Nearly finished. Last is to add the action (human element), also perhaps fish and/or birds, etc. And, play with the lighting, etc. Obviously, taking this to the ocean. I will have it half surrounded by a small land mass. Perhaps a wood boardwalk from the land to the structure. (sounds like Myst...) I have re-worked this even a little more since this render, I completely re-worked the bases transparencies to look a little more realistic, and added a layer of barnacles all around. Spent nearly a whole day on the water, lol. It's complex. I dumped the thought of this being in the interior of some building/cave, etc. since I like how the water element has turned out so far. AgentSmith

WOW, thats some great looking sea water. Cant wait to see the finished product.

Excellent thingy modeling, thingy textures and thingy concept. I could hear the ocean!!

Gorgeous mats and... nice idea to make it a platform.

Agent Smith, So its an oil rig? just kidding! It's beyond the thingy! That is to say well and above! that is simply WoW! I like the look of the waves too (is that a modified marble texture?). It's a winner! - TJ

wow!!! awesome! way too good!

that is awesome, it looks so.....real, and yet so surreal

don't know what the thingy is but it looks great! The water is fantastic too. Great job.

The ocean look fantastic! Is it a twist on some marble texture?

The water turned out fantastic. Really shows off your thingy structure. I vote for a shark in the water. Also looking forward to the finished pic. Lin

Come on AS tell us how you did the water it is quite spectacular. Catlin

Whoa...Looks like something out of the movie waterworld. Excellent Scene!

water is fantastic. I mean the thingie is definitely cool, but I am praying that you share your water mat creation tips sometime. =) So foamy!

very cool! Personally I'd like to leave it out in the middle of the sea, no land in sight. Like the water world in myst. It's more "mystical" like that?

FAntastic work. You must tell us how you did that great water.

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I thought about middle of the sea thing. Which will happen if my land idea ends up looking like crap, lol. Shark; almost definitely. Water; that tutotial I ran across on stacking land terrains got me thinking about doing it with water. The foam is multi layers made in Photoshop on a terrian with alpha maps blending it into the next terrain underneath which is a multi greenish Bryce water mat, then a terrain of subtle sparkle-y looking transparent Bryce mat, with a really bright spotlight beneath all that with a water caustic gel on it, to help sell everything. Made a handful of very small water sprays in Photoshop and added that in post. Stacking terrains tutorial at link. Thanks for da comments! AS

Fantastic water and metal rig thingy! But... I find that they are "both" so busy that they are fighting with each other. My attention wants to focus on both at the same time and the rig thingy's wonderful detail is getting lost in the ocean's wonderful detail. The overcast/cloudy looking lighting may be contributing to this. I don't know. Does anyone else have this problem? Do you already have a solution in mind for this A.S.?

Yup, pretty much it looks like reference photos I have of old oil derecks (spelling?), so I probably won't change it that much. But, I am going to play with the lighting, so maybe that will change things around. BUT, I do agree with you somewhat, I may have to do a fly through animation of the scene to satisfy myself. AgentSmith

Wow! This is great! Its gonna be difficult to vote this month. Lots of fantastic ideas and renders.

:) It's been difficult since I can remember. Lots of talent here.

Agent Smith. . . You're a bringer of innovative thought!. . . . . Now you got me thinking. . . . what if. . . . . you use the stacking terrain technique on other terrain based objects. . . . like rusty ship hulls or a patina on bronze?. . . . . Time to experiment!!

Yeah, actully, all 3 terrains are the same exact terrain, the middle one is just placed 0.01 below the top one, and the very bottom one 0.01 below the middle. The top one has the alpha map to tell it wherever there ISN'T white foam, to make it transparent. AND, even the white foamy parts are slightly transparent The middle one is just greenish water mat. The bottom adds grain/glitter to the water/mix (basically what would be fine grains of sand in the water) In the past I have used a terrain for a metal plate, and then another terrain for the rivets coming out of that metal plate. That way I could give the rivets a different .mat, and make them more visable. Just like anything Bryce, just gotta start using the imagination to use its tools in crazy ways! AS