Environment Project - Part 1: Woe time

 Suddenly everything grinds to a halt. I was getting constant problems with my scene not accepting parameter changes. I'd adjust something, such as the exposure setting, and my change would be instantly removed.

AttributeError: Writing to ID classes in this context is not allowed: Scene, Scene datablock, error setting option.running

Info: Saved "DreamlandSheffield01-Blockout06.blend"

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "C:\Users\mark\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.5\extensions\user_default\TrueSky\scripts\DevOps\ui.py", line 519, in _set_toggle_input

    self.input.default_value = int(value)

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Then I'd overcome the problem by saving and restarting Blender.

This morning, I removed Blender 4.5 and reinstalled the latest build, so my copy should include the fixes from the last week.

So onwards!

 So far, so good. Now, the area where the city is going needs to stretch out more. I couldn't get the horizon line high enough. My lensing is off! I need to use a longer focal length to bring the foreground in and stretch the view into the distance.

Better! I also added a simple plane to create the flat open areas (a plane) for the city.

Only I then got CUDA errors...

Maybe the scene is too big in terms of the render area? The plane and background terrains are enlarged, not to scale so the view stretches off into the 20,000m range. That seems excessive; it really should be all done in a 10km stretch.

I restarted and made changes. Removed the distance terrains from the final render. Only to crash on startup.

# Blender 4.5.0, Commit date: 2025-07-10 00:47, Hash 4a68512db9fd

# backtrace

Exception Record:

ExceptionCode         : EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION
Exception Address     : 0x00007FFB9920F255
Exception Module      : python311.dll
Exception Flags       : 0x00000000
Exception Parameters  : 0x2

    Parameters[0] : 0x0000000000000001
    Parameters[1] : 0x00007FFB98FDFF8B

I restarted my machine and did some basic renders. Seems fine for now. The most likely culprit is that light rays are going out too far. I know that problems like this have been fixed before by enclosing a scene without a box, to trap light rays that might zoom off to infinity and beyond.

I may restart the build later with a view to keeping it smaller.

Environmental Scene Project: Pastoral Sheffield

 I once had a dream in which I lived in an idealised pre-industrial Sheffield. From my cottage on the outskirts, I could see the familiar skyline, with a handful of towers projecting from the built-up city centre, but everything was leafy and rural, with elegant stone-clad buildings. This dream happened years ago, but it created such a sense of dream euphoria that I became depressed on waking. A severe case of H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands, a place people go to that becomes more real and more important than their waking life.

What a subject for an environmental project. One that will pull together the lessons I've gained so far from Piotr Krynski's course.

Midjourney

It started with a Midjourney output that evokes pleasant feelings of familiarity. I particularly like the Gothic mansion in the middle ground. The City isn't quite right, but I can work on the details as the scene gets put together.

First, I need to break down the terrain elements. These are the most significant components, and it's crucial to get the scale right if you want lighting and environment to behave realistically. It's not that you can't fake it, but you might end up where you need to add too many fake or botched elements to overcome inconsistencies in haze and overall lighting.

Foreground: A steep element that supports a single tree and a flowery meadow. This area can support densely scattered grass.

Middle ground: Fields and dense copses break up the elevation ahead of a grand building at the top of the hill.

Background: The most complex element is the plain broken by hedgerows and individual trees, which leads into a city element, which fades into the background several kilometres away. 

Rough blockout using random terrains

This could be best done on three plates: Foreground, Middle ground, and Background. This requires more planning and effort to coordinate, but you can utilise all your system resources for each element, resulting in a final scene that would be impossible to render in one shot. Challenge accepted!

So I'm going to start by sculpting three separate terrain elements.