AlphaCentury, a Terrain Creation Tutorial...

[DM]

Well it doesn't look like you will need Vue Hansl, another good one. My Zlandscapes are rubbish I'm afraid, so Vue is my Poser of landscapes. Nice work with Z d'Esprit. :) :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:
Dave

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Juandel
We can ear the undertow :)
Pilou

[Flycatcher]

Two more magical images in your own inimitable style, Hansl. :tu: :tu: :tu:

I don't comment on them all individually - the thread would get even more ridiculously long - but they are all much appreciated. Keep 'em coming maestro.

[DeeVee]

Congratulations Jaundel! It is a joy to see you posting again. Those months without your images were not very pleasant ones at all. Welcome back!
Excellent images All around,
DeeVee.

[juandel]

thank you for your kind, feedback, ZBs! :) its mucho appreciated - but i understand it would get as repetitive as my experiments, FC :D Deevee: for a little while i have more time left for doing what i like most and as its pretty chilly over here and cozy indoors and i am without a juandelita at the time given :rolleyes:, zbrushing is my choive :D

here is a cliff-coast starring Dave’s :tu: :tu: :tu: Seagull (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=009514) once again... i thought i would sepia it (mrgbz-grab -> texture make alpha -> alpha make texture -> fill canvas -> coloradjustments in render palette), but looking at it i am not sure, which one i prefer, so here are both versions:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/cliffsflwide.jpg

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/cliffsflwidecol.jpg

- juandel

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Juandel
That's damned good ! Except on the right down side : rocks are too ragged :)
First version more potetic
Pilou

[Flycatcher]

Nice work once more - I think I prefer the original coloured version over the sepia, but like you I'm not sure. :tu:

See - you've forced me to reply again already. :D

The last thing I would accuse your experiments of is repetitiveness. In fact their diversity (everything from abstracts through cityscapes, seascapes to dreamy landscapes) shows up the power of the method almost as much as the quality achieved. ;)

[DM]

Now that reminds of a section of Isle of Wight coastline, between St Catherines point and Blackgang Chine. It's one of the worst landslip areas on the Island, and is little terraces where it continually tumbles. I think you have done a great job in Z to create that. It's taking me all my time in Vue to try to create that sort of landscape, and though I love the IOW scenery, for quick scene creation purposes, I need to live on a geologically simpler island.
:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:
Dave

[DeeVee]

I think that I am leaning towards the second image. Both are very good as usual but that is just my personal preferance.

[juandel]

thanks, my friends! here is a re-do of the coloured version with less jaggied rocks and trying to improve foreground grass and horizon :)

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1044743117rxj.jpg

next one:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/humphflatb.jpg

the rocks arent alpha-centuried but were done with a single drag-rectangle-stroke with depth(3d)-brush using a radial faded alphaversion of default texture #02. this layer was duplicated and baked after i liked the material-settings and a best render. the reason for baking was, that as far as i get it refraction works within the same layer only. i had created an alpha with fiberbrush for the water-ripples and applied it to a plane with reduced rgb and refraction "on" - about 30, i think. a flat plane isnt really good for refraction purposes :D so i tried to improve the pic by a) increasng transparency of water material, b) z-displacing the original rock layer a few pixols into front, c) switching flatten layers off and d) doing a best render after i had played with lights and the water materials settings for some time. some 2d postwork was done on an exported version. the procedure i am blahblahing about can be viewed in this recorded session (http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/humphscript.zsc) (hopefully - its unchecked but i am pretty sure very boring, as many renders take place :))

hope you’ll like!

- juju

[DM]

Nice work Hansl, that water is excellent, you really are doing some great landscape work in Z. :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:
Dave

[Flycatcher]

Excellent water and rocks in the latest Hansl. I shall look at your script as soon as i've installed the new version, hopefully tomorrow. :tu: :tu:

[Sarum]

really nice water juandel :tu: :tu: i am about to try that script ... like right now :)

[Zoid]

That's a gorgeous looking water effect. With this new refraction feature its time to rethink this whole water thing and as usual you lead the way. Nice work :tu:

[Mik]

The water in image 2 is really good, great images.
You own this thread! :D
:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :)

[DeeVee]

Wonderful image! I like the foreground water best of all, those small stones showing through the water makes this image for me. :) :D :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Belleski]

When I first saw your clifside landscape, I thought it was a reference photo. Very well done! :tu: :tu: Thank You for the script for the water refraction. :)

[Andreas]

Hallo,

This is my first post.

