50 Years Later by JavaJones
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Description
50 years after the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, which flattened trees up to 8 miles from the blast, the mountain's greenery has returned.
This is the first Terragen 2 alpha image to be shown featuring 3D objects. All objects have been loaded and rendered directly in the current "TGD" alpha. There are 310,00 trees, 580,000 bushes, and 85,000 "grass clumps", totalling over 13.5 billion polygons before culling. As you can see TGD can do objects, and it can do them well. :D
The 3D objects used are from an XFrog freebies archive here: http://web.inf.tu-dresden.de/ST2/cg/downloads/publicplants/
Also note the moon is a full 3D object - I could render a scene from the moon looking back at this planet, for example. The moon uses a photographic texture of our own moon mixed with some procedurals. The features of the moon have actual height.
The terrain is a 2049 DEM of Mt. St. Helens. I didn't use a higher resolution version because it didn't make much difference at this distance from the crater, and with vegetation covering most of the surface.
Post processing was done to make it look a bit more like a photo, and included a bit of levels and other color adjustment, a slight glow effect, minor selective sharpening, and a vignette effect (commonly seen in traditional photography). The unedited version is available upon request, but is not significantly different.
I hope you all enjoy this small look at the future. More is coming soon. :)
Comments (36)
morganbesh
Its so awesome seeing these new TGD images. This is so realistic. I hope more coming soon!
athesdan
wonderful !
Darthmagus
Splendid!
joshus_hund
falls from chair
hillrunner
Bravo Oshyan :)
Rich2
Wow - didn't know it'd look THIS good - !!! I got about 1 million (+ or - a few thousand) questions about TGD, but I suppose they can wait... A quantum leap & quite impressive.
stbc
gets hit by Jens, cause I am already on the floor Bravo, indeed, to all concerned!!!!!
eargasm
Realism indeed! Excellent render and composition!
fractalinda
How exciting!! Thank you for the preview! I'm positively "gobsmacked!"
aarontyler
*Trips over Jens and Steve while my mouth was wide open in disbelief... Incredible Image Oshyan!!! Absolutely Incredible!!!
AndyWelder
Incredible realism... Like the low clouds/fog, especially the right part, where it highlites the silhouettes of the trees.
cederleth
I can't wait! This is mind-blowing!
Saurav
Excellent work ohsyan, very impressive preview. =)
ppetersen
And here I was wondering where you found those trees. Amazing and wonderful for when we all can use it!!! truely gives the extra umph that is needed. Love this render...
danamo
Very impressive vegetation and render! Now that Terragen,(or TGD)will offer vegetation and 3D import, it looks like a serious contender or rival to Vue Infinite. Although the trees are way above where the real tree-line has ever been on the mountain historically(I live in Southwest Washington)that is beside the point, and a very minor nitpick,lol. I'm really looking forward to its release!
JPSoft
(Excellent)
JavaJones
Well this is a fantasy image; the tree line being higher is largely intentional. First, it lost something like 1000 feet in height from the explosion. 2nd, I figure if the mountain became dormant trees might be a lot more inclined to grow on it. But really it's the intention of it that matters - the trees are back, and they're growing where they please, nothing to fear. :D The scale is just about correct actually, at least according to the spacing of the terrain, which is derived from DEM data. As for whether the simple but powerful images of some of the best current TG'ers are gone, they certainly don't have to be. TG2 will be just as capable of those kinds of images as current TG - more so, really. But surely there are not many out there with a significant amount of TG experience who are not finding themselves feeling confined, perhaps even a bit bored with TG's current limitations. I think it's pretty negative to look at advances in artistic exlression brought by improvements in software as necessitating the end of a particular art style. One might as well lament the advent of color photography heralding the death of black and white (for the record: it didn't). The minimalist approach is certainly not discouraged by TG2's new capabilities. If people choose to ignore that style long-term, that's their preference; right now we have no choice, and that's just not right. TG2 will be in almost all respects a tool much more able to help people express their artistic visions, whatever those might be. I certainly do hope what people choose to share is diverse and surprising.
