Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=257137&Start=73&Sectionid=2&WhatsNew=Yes&Form.sess_i

Basically I'm setting up a scene based on Anne McCaffery's "Dragonriders of Pern". The dragon's home is an extinct volcano with a sandy base. I'm going for realism as much as possible (both material and having the render look real/photo).

I love the terrain done in this gallery post (link) and would like to get close to that.

Aldaron, These pics look pretty grainy on my screen, especially compared to the link. I'm not sure if others will have this problem. I've done my best to ignore the grainyness, and here is my opinion. I think 1 has the best looking vertical ridges, but 4 has the best colors. I love the dragon rider books, be sure to keep us posted about this scene as it goes along. Lin

Number 3 looks the best with number 1 following in second. 2 and 4 seem way to grainy. But since this is supposed to be a volcanoe, none really matches. Strata are great for cliffs and canyons, but you need something dark and rough (which 2 is, somewhat) for the inside of a volcanoe: Here's a picture of the crater at Mt. St. Helens, maybe it will give you some ideas. Good luck with it. http://www.perrochon.com/photo/MountHelens/Helens7.jpg

I first thought volcanoes had to have dark rock too but it depends on what type of volcano it is, I've looked at some pictures but very few are real close or of the inside of the crater which I'd really love to find. The grainy quality comes from having to shrink the pics (and compression quality, original image was almost 2 MB) they don't look that grainy when it's larger and all of these are default textures so I can fiddle with them. Now I like #3 the best but as was pointed out above it truly dosen't say "volcano" but it has the best look. I may have to use creative license and not follow Mrs. McCaffery's books procisely unless someone can point me to a more appropriate material. Thanks for the opinions so far. lsstrout : They're my favorite books too, first read them over 20 years ago and am reading them again as we type for the umptenth time. :) I plan on doing a series, I have the Pernese dragon 75% complete using metaballs.

I know it will take you longer to upload, but I think a higher quality .jpg would help in the decision of the textures. Your pic above was saved at only 49%. 85% would show of the textures to us better. Otherwise I really like #3. The volcano is extinct, so it wouldn't absolutely have stick to looking like volcano rock...right? Although I will contend probably no volcano's have #3 rock around them... AS

Attached Link: http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/north_america/crater_lake.html

I keep hearing about the movie too but the latest news I've had on it is over 2 years old on the Sci-Fi channel boards. Good news though if you are into Roger Zelanzy, they are doing a mini-series next year on his "Chronicle of Amber" books. :)

Here is a bigger pic of number 2 with the bump decreased by half, no looking at it I like it better if I can get the sand to look lighter. It uses "Jurassic world 2 material that I think I got off the content CD.

I agree with lighter sand. Can you sleep in a second terrain to do the sand?

sleep = slip Maybe I need more sleep... :)

That looks great! I'm glad you are making it poseable. The scale looks just right and I think you got the back leg just right (back legs always give me trouble when drawing). I can't quite tell, but are you also making the fingers poseable too? If so that is really cool.

The redish color of #3 looks familiar, but the texture does appear sedimentry. Remember that although volcanos are built in layers, you're not likrly to see near horizontal layering on the inside of the volcano unless it has been y eroded. Then you are more likely to see breccia slopes than bare rock layers. the 'sand' that you are likely to see would be similar to the color of the rock but perhaps more monocolored perhaps greyer or browner(unless it is wind blown.) There is the Hawaian type(Magnesium rich- darker more flowing) and 'continental' type(Aluminum rich - lighter more explosive.) It is not only the type of volcano but the age of the eruption that counts. Over several eruptions the mineralogy can change. Around Mexico city there are some good examples of the later type. I think post number 7 is getting close except as has been noted about the color of the 'sand' and lack of any breccia(angular boulders). also I noticed when I visited Cerro Colorado(an inactive volcano(?)) in Sonora there were a lot of barrel cactus and other desert plants. I think you're doing an exceptional job with this. Like to see it with the dragon in the pict too when he's done. - TJ

Attached Link: http://www.noctua-graphics.de/

Well, I think that #3 is the most realistic of the four, and I think it's a killer mat, but it doesn't look like chewy's terrain, or a volcano. That's a toughie.

Oh, I forgot to say, I dig the dragon. I can't wait to see this one finish!

I would go for 3. It looks like tide marks where the water mark used to be years ago. TT.

Oh, that's really nice. It's good and dusty. I like it. Unrealted humorous thought: the stones in the foreground kinda look like gray potatoes because of the spots on them.

