[blueplanetdesign]

Here's a 15 minute WIP prelim render...

Will be populated with more correct plants and grasses as the project progresses. Some modification to the terrain will also be done.

bpd

[JTB]

I haven't visited the real one, but I think you need more bump or displacement... It is a really nice picture

[Tim Ellis]

A nice start so far mate.

I think though the stone texture is too red.

http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/photos_6.htm

You could maybe make a weightmap and texture from the lichen photo on that page, which would help with the realism too.


Tim.

[blueplanetdesign]

Tim,

Yes you're right about the red tint in the maps. Should be more cool gray.
It's been a while since I looked at reference photos on the actual site.
I had forgotten that there was so much short green grass.
I rememeber there being more tall whispy grass.
Poor recall on my part. Will alter terrain to match.

[sandykoufax]

wow, looks nice already.

good start!

[blueplanetdesign]

Here are a couple updated views using a new solar position. Note the sun's sphere...it's more noticable in the second view.


I'm still having a bit of difficulty getting the sun's position nearer to the horizon...I'd like to achieve a bit more late sunset look.

One other major question that perhaps someone out there can answer: When we use a displaced material to populate the
ground with "grass" the render comes out completely black. In order to cover the rather large ground plane we have had to tile
the maps upwards of 250+ times. Perhaps this is resulting in our black render perdicament.
I wonder if the sss portions of the grass mxm is the culprit?
Any suggestions would be helpful.

bpd

[Tim Ellis]

Your displaced grass problem might be due to the height the grass is displaced, which is in fact enclosing the camera.

I'm only suggesting this due to the height of the current grass, which I'm presuming is the height you want the displacement to be.

Try the fake sss trick using this mxm as a base, instead of using sss for the grass:- http://mxmgallery.maxwellrender.com/sea ... search=sss

The sun display in the bottom left corner of the viewport, will turn black as it dips below the horizon. You should be able to use this to set your sun position closer to where you want it.

Tim.

[blueplanetdesign]

Here's another update using drastically reduced displacement values. I assumed that a value of around 1.0 would be appropriate.
Turns out that a value of 0.030 was more useful. Tiling was also increased to 500. The results don't really please me though.
For our needs, I believe we will have to rely on all 3D geometry for the grass elements. Eventually we will have to produce
some simple animation featuring wind to disturb the grassy areas so there's no real way around the modeling.

Render time was about 15 minutes.

[Becco_UK]

Nice start. Maybe a z-depth image would be useful to add some light mist?

[blueplanetdesign]

Sorry Becco_UK...

I don't know how to accomplish the z-depth image you mention.

Can you elaborate?

bpd

[Becco_UK]

blueplanetdesign: I meant rendering a z-depth image with Maxwell and using that as a mask to control mist. In my paint software this is quite easy - paint a fully opaque mist layer and then mask it with the depth map. Adjust opacity to suit requirements. Quick way to get some atmosphere into a scene, particularly for early morning/ evening images.

I have a questions - have you arranged the stones the same as stonehenge.

[blueplanetdesign]

...Stone arrangement is fairly close to actual site.

thanks for the info.

[Maximus3D]

This looks promising BPD good so far, however i think your stones need more work. They should be smoother, take a closer look at the stones. You can see lots of photos of them in Google Earth.

Also the stones in the center circle are called blue stones because they have a more blueish tone to them.

/ Max

[Becco_UK]

This BBC link has a video of the stone layout (when it was new): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7322134.stm