might be something to help you with your sunset and the mountain issue.
Looking forward to seeing your progress.
Further to that, as you have already noticed, pushing Bryce too far without saving is a bit iffy.
One really great feature of Bryce is the save button. Your first scene file save it with a number, so "my scene 01". Then when you have done a bit more with it hit the "Save As" button and it won't overwrite your first save, it will give you an incremental save, so this one will become "my scnene 02" this is really great, because you can always go back to a previous version if the edits don't suit, and if you remember to hit the save as button often then you will never lose too much if you do crash, because you can go back to the previous version.
Wow, I will try doing something, now watching that video again, and there is so much in it. I need to watch those tutorials more often, hoping to learn Bryce .
Further to that, as you have already noticed, pushing Bryce too far without saving is a bit iffy.
One really great feature of Bryce is the save button. Your first scene file save it with a number, so "my scene 01". Then when you have done a bit more with it hit the "Save As" button and it won't overwrite your first save, it will give you an incremental save, so this one will become "my scnene 02" this is really great, because you can always go back to a previous version if the edits don't suit, and if you remember to hit the save as button often then you will never lose too much if you do crash, because you can go back to the previous version.
Thank you Dollygirl for the very helpful links! I started into the tut last night and will finish it today.
@gulan7 Soooo true! I'm right there with ya - sooo much info crammed into 20 minutes!
Hi Cho! Thank you very much! I literally just stumbled into that one last night. In the May WIP thread I mentioned that I always try to Save As when I get significant changes to ideas. The first three minutes of the tutorial vid that Dolly posted had me doing the Save As all over the place - lol! That is definitely a cool little feature.
Especially since I discovered a lot of time it is Undo (and I thought CTRL+Z was my friend!) after working for a bit without saving that caused Bryce to crash on me - at least for right now. Give me five minutes that will change to something else, I promise you that. lol!
My editor and I just finished our brainstorm session via Skype today - we've got an outline going for five more novels in the current series I'm working on (and I'm gonna need cover art for those suckers). lol! So I've got a jot down my timeline then can work on my contest entry. But the fun part is that my editor also does quite a bit of cover art for her clients, so I've been keeping her apprised of the work I'm doing with DAZ and here on the forums. She loves the idea of the 3D work replacing stock imagery for cover art, especially now that she's seen a couple of still renders and how realistic they are. Looks like we're going to be working together on that stuff too which I'm really jazzed about.
Thanks again for all the help!
Cheers,
Kath
I decided to take a different approach from my fist image. I feel a lttle better about this.
I am using only Daz 4.8 with no postwork. Please tell me what you thing.
This is what I did after watching David's video, which was very good and informative especialy because I watched it once before and still discovered lots of new things. Only thing that now I am missing is how to parent one terrain to other so I can move them together. I think I watched that in some video but can't remember where now. Btw that MortemVetus site is amazing and Porismo terrains beside others, will have to download them as soon as I can. Thanks for the links, I will have to cehck those instructional ones once more.
And for my picture, this is just my attempt to make something in Bryce. I learned how to do basic things and here you can se just one terrain with 2 water surfaces and a tree. I had a bit difficulty choosing terrain material and first tried something like desert redish and green but green was too much up so i decided to change it. I set water as oasis and changed it a bit but later it didn't fit well with new material but now I don't have time to change it and will try doing it later.
Well, I've been feeling a bit under the weather today, so I haven't spent as much time on this as I hoped, but I'm working on it now. Although I'm only half way through the tutorial.
I watch a couple of minutes, fiddle with my image to get the point he's trying to make, then watch a few more minutes and so on.
With my original image it was a miracle I got anything to show up on camera at all my placement was so messed up. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fix it to get the placement close to what he had in the video. So I abandoned it and started a new one. The main reason was because how he demonstrated using the Sky lab to position the sun to get easy but powerful lighting effects with basic movement. Just like if you're lost once you determine the position of the sun you can probably find your way a bit better - that's why I went ahead and started over. I still have my original saved, so I can go back to it later as I learn more. But better positioning of the sun allowed me to get at least in part of the effect I was looking for. So I attached that here.
Thanks for linking that tutorial. Off to watch some more and see what trouble I can get into. lol!
Cheers,
Kathryn
Very nice Gulan!
I think what you're referencing is in the artist manual. You can group various items together then select and move the group. Just select one item, hold down shift and select the other then click the G on the small submenu that pops up next to the wireframe.
