A quick break

 

Lens-Sim and True-Terrain-5

I made really good progress on the lander, so this morning, I created a little nature scene.

Lander

Some extensive rebuilding and mesh clean-up:

The engine pivots are now less stick-out after the engine root block was embedded within the engine using some boolean magic.

The command deck's viewing ports were rebuilt, and the cabin was carved out.

I'm toying with the idea of renaming the Embrae to Manta. A medium VTOL transporter

Quite a lot of surface details improved along with clean-up and consolidation.

It feels like we're on the last leg of a long tour. What remains to do:

• The cargo container needs some work around the hull's edges. I may build a seam line.
• Some hull details - complete the lamps. Add some more lights.
• The access ramp (at the back) needs building out.
• Final engine details,  some greebles around the thruster nozzle's root.                                                                                                                              

Then, some texture painting. Maybe I'll experiment with those cool normal-map decals.

Practice, Practice...

 I'm still working on the Community Challenge but have focused more on learning to get the most out of the water system. So, there is nothing specific to show on that.

Alien dusk

Scatter and lens testing

Dawn Flight

This one took up too much of yesterday. It started out as a test of the water (ocean system) with massive terrain displaced from a massive 1GB height map created in the latest World Creator beta. 

Starting point...

More Lens-Sim practice

 Last night, I wasted a lot of time making horrible renders, and I felt like I'd lost the knack for taking basic photo-style renders. I was just choosing a very challenging, maybe incompatible subject -- wide landscapes.

Up close and scattered

I needed a nature scene as a background...because I wanted to make a plant scene with new assets. Add something in the foreground as a focus subject.

Nature Watching

35m F2.0 23 2 Anamorphic Adaptor + added bloom, distortion and Photographer 5 film grain

400mm f8.0 Nikon DodottoTele with render noise 

F2.0 Helios-23 f1.8 with bloom/distortion/Photographer 5's film grain

In Summary. Lens Sim is for when you are going for very specific filmic renders where you tweak aspects of the render to look more photorealistic. It's not magic but it can be in the hards of a really talented artist.

No Blender Add-ons bought today...so...far

 

Lens-Sim Add-on. Quick render tests using a bunch of random assets from Plantica. These are not "showcase" rendered. Everything is a mess and exposed artlessly, but they work because they feel real because Lens-Sim has an amazing knack for fooling our eyes with fake optical imperfections.

I did some practice work with True-Sky. I really should start saving some presets.

Community Competition ideas

I plan to submit a piece to True-VFX's Discord community render competition. The theme is water and the main rule: no post-production outside of Blender.

The initial ideas: A strange sea shantytown

PureRef. Great tool. Must use it more often