JavaJones
ahem That being said, thank you for the comments! I do appreciate constructive criticism, and I see what you mean about the scale. I think the trees in the distance in some areas look wrong, but as I said the scale seemed right according to the DEM. I'll look at it for potential future versions of the scene. And thanks to everyone for their comments as well. :)
christianfly
Agree with you, Oshian, the TG2 will only remove some limits, add some functionnalities, and certainly don't end an era. May be the price will give a new limit but... Anyway, I think we must take this render as a demonstration on future behavior, and even if it is just a demo, I think that the tree line looks very reasonable.
EoinArmstrong
Oooh, baby! Give us a go!!
MaydaMason
i cannot see any terragen part there before reading what you wrote... incredible!!! and i'll say what i've said on the previous terragen post... i cannot wait no more!!!!
blonderella
awestruck, trips over my jaw and falls on the floor amidst the ever growing heap of bodies...then picking myself up, falls on the floor once more, because I actually am in agreement with Oshyan's statements heh ;)~ I have been waiting eagerly for such an image Oshyan, and thankyou for finally allowing us to see what we have been dying to see...I can not even begin to imagine all the possibilities of this new version...for those Terrageneers who now create masterpieces with the current version and lead the rest of us in new and inventive directions, is there any doubt they will combine the best of the old AND new? they will take that ball and run with it, and hopefully we'll all watch them score a touchdown, spike that ball and do the celebratory "end zone shuffle" time after time after time, while we cheer en masse...I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel now! :D
fmtoffolo
at last!!!! this looks incredible. perhaps not the best fog i have seen but looks very promising.
inkydigit
spotted over at ashundar...still gonna give you a big V!!!;)
TerraDreamer
I wasnt trying to be pessimistic about TGD, please understand that. The mountain lost 1,300' in elevation. As far as Mt. St. Helens and the tree line goes, the original tree line is at least 700-1,000 feet below the current lip of the crater on the north side. The tree line will never change, as beyond that elevation the climatic and geologic conditions are simply too severe to support such growth. Here is a link showing the mountain the day before the eruption: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Jpg/MSH/Images/MSH80_st_helens_from_johnston_ridge_05-17-80_med.jpg and here is one showing it four months after: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Jpg/MSH/Images/MSH80_st_helens_from_johnston_ridge_09-10-80_med.jpg As you can see, the tree line is still well below the lip of the crater. And you can also see that the trees at the base are the size of dust mites. Here is a very recent picture taken from the crater rim looking towards Spirit Lake: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Jpg/MSH/MSH05/MSH05_dome_from_crater_rim_cam_10-11-05_med.jpg As you can see, the area is still devoid of significant plant life, although field grasses and bushes are trying to take hold. You'll be hard pressed to see any new trees four miles from the base. I live in Portland, Oregon and have been visiting St. Helens since my childhood. I was there as recently as three months ago. With all this said, I like everyone else certainly anticipates the beta release!
JavaJones
TerraDreamer, I do understand, and again I appreciate the feedback. I also understand why the tree line is (or was, hehe) the way it is. That's not to say that geological and climactic conditions can't change, although 25 years (from now) may be pushing it for anything that major. ;) I did find those and many other reference pics both before and after I made the image. I looked a bit harder for some "before" pics after you mentioned the scale was off, and from what I saw you are right. According to some tests I've done since, the scale is about 2x too large according to the DEM data. I will continue looking into it of course as this is something of interest and concern to me. Perhaps if I'd named it "1000 years later" it would have worked as far as tree growth, etc. at least? ;) Thanks again for the feedback, no ill will here, I certainly appreciate it. :)
Buzzzzz
Damn You Java! I want a Date with this Lady! ;o)
Grosch
very cool...
eponce
woow! this is excellent!
superza
Fantastic Render Java! Tgd seems to have a huge potential. Have you Any info about rendering time and resolution of this render? Could be interesting know how adding 3d obj increase render time :-)