But Id' love to find out if there's a way to merge two pieces of terrain into one mesh rather than just grouping them. If I run into anything in the tutorials or whatever I'll be sure to post it. But at least grouping will allow you to do what you want to do and it's easy to group and ungroup various elements.
Cheers,
Kathryn
Thank You, yes it is probably grouping. As I said I wanted to link two or more elements together like for example two terrains and a tree. Ok I will have to try, and yes those tutorials are fantastic and there is 400+ videos there and well I am really starting to feel for Bryce and just will need to watch them as they are perfect way to learn :).
Although I have to say that i had small setback working in Bryce, I am not sure how it happened but last 2-3 days when I am selecting objects it doesn't show that they are selected (sometimes) and that red square turned to black while selecting and behaves a bit differently. I tried reinstalling but it is still like that. Although I can work and it is still almost the same as before somehow I wish I know how to fix it. I was thinking maybe restarting my computer might help now will try it ..., no it is still like that.
Nevermind if someone can help me it would be good, if not I will try improving the water and maybe add some grass and trees. I don't have clear idea what to do except just making some nice scene. Maybe I can try adding animal or two :)
Yes this is better. I would work on adding some foliage to the foreground.
I did make my first island so far. Pretty boring structure, all needles, doesn't look natural. Besides it's black, so I'm still missing several features of Bryce.
How can I make the mountain lower without making the whole structure smaller? And how can I give it more rounded, organic looking edges? This one looks like having just been bombed with vulcanic blasts ...
I'll go through the tutorials again.
Ah now do you want the easy answer or the real complicated one.
Seriously. Go into the edit mode, that the letter E in the box when you are in wireframe mode.
There you will see all sorts of ways of editing your island.
Best way to learn how to use them is to play. Save your island first, because undo is iffy on the terrain editor,
Found the Editor you showed me, thank you, Chohole.
Played with it a bit.
The result is still far from natural. Especially due to the fact, that the structures are all strictly vertical or horizontal. Real Mountains behave different, they consist of ancient molten stone, or of layers of rock wich are sandwiched and compressed, folded and put in a more or less diagonally position. Can't find a handle to move the structure diagonally. All lines are horizontal or vertical.
Of course I can use a picture of a diagonally striped rock structure, but the mountain would still behave wrong, erode the wrong way ...
So I guess Bryce has it's limitations.
Hi Cherp!
Well, there's the rotation feature under the edit menu that helps, but what you're referencing would probably be served under the same editor but using the paint brush. I just did something real quick to demonstrate because it will take practice but was thinking something like the Mormon Rocks in Cajon Pass in southern California where the San Andreas fault runs. If you're a fan of the original Star Trek series they used the location often for alien worlds. I believe Kirk fighting the Gorn was one of the most popular episodes featuring that landscape.
I think these mountains are a really good start. I live in Arizona. Just spent a couple of days over at Sedona and watched the scenery as my husband drove back to Phoenix. Your image kind of reminds me of the road up through Utah and over to Grand Junction in Colorado. It takes in the Arches. From a distance the layers look pretty level. You are correct there is pushing up and going down to the layers but at a distance you pretty much see what you have in your image.
@cherpenbeck Yes You need to use brush feature in the editor there you can paint your terrain and make it how you like, then use those presets to improve it. Or You can use already made like I did. There is a learning path to make a good terrain I guess, but probably You will be able to do anything with Bryce.
Here is what I have for now
Layered mountains are no problem, as in example 1. That's what Bryce does, and does vers good.
Example 2 could be made if I make each layer separate and rotate it. But if I need more natural cliffs, I need a fine tuned editor for the mesh.
Same goes for Example 3.
With 4 and 5 I'm totally at a loss. How can I give my mountain crevesses, cracks, bended forms? Which would be what nature does all the time.
The only way I see so far is a totally hand-made mesh, which would be a hell of a work.
Now you need to come over to the paint brush screen.
Thanks again, Chohole.
Painting works fine, as long as I make Canyons with vertical walls. As my next try shows.
How do I make a canyon wall cave in?
And is it possible to divide the mesh of the mountain into several parts and tilt them? (That would solve the problem with the caved-in walls)
This image and the TE screen for the mid main terrain, if that helps.
I rotated the terrain westwards so the front view is actually the east side of the terrain
I do not have a picture for the contest (maybe later) but the WIP side may help me by a landscape problem.
Everytime I need a backround in a picture which should look like one piece it looks like a cuted were the prop and the backround come togehter.
I made a two example pictures.
In both the object is the "Dream Home Yard and Pool". It have a great green field in the backyard of the house.
