August/September 2017 Challenge: O'Gray's Pearls

[XCali]

A very handy tip that ChickPea gave me not too long ago, was to use a series of files like this (slightly modified/interpreted to aid description):

File 1: has all the layers to do with the basic background - the dirt, or the ocean floor, or whatever. This donates all its layers as one 'new layer from visible' to file 2

File 2: is based on the 'new layer from visible' taken from file 1, and on top of that has all the layers to do with creating the buildings/mountains (or whatever is immediately on top of the things in file 1). This file donates all its layers (including the one inherited from file 1) as one 'new layer from visible' to file 3

File 3: is based on the 'new layer from visible' taken from file 2, and on top of that has all the layers to do with creating the chimney stacks and smoke (or whatever goes on top of everything else).

That way, if you have a really large map you only need to have about 4 layers in each of those files, and you haven't merged a single one of them down in an irretrievable way. So if you discover that you made a mistake with one of the background layers in file 1, you just go back to file 1, change it, and cascade the change down through the files by creating a 'new layer from visible', exporting it, and importing it again into file 2, and so on - till you get back to the top file with an updated background.

Hope that a) makes sense, and b) helps prevent future crashing.

.......
I'd subconsciously did stuff like creating my buildings in their own file. But this... is AWESOME! I'll have to figure out how I want to do this. But it will help A LOT. So thank you Mouse and thank you Chickpea You two are great!

[Mouse]

LOL! Thanks XCali, but ChickPea's the great one.

I just copy her stuff

[Mouse]

It takes forever to get a Vue landscape kind of half right. The first one was still very wrong, even though I cut it up and put it inside one of the spheres just to see if it would work that way.

So here is a revision draft of the first landscape, alongside a first draft of a second one.

Landscape1.jpg

A bit too green, I think, but I can see a forest and a dragon for this one - as well as the portal

Landscape2.jpg

Not sure if this one should have Dune-type worms, or something else.

[Mouse]

Landscape 01 (draft A) - outside the bubble

Landscape 01 draft A.jpg

[Mouse]

Been playing around with the arrangement. Nothing is set in concrete yet, and I think I'm going to redo the bubbles (O'Gray's Pearls) - something I will do last of all. The biggest part is thinking up enough different and interesting mini maps to go in each of Fredericka O'Gray's Pearls.

### Latest WIP ###
OGrays Pearls 02.jpg

The maps aren't finished yet either. I'm still thinking about attempting to draw a dragon in the green one, and at least some sign of life in the desert one.

[Diamond]

You are really outdoing yourself (and everyone else) here. So beautiful and well-rendered - the landscapes look like photos.

[Voolf]

Wow, this looks great Mouse, what software are you using to render those mountains ?

[Mouse]

You are really outdoing yourself (and everyone else) here. So beautiful and well-rendered - the landscapes look like photos.

Aw, thank you D

I've spent a great many more hours doing this than I should have done.

Wow, this looks great Mouse, what software are you using to render those mountains ?

Thank you Voolf

I'm using Vue Pioneer 2015 (link is to the current 2016 version), with the Render Up and Advanced Graph modules. I spent a long time choosing which of the 12 modules I really needed, or it would have cost me rather a lot more than just £60 to get these kinds of results.

I wanted to purchase Pant Factory (which I think is what was used to generate the forest plants for the film, Avatar, and which is a stand alone app, not a module). If I had there would be gorgeous forests all over the green version, but Plant Factory costs as much again as the pro version of Vue, and I really couldn't justify the cost against the future possibility of commission work. (Last time I bothered to look Vue Infinite was going for about £1200)

As it stands, these little landscapes I've made are just for show, not for commercial use, since I only have the free version of the software.

The one thing that I found as a beginner with Vue, is that you have to get the whole concept of fractals and node-based textures set in your mind before you really get anything more out of it than the standard 'Rockies' landscape. It also pays to have a substantial machine, since the rendering can take several hours. The desert map took 2 hours, and the green map took 1 hour. The only reason they didn't take any longer was because I was careful not to use any special effects or materials, and only very few objects. The desert has one relatively complex terrain in it, while the green one has two relatively simple terrains.

As with any 3D modelling software, its the textures that make the image - you have to get really good at plugging lots of nodes together in the right order, and spend many hours tweaking the variables to get it right

This is a screen shot of the construction of the desert sand.

Desert Experiment metanode construction.jpg

This one took me about five minutes to plug together, and about 10 hours to tweak.

[Voolf]

Oh, cool. I remember when i was making some 3d models back when i was studying IT. From plain programming 3d objects, to normal modeling. I liked 3dMax the best back then. Now there are so many softwares out there, it is hard to follow. I never heard of Vue, looks like a powerful tool. Wish you luck with this one, though it looks like you dont really need it

[Mouse]

Thanks anyway Voolf - luck is always welcome

Most 3D packages are fun to try out, but they all specialise in different things, and some are not as 'free to use' as others.

I've also dabbled with Blender (which is the most horrendously and unnecessarily complicated piece of 3D software I've ever tried), Bryce (very primitive nowadays since it doesn't use fractals), and Sketchup (which I find a bit too sharp-edged and blocky for landscapes, but great for buildings)

The problem I have now, is that some of the landscapes I have in my imagination are things that I don't know how to even begin in Vue, so they will have to be hand drawn or texture painted in GIMP - and since I've set the standard for level of detail with the Vue landscapes, they could each take a considerable amount of time to get right.

Next up is the urban landscape, which I have already partly modelled in Sketchup. Its a bit too much like Jo's map, though, so I'm going to have to reinvent mine just a bit before its ready

Its a really good job we have 2 months to get this one done! LOL!