I followed this thread and tried the technic.
For some reason my mountains always lean forward when I offset it with Z. I always have to use Y too to rectify it.

In the included image I left it at an angle (Z offset only), but rotated it till the mountains looked realistic.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1044777880wop.jpg

[juandel]

thanks for all the compliments, my friends - and thank you for displaying this terrifico pic in here, Andreas! :) the theme is topnotch as is its execution... i love the atmosphere, depth (the faraway hazy mountains are absolutely wowzers), textures, part. the vegetation on the mountains - :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: the terrain is extremely nice, i love the steep cliffs and edgylooking rocks - and am pretty sure that mother earth wears skinfolds like that somewhere :)

as for your offset conundrum: i dunno - never had that. the only reasons i can think of are that you either do the offset with z and x active (which i do not believe, as you seem to have a great grip of this technique and it would look different, i think) or that your grabbed alpha tends towards one side :D would you mind posting the alpha here?

a fabulous first post and a joy to see you joining me in here!

- juandel

[DM]

Great work on the landscaping Andreas, fantastic first post. I can see you will turn out some great stuff, given what you can do already.
Dave

[Andreas]

Thank you Juandel and DM for the compliments. Zbrush must be one of the most accomplished programs available.

I did not save the alpha at the time, but I include here a picture of the original mountain. The txtr is Txtr01 and not my own.


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1044902190hka.jpg

I also found the offset problem; I rotated the preview window before offsetting.

One can actually make a terrain without drawing anything self.

Here's an example to show the possibilities:

Material > Flat color

Draw > Height = 50
Tool = Plane3D
Draw a rectangle to suit

Tool Modifiers> Initialize > HDevide = 320, Vdevide = 240
Put Transform on M, S or R

Alpha > Brush 32 (or any other one)
Tool > Selection > Alp (Alpha masking)
Tool > Deformation > Offset -20Z

Rotate/Move/Scale drawing on canvas to suit, but don't rotate Modifiers preview window!

Alpha > Rot (Rotate) and Invr (Invert Alpha)
Tool > Selection > Alp
Tool > Deformation > Offset +20Z

Alpha > Brush 09
Tool > Selection > Alp
Tool > Inflate xyz +20 (For instance)

Texture > Reflect3 > Rot and Invr. (Or any other texture)
Texture > MakeAlpha
Tool > Selection > Alp
Tool > Deformation > Offset -15Z

Apply other alphas and modifications as needed.

Selection > Clear (masking)

Texture > Txtr01 > Flpv and/ or Invr (Try other Textures too)
Rotate/Move/Scale drawing on canvas, change material, edit some more or do anything else to taste.

The Flat Color gives a nice backdrop image.


http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1044902311kbb.jpg

[juandel]

mucho frio :cool:, Andreas :)! what i like best is the rotate in preview window move - sounds (and looks) great to add another dimension... handy for waves :D for instance, methinks. here is a quick try i gave this :tu: :tu: :tu: method before going to bed:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/seascapeprevwwb.jpg

- juandel


here’s (http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/seascapeprevwwscript.txt) an unchecked script.

[DeeVee]

Very well done :) :ex: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[juandel]

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/prnldscpepc.jpg

my first experiment at using variations of the fabulous material and light-settings © Pixolator (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=010113&p=2) in landscaping - and at far-distance forestry :) for those interested, here is the little tree i grew there via spray-stroke:

tbasweepprofile.ztl (http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/tbasweepprofile.ztl)

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/tbasweepprofile.jpg

edit: a wip done the same way, i am still playing with positioning the terrain and lights:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/canyonx.jpg

and the alpha it was created from (all spraystroke with square-alpha except "gorges")

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/canyonxtextRGBGrab01.jpg

- juandel

[juandel]

painterly outcome of above wip (using contrastbrush at mucho reduced rgb and hi sample size + render-adjustments):

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200305/user_image-1052044740jks.jpg

heres the final pre-postwork render:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/canyonxyfl.jpg

- juandel

[Flycatcher]

You never cease to amaze me with the way you push the boundaries with this technique, Hansl. Yet more superb examples of what it is capable of. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[rhom]

Hansl these are very excellent.You have made this type of lanscape your own personal playground.Wonderful.