The backround with the wood is from "Magix 101 Worldbase XT".
The otherone with the skyline is the "Dystopia Skydome".
I want a backround which flows from prop to backround like a naturall landscape.
How can I make this flowing look happen or how can I creat such a backround-prop bridge/conection?
Thank you for your help
I have had a similar problem with this in the past. What I did was apply the same shader to the ground plane of both props. You may be able to apply the shader/texture that came with the Dream Home Yard and Pool to the Magix 101 base.
If I remember correctly the Magix 101 Worldbase XT has more than one area that will need the shader applied. I look down through perspective so I could see most of the ground then applied the shader to each area until I had the coverage I needed.
I am not sure if this technique will work with Dystopia Skydome.
Hey Cherp - I get the feeling you know what you're talking about when it comes to geology. I'd love to pick your brain one of these days. :-) I live in Southeast Texas now but I grew up in southern California right on top of an area of the San Andreas fault line. I've gone through my share of earthquakes. But talk about fascinating geology! One of our favorite sayings in the area was "that's not a gulch, that's a fault line" because so many little fault lines branch off of the San Andreas just like forks in a river. Because of water run off they look like natural gullies but they're not - they're part of the fault line.
When I was little we lived not far from Mount Baldy a popular ski resort in the winter but it gets it's name because it's elevation rises above the treeline.
In my first image the red dot on the right is approximately where I grew up. But you can see the massive canyon leading up to Mount Baldy. There's an old earthwork dam where it opens up and in the 1970's we had terrible floods. All of the north/south streets are actually dry riverbeds. They used to have curbs 3-4 feet high before the city put real drainage in. I was a really little kid but to this day I can remember the sound of boulders rolling down one of the streets next to our house during the floods. But the mountain range was formed thanks to the San Andreas fault.
After we got the horses we moved to an area near Cajon Pass. It's farther east than the previous mountain range but where it ends, another picks up, and we lived right between the two. Cajon Pass is the major thoroughfare for those in southern California traveling to Las Vegas - what many folks don't realize is that the pass is the San Andreas fault. The second image has a red line where Google Maps approximates the fault - but it's not a narrow line it's the entire pass. The dot is right on top of my old house where we had the horse ranch. Not too far to the east is Arrowhead Springs and there are hot springs there. Also Arrowhead Water literally has a spigot sticking out of the ground where there trucks would pull up and fill up with the water to take to their bottling plant. But hot springs mean volcanic activity or at least a lot of heat generated by the fault line.
I rode my horses all over those mountains because they're part of the National Forest - you can't build homes or businesses in those areas. The satellite must have taken these photos not long after a forest fire because there is not much vegetation and the ground is black. I also went through the Panorama fire and we had to evacuate not only ourselves but our horses. People in the area came up with trailers and I was loading my horses into them and had no idea who these people were. But everyone along with the animals got out safely.
I originally got to looking at Google Maps because of this project because I wanted to see how the satellite image worked with the topography. My guess it functions in a fashion similar to what Bryce uses with the wire frame and materials.
@Dollygirl - my mom has a summer home in Arizona. She's not far from Vegas near Show-Low, but the fascinating thing there for me was all the extinct volcanoes. I had no idea Arizon had a history of such heavy volcanic activity. The most famous I think is Sunset Crater. When I read up on it, it was active until 1067 A.D.
William the Conqueror invaded England resulting in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In geological terms, that volcano was kicking off yesterday.
Yes there is a question in the midst of my mayhem here - sorry. So I should probably direct this at Cho. I quickly realized the Bryce images are basically fractals that are "alphas" which determine elevation and detail. White is "high" and Black is "low". I also experimented a little with pulling in a "picture". Basically what I'm seeing so far is I could technically "paint" a black and white image with the topography I desired - if I could determine the subtleties of the shades of gray - to get the correct form and function, right? I could paint this image in Photoshop or Gimp.
Thus far I have only been able to get the paint editor to pain in only one color - White. I haven't figured out how to get it to switch to Black.
I also have Apophysis which is an open source fractal generator - I did play around with pulling fractals it generated into Bryce for some interesting results but thus far it's a bit too geometry based - still it was interesting.
So my question is - how to get the paint editor to switch to black in Bryce and in regard to importing, is it worthwhile to attempt an import of a detailed fractal from another program?
Height maps can be imported into the terrain editor, as can some of the Digital elevation maps that can be found around the internet.
Need to be in grey scale
I never tried it, but yes that is surely very useful :)