One problem, the image is 448kb. But besides that...WOW!! That is amazing. I am impressed. How did you create the footsteps in the terrain? Very well done! Adam

Really impressive! Boy, I hate it when new people show up with so much talent! Why not post it in the CG Gallery where a lot more people are liable to see it? (Maybe run it through a compression utility so as not to max out the modem?)

Thanks Adam. It's a duplicated terrain, separated on the y-axis. One with holes punched through it and another with 'Red Fractal' from the Basic Textures in the Materials Lab - applied to the bump channel of a simple white 'snow' texture. Sorry about the size. :( I compressed it to jpeg, but I never checked to see how big the files were that are posted here. They all take a long time on the 28k connection I use most of the time. And thanks Crescent, I have put it in the Bryce Gallery, too. Noel

Beautiful image Noel, If you get the time, how about a tutorial on how you created the terrain.

yes please Noel if you can would you teach? Is snowing here and I just came to see your picture and actually feel like I just stepped outside! Is wonderful, great work! I don't think I will get enough snow for the making of the man, maybe a tiny woman? grins, but probably not. So I will just keep coming in and peeking at yours until I do. smiles

Outstanding work Noel, I can't take my eye's off it. =)

The terrain was easy to make, but I don't have a web-page to post a tutorial to. So, I'll post the steps here. Create a terrain. Click the 'E' to go to the Terrain Editor. Click the 'Grid' to set the resolution to '1024'. Select 'Perlin Hills' from the drop-down next to the word 'Fractal'. Click the 'Fractal' button a couple of times, 'til you get a simple one. Exit the 'Terrain Editor'. Adjust the 'y-axis' to flatten out the terrain a bit. Select a material like 'Simple and Fast' - 'Flat White' for now. Adjust the colors to pure white, except 'Specular Halo' to light blue. Set Diffusion level to about 100. Set Ambience level to about 45 (note, use the same ambience level throughout your picture, on all the textures) Set Specularity level to about 100. Set Refraction level to 133. Click the check-mark to exit the Materials Lab. Use 'ctrl+D' to duplicate the terrain. Reposition 'Terrain 2' up a little bit. The higher you move it, the deeper the footprints in the snow. This can be re-adjusted later. (Mine is about .75 higher) Select both Terrain 1 and Terrain 2 and group them together. Rotate the grouped terrains to about x = -7 or -8. Now size and position the terrain group to suit your camera position. Rotate it around the 'y-axis' until the low side is under your camera. This should make it look like you're looking up a hill. Once you have the terrains in place, you can ungroup them.

Now you'll need a sky. I used 'Wisp o'the Will' from the presets. This preset has 'Link Sun To View' which is good, since you will need to have the sunlight very low and far off to the side to make the shadows of the textures show up. This is critical. Changing the angle of the sunlight will dramatically change the look of the textures. Select 'Terrain 1' and go to the Materials Lab. Set the Bump Height level to about 38 or so. Put a blue marble in the dent next to 'Bump Height' This will give you a random texture for the bump. Hold the 'Shift' key and click the top right arrow by the texture name. Select 'RedFractal' from the 'Basic' category. Click the check-mark to exit the Materials Lab. Select 'Terrain 2' and go to the Terrain Editor. Adjust the 'size' of the brush for the grey-scale picture. Set it to almost the smallest size, this will be the foot-prints. Adjust the 'Hard'ness of the brush to about medium. Adjust the 'Flow' to about half. Adjust the 'Level' of the brush to very deep (black is okay). Start clicking on the grey-scale map and see what happens. Don't worry about smearing the dots, that looks okay. Place the dots, roughly, along paths. Stay away from the top edge of the grey-scale map. Leave spaces with no footprints for trees or whatever. Use a bigger brush to clear out an area where the Snowman will be. Click the check-mark to exit the Terrain editor. Try a test render. If you don't like what you see, 'undo' and try again. If you screw up Terrain 2, just delete it and make another copy of Terrain 1 and try again. Now just tweek everything until you can't stand the picture anymore. ;) Noel

Oh Noel thank you is wonderful tutorial! If you want and is up to you of course. I can put up in my sharing directory your tutorial and picture for you to share this on the net. Just let me know and then give me some time to do. Will have to reduce the size of that picture though if that is ok? If you want to do this, I will send to you first when done for your approval before you the share URL. A lot of people will be wanting to make snowmen and women. smiles

Thank you SO much noel!! The tutorial is GREAT! You even went through every single detail on how to created the image. Thanx again!! Adam

This is terrific. I've just saved it for my desktop for awhile if you don't mind. BTW, would you mind sharing the info about the Poser list? Diane B

Noel, thank you for takling the time out to write this. FastTraxx

Will be up on net pretty soon Fast Traxx after Noel approves page, I will contact you so you can tell me how to add it to the tutorials here. smiles

I neglected to say how much I like the tutorial. I've just reread it and want to save it for myself. Also--probably a really dumb question but I think I've seen the answer somewhere before. How did you do the snow on the top of the sled, the hat, and the 'frosty' trees--I've thought about how I might approach this, but if you don't mind sharing, I'd really appreciate it. Again--your image is residing on my desktop for awhile. I usually select one each week from the Bryce Select Gallery, but this one took my eye this week. Diane B

Diane- it's not a stupid question because I thought of the exact same question. I was playing around with my HelloSanta image I created when I discovered how to add the snow. After you click the "M" for the materials of the object you want snow on, click the texture source editor botton for texture A. Click the triangle on the bottom left corner of the combination palette. Select "Spline with Snow" and enjoy the "frosty" look. =) Adam

Sorry I didn't answer this earlier, I got wrapped up in some other renders and lost track of this thread. ;) The hat and trees are the result of procedural textures, but the sled was easier. I copied the mesh and raised it a little bit (and moved it back a little) and then painted the new mesh with a snow texture. Oh, and the hat is pulled down on the snowman's head so far that a little of his cranium is poking through the brim. ;) Noel