[juandel]

thanks, Bill and Kirby :)

whenever i havent zbrushed for a while i try to get back on track doing something the good old alpha-century way, so here is the one i did today:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/bluemountainsd.jpg

4 daadoos looking for the doodah :D or maybe eastereggs.

hope you bear with me :)

- juandel

on topic plug: a way to use alpha century for certain architectural projects was posted into the making a castle thread (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=010552) :)

[juandel]

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/desiertopwlg.jpg

started as a low-poly (8x8) plane, preshaped in edit-move mode - deformations>divide - furter moves and so on. i created an alpha by mrgbz-grabbing a few quickly drawn cubes and spraystroked a filled layer with simple brush keeping the preshaped plane in mind to grab yet another alpha, which was applied to the plane the alpha-century-way.

no texturing. except 2d-painting the sky. everything else is material-settings, light, fog-colours plus postwork (inhouse zbrush, via render-adjustments).

hope you will like! :)

- juandel

[Ron Harris]

very nice work Hansl!!!! and great to see you alive and well and creatively active... :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[juandel]

thanks, Ron! :) yes, i am alive and well, the latter esp. regarding the fact that theres a short vacation ahead of me, which i will spend hiking with a friend - weather forecast is absolutely fantastico :D. i hope to visit less deserted areas than the below one:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/brownscapec.jpg

as you can see in the foreground, somewhere on the way to create the terrain some cubical skinning was involved - maybe its a terrace of a villa in ruins :rolleyes:

and below is a version done with mrgbz-grab>texture>make alpha>alpha>make texture and fill layer + render adjustments and experimental postwork with a few of zbrushs wonderful brushes.

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/brownscapegreyonly.jpg

treeshapes are imported alphas scanned from a book containing a few naked tree silhouettes - those i tried drawing myself inhouse z came out in a very kindergartenstyle :rolleyes:

- juandel

[DM]

Some very proffessional looking landscaping work Hansl, excellent work. :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: Dave

[The Namek]

Juandel you keep amazing me with your alphacentury work :tu: :tu:

[Flycatcher]

You're on absolute top form with this last pair of sibling images, Hansl, and once again pushing the boundaries with this techinque. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Juandel
I can see some "remarquables" trees across this original cubical landscape ;)
Is not the color landscape a litle bit foggy, misty, hazy ?
pilou

[havran]

Juandel, that red one from Feb 27th makes me homesick -- looks like the view from my condo on Mars :D

This thread is worth revisiting -- so many different and beautiful terrains :)

[gummie]

And it's amazing you're only using a mouse Juandel, I think with a tablet you could really add another dimension to your already wonderful landscapes. Bravo+ :tu: :)

And thanks for posting such great tips. :)

[juandel]

thank you, ZBs! :) i am taking a tablet now and then, gummie - hangovers and such :D

i did the follwing images while experimenting with materials for the fabulous Pixolator rock challenge (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011189&p=) :)

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/felsmata.jpg

same material and terrain, other light position, rotated in PS - mohenjodaro:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/felsmatb.jpg

besides the material (http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/felsamat.zmt) i think that the fact that i (involuntarily :D) used a tiny alpha (http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/felsmatalpha.jpg) only (created with fiberbrush) on a highres plane with sh and sv off might be responsible for the cubicmeshlike look of the images.

off topic: heres a 2.5d-brushes test with a similar material making use of MTBs fantastico distressedZ-technique (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011189&p=7), too:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/felsmatc.jpg

hope you’ll like and that they arent too dark!

- juandel

[gummie]

Were you going for the ancient ruins/mayans look? Great, I like. :)

Especially the 3rd rock texture one, looks very realistic. It's not a photo, is it? lol

Nice job :) :tu:

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hello Juandel
This green color is not a little gloomy ? :rolleyes:
Pilou

[rhom]

I like all three Hansl-even that "gloomy"green one.

[havran]

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200306/user_image-1055124708jqf.jpg

I took a shortcut :D

First I painted the top-down depth map with simple brush and alpha Brush 02, ZAdd on, with variations in draw size and depth (checking the brush preview in the Draw palette)

Then I grabbed it with MRGBZ-grabber [MRGBZ-grabber sends depth info to a new alpha in the Alpha palette -- I did not use the texture that it grabbed]

The current version (1.55b) has a Depth Brush (the one that says "3D" in its icon) which I used with the Drag-rectangle stroke and the grabbed alpha to draw a 3d terrain object

I rotated and scaled this 3d terrain into place, then snapshotted it (shift-S) and rotated and positioned the 2nd copy intersecting the first one -- of course one could stock up several different terrains in the alpha palette first and then overlap them

The rest is just tinting and decorating with some Fiber-brush grass

[note: I had some clipping artifacts at the bottom of the canvas -- probably since I started at 640 x 480, the front edge of the terrain was passing beyond the max Z nearness -- but displacing the layer down a few pixels with Layer Wrap mode off got rid of the bad edge]

afterthought: hmm, looking at that valley floor, Alpha Brush 02 and a shallow draw depth might be a good way to make a water surface ...