Oh yeah that one looks very nice. Can't wait to see the final version.

Hey looks great...

Good texture. Now you only have 4 or 5 million more things to do. :)

Aldaron, You've done very well with this - only one more commment if you will; jonnpenn touched on it but refered to the texture and indirectly to the shape of the foreground rocks - they should be angular rather than rounded. the texture itself looks dacitic, which is appropriate. Again very well done, - TJ

Well some bad news, it doesn't look like I'll be able to post these works once I'm done with them, at least not in the near future. This is a reply I got back from my request:

"We are currently not at liberty to provide you with this information. We are
at this time participating in sensitive negotiations. Your request is,
therefore, not timely made and, as you know, you should not post any such
derivative artwork without receiving permission. If you would be kind enough
to contact me again in two months time, I might be in a better position to
provide you with more definitive guidance. Nevertheless, may I add that as a
general rule posting such artwork would not be permitted. If permission were
granted to you, others who have similar requests would seek equal favor.
Because of the general availability of this work to the public through on
line display and downloading, Ms. McCaffrey's commercial rights in her work
would be diluted, notwithstanding that you have no commercial designs. We
have no objections to your utilizing and enjoying your creations for
strictly personal use, but once it becomes generally available on the
internet, it becomes a problem. Our attorneys have strongly urged us and our
licensees not to grant permission to these kinds of requests. In any event,
please contact me again in two months or so and I will, hopefully, be able
to provide you with more definitive information. We appreciate very much
your interest in Ms. McCaffrey's Pern novels. I am sorry I could not be more
encouraging.

All the best,

Alec Johnson,
Webmaster, The Worlds of Anne McCaffrey"

What was the information you requested of this webmaster?

I requested permission to post my renders of "Dragonriders of Pern" to the internet and the response was
"I'm afraid we cannot grant your request because those rights are currently
tied up with Pern's media prospects. Regardless of your commercial
intentions, we just don't have the rights to grant to you. Thank you very
much for asking though."

Then I asked who I could contact that could give permission. Apparently it's a sensitive time right now.

I always try to make an effort to get permission if it's derived from someone else's work. I know they have been trying to get someone to make a movie so this may be part of the problem. I'll try again in about 2 months but I'm not holding my breath. :)

...ya gotta be kidding me! But, before I open my big mouth any more...let me post this quandary up to my bosses...see what their take on it is. AgentSmith

Couldn't it be Dragonriders from anywhere, it could be the "Pern" part in the title of the image, that way you could post the pic without infringement. However, be careful, now that they are aware of you, they may be watching for images you post on the web (that sounds extremely parinoid doesn't it?) sorry I worked for the government for too long...:P

People post dragon images all the time, and there were dragon riders in Dinotopia too. I can't see how McCaffrey's people can claim exclusivity on dragon images, yours or anyone else's, however they can lay claim to the "Pern" name, and how it's used...Hmmmmm...

Oooops, sorry they were pteradons...

I agree that the name Pern is Ann's. So that would have to be removed from any of your work. How about Dragon Masters, Dragon Wardens... etc. You could come up with a large number of other ideas to still be able to utilize your hard work. Hate to see someone go through all that trouble to create this stuff, to be shot down by some uptight lawyer types. Change enough of it.. and then well, it's no longer derived from her works.

I appreciate your comments and suggestions. It's true I could do any old dragon picture but my idea was to do scenes from the books. So even though I could do dragon pictures I could do like Ramoth's mating flight (at least not using the name) or Impression (the linking of rider to dragon at hatching) and several other things. Besides Pernese dragon are rather unique and not your common looking dragons. I'll work on them and enjoy looking at them and wait to see what the verdict might be in a couple of months. I could send the pics to people who would be interested in looking at them but won't be able to post them, as long as those people promise not to distribute or post them to the web. Apparently not all authors are as lenient with there works in regards to fan stuff as others are, which I really can't blame them all that much.

Keep working on your scene. We've (Renderosity employees) been going over your problem here and trying to hash all the opinions out, see if there is anything that can be done. Unfortunately, we have looked at Ann's website and yes, they are EXTREMELY strict on fan inspired work's. I thik it goes way too far, but that's an opinion and not relevant in the eyes of the law. If need be we'll do a mass e-mailing of your finished work to anyone we can find. Ann should have a fan (snail) mail address? We could print out your picture and mail it to her. We'll do something, keep working. AgentSmith

Hey thanks for the help AS, really appreciate it.