Hi Vue-ers,

I have a problem.
I'm stuck with some depth issues.

When i wanna make i empty landscape, like the moon, i want to make for example a deep
cliff.
When i make this i create a terrain, aim the camara down and render. Output is not what i want.
Then i come up with the idea to scale the terrain 10 times or 100 times, bit it makes no difference!

What i want is to create real depth, like kilometers of cliffs..
I have seen render like that, but i cant realise it.. I do something wrong, but i dont know what..

Is there someone who can help me a little with this?
I would really really help me!
Thanks a lot.

There's nothing to give any clues as to size in your image. It could be grains of sand for all anyone can tell. You need to add something which hints at the intended size - say, a tiny space-suited figure or something. Then it doesn't matter what size Vue says it is.

I think the best way is to observe reality, see how things and landscapes look  and what's the difference  between vast landscapes and your back garden for example.  Getting as much reference  as possible, studying the landscape photos and books and actually walking outdoor helps a lot.  In Vue scaling the terrain doesn't help too much, you need the details, the atmo effects (haze, fog, aerial perspective) and some objects  from which you get the sense of scale, figures or vehicles  Spedler mentioned above. In your case you try to recreate some kind of Moon  landscape I am not too familiar with and where atmo effects can't really come to use, but as you can see here......
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/AS17-145-22160HR.jpg

....you need usually several levels of details in you landscape. Rough base and then fill it up with smaller craters, stones....etc......and finally add something what help us to realize how big it is.....( the human tracks here really helps)....
Quite general help but i hope  helpful a little bit....
Ailig

The shadows in the canyon are very even, if its meant to be big then the canyon should be deep.
IE the shadows should get darker as they go down.
 

Thanks for all the information, i will work on that.

I guess as the moon and similar do not have an atmos like Earths it is much harder to simulate distance and depth because you can't rely on haze etc to create the appearance of distance and size.  Perhaps focus on lots of detail, extending far into the distance in order to create a sense of size?

Look at Apollo 17 mission pictures (which are interesting as they are set in the most altimetric diverse location of all Apollo landings) and try to asses the distance of features. Afterwards, get the EVA maps and see the actual distances... you will be shocked.

Without atmospheric absorbtion and haze, it is next to impossible to gauge distances.

I think that the main problem of your terrain is the relative scale between horizontal distances and vertical ones. For example, largest "canyon" known is Valles Marineris. It is difficult to get the feeling of its size: in this page http://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/treiman/greatdesert/workshop/poster1/index.html there is a comparison between Valles Marineris and the Grand Canyon, which will give you hard data.

Another problem are shadows: without atmosphere, either you get direct light or the reflected light from nearby cliffs: the actual intensity of the effect depends upon the color of the ground.
Demented conspiracy theories apart, the general lighting of Apollo photographs is so harsh to make the brightest noon on earth look dim by comparison so you are dealing with an enourmous dynamic range (why are some items visible also in shadows? because they are dimly lit by nearby objects and  not so nearby hills).

Bye!!!

Thanks for the tips! I will try and then post a render soon, so you all can see what i did with it.

Space is harder to makw look "right" because, as Alex notes, ther'e sno atmosphere, which we need fo rour normal references!
it's why folk moon landing pics were faked, when they aren't.

Very little ambient light (no atmosphere to scatter)
Shadows are very harsh (again no spthmosphere to scatter or many objects to reflect light)
No alteration of the SUn's colour by the atmosphere (So no blue sky dome effect, or red sunset)

alway smake things at real scale values, this helps

also you cna use Z depth or depth blur in render to add depth.
:)

Another thing that can help is the use of overlapping forms that become denser in the background. This makes the scene appear as if the farther back you look the more exspansive the environment is. Like "piles" of mountain ridges receeding in the distance.

Thanks!

I tried something :

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1855922

i am happy with the results..

Thanks again!

Javil

Thats a nice image Javil, something different, always nice to see.

Jon

i like it a lot, really nice.

you did call it "568 Miles form Earth" in the title though :P

The moon looks too round-ish.  So the overall image seems to be of a not-so-grand landscape.