[juandel]

thank you my friends! :)

rhom: hope to see a flood of yours asap! ;)

gummie: as in most projects/doodles, i was "allowing" zbrush to take over :D i wasnt going for anything, but then, after changing some light settings i bowed my head 90%s to the right, thought it looked ok, and imported it back as a texture in a 480x630 document; only after filling the canvas with it i was thinking of ancient ruins. it reminded me more of what i have looked at regarding Mohenjo Daro Brickworld (http://www.harappa.com/indus/8.html) (use right arrow to have a little virtual sightseeing) than Mayans :)

Pilou: the above link proofs that you are right and that my version is much too gloomy instead of being sunbaked :)

thats a very :cool: image and an excellent idea, havran! off topic or not ;) - here is the final result of my second try at the suggested water-technique:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/havranwaterbaa.jpg

here is a script (http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/havranwaterbaac.zsc) recorded while doing the basics of the above image. next time with comments :)

- juandel

[Sarabel]

ZSC+ZMT+ZLI (http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200307/user_file-1055947282jke.zip)

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200306/user_image-1055947420ckm.jpg

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200306/user_image-1056135266zxp.jpg

[Frenchy Pilou]

Sarabel goes to the mountain :cool:
Pilou Sarabel's fan
Ps I Appreciate the concision of the message :)

[juandel]

wow - like all 123s you posted, thats a fantastico one, Sarabel! :tu: :tu: :tu: incredible depth, mat, lights - excellento!

here is a vista taken from an oasis i did this afternoon (i had the palmtree tool at hand (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011148) :) ), everything but the sky was done with texture 25 - the grass-one, other colours all via material/fog-settings:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/oasisflatadj.jpg

i experienced something strange that i hope someone might explain... when i tried to apply transparency to the tiny water-material/layer by switching flatten-layers off in render settings without changing anything of the other rendersettings (fog, depthcue and so on) i got this result:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/oasisflattenoff.jpg

the water layer was made the last one (of seven), when it was active i did a best render (which was exported and later edited via a few brushes + adjustments to get the upper image) - then i turned flatten-layers off - the result looks like the depthcue and a few other settings were lost while rerendering the other layers, and i cant make out any transparency :confused:

- juandel

[Jaycephus]

Maybe someone has a definite answer, but in my experience, if I turn off Flatten Layers then I have to do a Best Render on each layer separately. Therefore, I think what you are seeing is that the other layers are rendered with Preview mode, so Depth Cue is not visible.

I looked in the manual, and the only thing it says about Flatten Layers is how it behaves when it is ON. However, it seems to imply that what I stated above is true.

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Sarabel
The genesis and the walking through your landscape was marvelous :cool:
Pilou fan

[andreseloy]

121 Welcome
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200306/user_image-1055990130gzw.jpg

[Jaycephus]

Here (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011189&p=14) is a pic of water that is translucent without using transparency.

Refaction was used for the water.

[juandel]

a moonlit bay (hopefully not too dark), which emerged on my monitor yesternite, despite of too many beers :rolleyes: . the alpha was done with multipled dragrectangle stroke fiberbrush, deformation included some x and y offsets... and i dimly remember to have used the sizegyro as well:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/juandel/sambesia.jpg

hope you’ll like!

- juandel

[juandel]

well, hopefully this texture experiment is more to your gusto :D:

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200308/user_image-1060700786oxy.jpg

what i did after a few failed experiments to get that horizontal canyonlook: i created a zsphereskin kinda rock, sprayed it, added a few simplebrush z-off-colours, did a best render

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200308/user_image-1060700982rsu.jpg

mrgbz-grabbed it, used the alpha to alphacentury the rocks and the grabbed texture with simplebrush and zadd-off to horizontally paint it (very simple :)), every now and then i inverted the texture. water is refraction flat sphere with very reduced rgb and 95% z-intensity, its material with environment reflect enabled... the seagulls are Dave Maguires :)

sorry for not being able to contribute a lot these days, i found the best way to handle this years heatwave (no seashore at hand) is to sit in pubs gardens a lot :D

- juandel

[DeeVee]

Well done JuJu I know what you are going through. The heat wave is not only in Europe, it is in the Caribbean as well. We have been having unseasonably high temperatures this year.

