I'm guessing I don't need to explain what's going on in the picture... Some post rendering work done in photoshop. I'm having some trouble putting in a second sun that casts enough light to make a shadow, but doesn't look completely unnatural or skew the entirecolor scheme. I want to put it in the upper right corner (above the sand dune/Mountain). Any suggestions for a light source (radial with what settings... etc.) I don't even need to see the light source, actually. I can add a visible one in photoshop later. I just need the shadow. My other problem is that no matter what I do, even though the image looks good in photoshop, when I export it in any format (set at maximum quality) I get that sectional gradient looking sky, instead of a smooth gradient. Any ideas about settings in Photoshop would help. Thanks.

Oh yeah, I forgot - I even rendered it in Bryce with Anti Aliasing set to high. Are there other settings that can improve the image in bryce?

I am kinda rusty on my Star Wars but weren't both suns near each other? Not on other sides of the planet. In that case they should both be out of view to the front of the scene. But anyway, what I would do is use the visible radial light for positioning since you can see it. It should be a good distance off and pretty dang bright to cast the shadows that would be cast. Turn off the visible aspect for the render though. What I might do is also reverse the light source so you have the actual sun visible and proper and the out of view light source where the sun is now since it doesn't matter as much. This should also add a little haze and such to the scene and break up the sky so the gradient isn't as strong. Good luck

You are correct about the suns, but I was going to take some poetic license. Perhaps that's not too good an idea for the subject matter. Star wars fans get ticked off at stuff like that. So, lets say I keep the sun as is, how can I get rid of that sectioned gradient.

I don't see any sectioned gradient? What are the settings of your vid card?

You can't call it work if you love it... Zen Tambour

 

Here's an idea that pops into my head. Since they used double exposure when filming to get the 2 suns in the movie, why not use the same technique here? Render one picture with the suns in one position, render the picture THE EXACT SAME WAY with the exception of where the sun is and the merge the two in Photoshop? Good, bad, indifferent?

I would add a simple cloud or two of low dusty stuff. Sand specks and such. The problem of the banding comes when there is nothing to break the gradient plane of view. Thhough it seems to be fine for me here at work

Thanks everyone. jstawarz2, I'll try the double exposure. Lets see what happens. The sand specks are a good idea. thgough I've never been able t0 get the hang of volume materials.