[juandel]

thanks, DeeVee! meanwhile it isnt that hot anymore where i live (though still hotter than the recorded august temperatures), and its quite enjoyable - but farmers are into troubles because of the drought - and wildfires are very likely to happen sooner or later.

the below coast wasnt what i went for when starting: i created the top terrain, trying to get depth by applying deformation size x a few times after doing the alpha-century-steps - this didnt work too good, probably because i was working on a default size canvas only, which seems to limit z-space and the render abilities. then i fiddled with material settings - and i think more important - the light intensity curve and came up with the lower one:

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200308/user_image-1061560573zvo.jpg

i thought it looked kind of wavelike, so i created a clone of the material, loaded it into another materialslot and changed a few settings like diminishing noise and bump, increasing specular. i applied the material with simple brush, only m on. the waters colour came by changing the colourdiffuse light brown from material v.1 into something like aquamarine (no colours in the whole pic except in the background and a few flatmat spray-spraystrokes here and there, all was done via material settings and fog):

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200308/user_image-1061560962itc.jpg

i hope someone might find tweaking the light intensity curve for landscaping interesting!

- juju

[The Namek]

Juju , you remain the master of landscapes. ;)

Sorry If I dont reply so often , but I do check this thread out every other time :)

[Muvlo]

I only have a second, but I wanted to give these a big :tu: ! Great images, especialy that last one. :)

[Stonecutter]

Hey Hansl, when are you going to write your book? :D
If anybody could write THE book on landscapes in ZBrush it would OBVIOUSLY be you! I didn't know whether I would reach 4000 posts here, but since I seldom post anymore, I thought, 'Here's the place for post #4000...' :cool:

This thread is a 'Wonderland' and to you goes the credit, because of your amazing and instructive experimentation here!

Well done Bud! :cool: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[DM]

Once again incredible Z landscape work Hansl, it really looks fantastic or in this case I could say awesome. ;) :) :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:
Dave

[andreseloy]

Juandel this post is just wonderful and i feel pleasure to admire it¡¡
Congratulations

[Flycatcher]

Another superb example of the use and flexoibility of this technique - at least in your eminently capable hands, Hansl. Long may you continue to push the envelope. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Stargo]

Wow Hansl du bist wirlich der Meister der
Landschaften. :tu: :tu: :tu:
Great images and techniques :tu: :tu: :tu:

Stargo

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Juandel
You transfom earth in water !
What a magician :)
Pilou
That's remember my magic Tip (http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.ez?Who=Frenchy%5FPilou&ViewArticle=2628) on the same subject :D

[juandel]

looong time no centuring on my part. thanks for summertime comments, amigos :)

here is the 1st done in 2004:

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200401/user_image-1074273121ete.jpg

for some reason it looks different (and worse) three times: best in zbrush, then photoshop and then viewed with browser, so i hope what you get isnt too awful.

steps:

:: i created a doublesized standard canvas and sprayed a green and (almost) white texture (forgot to do it tileable).
:: i loaded a 3d-plane initialized to 16 by 16 to add very basic lowpoly mountains and valleys in edit-move-mode.
:: keeping the low poly planes approximate shape in mind i cleared the canvas and started to create an alpha with alpha brush using paintstrokes plus spraystrokes, making use of a customized alpha (nada special) for the latter and grabbed it (still doublestandard canvas)...
:: ... then applied it to the lowpoly plane after dividing this about 5 times, then z-offsetting it the usual way.
:: i applied the greenwhite texture to the plane, rotated and fiddled with repeat h+v settings until i kind of liked what i saw, went into gyromode, rotated/sized the terrain into place and started snapshotting+placing copies into the background by moving the cursor downwards out of the gyro while in move or rotate mode.
:: on another layer i created another plane for the water with a gelshader and added ripples the deeveeway. at first i went for transparency so i increased the transparency and did a best render with flatten layers off.
:: i exported the result and loaded the flat image into a new document and following a tip given by Pixolator elsewhere (not his fault that the final result isnt looking that good - it looked very nice at one point but i spoiled it later on :)), i duplicated the layer and flipped it. with cloner-brush in layers mode at reduced rgb-settings and zadd-off i did reflections, followed by smudging and lots of postwork with 2d-brushes.

well, i hope you like it despite of the awful composition and that you might find one of the tips useful for projects of your own :)

- juandel

[andreseloy]

Thanks for post this beutiful image and also the tips you mention¡¡ Thanks for share this to me new aproach (using the clone brusher) i wil try to do something
Thanks again and congratulations
Andreseloy

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Juandel
Re emerging of the mythic thread :)
For competition with terragen :D
And very technic clear explanation !
Have happy landscaping!
Pilou

[zerebrush]

Pi: not only terragen>>> if this will be continued (hopefully) then e-on will go e-off, Corel will put all it's manpower into Painter (ruining it from scratch), and the unemploiment line will just that bit longer!

[Frenchy Pilou]

Yes Ze the logic of the Capital is a logic of rentability not a logic of intelligence :rolleyes:
Pilou marx brothers :D

[juandel]

:D as i never tried specialized terraining apps i know nothing about them (except that i adore the images done by those who mastered them) but i know its lotsof fun to terrain in z. here is a glacier, kindof:

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200401/user_image-1074362985ebo.jpg

steps taken to create this were similar to the last one. foreground thingies were done with zspheres, rotate+alt on link spheres to multiply mesh, cskin off, density 1 adaptive skin, textured with same texture as the terrain.

- juandel

[Frenchy Pilou]

Very refreshing indeed :cool:
Pilou

[rtyer]

juandel:
What can you say to someone that basically set the standard for landscapes in Zbrush
As you have pointed out you do not need Bryce Vue Terragen, etc.
I can only pay you what I consider to be the highest compliment I have.
When viewing your work, I have to look twice to see if I am at Zbrush or a photography gallery.
When I first came to Zbrush,I had the good fortune to look up your work.
A lot of it was done before I came here.
Let me give you my thanks now for those images that have been a source of pleasure and inspiration.

[juandel]

@ ryter: imagine a mega-blush-icon http://www.pixolator.com/ubb/icons/icon2.gif thanksalot for compliments, this kind is really appreciated :)

here is an edit of the last one part. for you... added 2d-painting in bg (with help of stencil to mask off horizon and a greyscale/low-rgb-move as explained here (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=011706)

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200401/user_image-1074383894uod.jpg

hope you’ll like

- juandel

[Ron Harris]

I agree, Hansl...very photogrealisitc...you got the lighting perfect to me...and a great depth in the image as well....another gorgeous display.

[rtyer]

Much appreciated, and considering the weather here lately, prophetic.
Thanks again.

[bicc39]

Let me also mention the photo-real quality of your work.
It is something to strive for.

[juandel]

long time no see, amigos :) here is my first try at Z2 alpha centuring - nothing special except using the fibershader for the first time and enjoying 2 gig ram (instead of 64 mb :D). it took me a while to find the commands i once knew by heart, but for me alpha century-ing seemed to be the easiest way to get back into pixolmode after many moons of no Z at all and to overcome that newbiefeeling ;) i hope you will like

smosigna.jpg

edit: 2nd Z2 - thanks for compliments, Pilou and Dave! :)

gebirge2c.jpg

edit2: first try at Z2 water failed, but i got some new ideas for future attempts ;)

isolas1flatsm.jpg

- juandel

[Frenchy Pilou]

...the landscaper ;)
Hello Juandel
You miss at the forum!
Your new config is a monster :lol:
Have new fun Zb2 painting and delirium :D
Pilou

[DM]

Very effective image Hansl, looks great, I am sure you will do some fantastic landscaping with Z2.:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[cameyo]

Welcome back, Juandel.
You are the master of AlphaCentury :tu: :tu: :tu:
I have write a small utility to build landscape with alphacentury method: check my last ZPalce script (rev.F)...the "3D" button.

Have a nice day.

cameyo

[juandel]

hi ZBs!

thank you for your nice words ;) here is something i did tonight and wanted to share: a nonsense-waterfall detail from a depthbrush landscape covering an alphacenturied 3dplane which had been offset from a depthbrush alpha :D

bluemountainsgreyscale.jpg

the plantation heights part was added with a vegetation alpha (i had done from an alpha turned 3d after having grabbed a simplebrush sketch of twigs) + customized fibers material above a greyscalegrab filled layer. this part responded the best to a postproduction effect (overdone sharpening) i applied in graphic converter.

long time no Z-landscaping, so please bear with me: i thought it might look interesting despite all those no-nos re: awkward looking mountain range appearing to float in space, incoherent render, too foggy bg and suchlike :)


- juandel

[Frenchy Pilou]

Pilou ;)