Zbrush is GREAT for working out sketches quickly and they look realy close to the way I picture them in my mind…except for the fact zbrush KEEPS bombing out… 
Beautiful work… Cool panoramic oceanic scene… wonderful painting! The chasm really adds a nice flavor to it!
you rendered this solely with Zbrush? I would love to know your water secrets…(yes I am begging 
) very realistic scene and composition 
>>you rendered this solely with Zbrush? I >>would love to know your water secrets…
For the water…
- created a 3d plane tool with maximum polygons. You need this for good geometrical resolution in the deformation.
- In PhotoShop I created a 1000 x 1000 image and filled it with a “Difference Cloud” image filter and saved as a BMP…In case you don’t know The Difference Cloud filter creates a random smoke like effect based on the 2 colors you use.
Since I wanted to make an alpha I just used black and white - Imported the difference cloud. BMP into Zbrush and turned the texture in to an Alpha
- For my 3d plane tool modification tab I used the “selection” type as alpha with my Difference Cloud.
- I then deformed “inflated” the plane with X, Y, Z selected.
Inflate it just a little bit to make choppy water….or as needed for your scene… - I used a reflection texture that I modified a bit to reflect the scene in the render settings and played with the secular till it sparkled like water.
Feel free to ask me any thing else I hope I was clear for you…
I can post a difference cloud if you don’t have access to Photoshop.
Scott
Original concept and a great picture.
I too was fascinated by the water effect. I would be grateful if you would post a difference cloud so that I can see how best to emulate one in PSP.
All I can say is Wow, that’s a really amazing image! I like everything about it. I hope to see lots more
WOW WOW WOW
heck, from the subject line I didn’t expect such a nice picture and useful thread 
I wonder if the ZBrush-bombing issue has to do with memory? www.crucial.com has been a good source for me at work and at home for cheap and good memory
and thank you for the explanation…and yes I would love for you to post a difference cloud…thnx again…wonder piece
Here is the alpha mask I used. I sized it down a bit to fit it on the board.
S
Believe it or not, ZBrush can do exactly the same thing – but with greater control!
In the example above, I’ve created a difference cloud effect using the Basic Material. I simply filled the layer with white (in this case, on a 500x500 canvas) and the Basic Material. Then I changed three modifiers: Noise, Noise Radius, and the Noise Graph. The settings shown here get an effect almost identical to the Photoshop difference cloud. Increasing the Noise value intensifies the whites. Changing the Noise Radius gives larger or smaller patterns. And changing the graph can affect the overall pattern appearance.
Once you have a cloud that you like, simply use the MRGBZGrabber with Autocrop off and Shaded RGB on to capture the canvas. Shaded RGB captures the material-generated colors. Without it, you’d just get the base white color.
You can then use the button in the Texture palette to change your newly created difference cloud pattern into an alpha for use in masking.
Happy ZBrushing! 
Great tip Aurick!
Nice image Scott. Very captivating… And great water technique.
Aurick, That’s cool trick…especially since I’v only begun using Zbrush!!!
I have always tried to minimize the need to hop between applications when possible.
Also you have some great stuff on your web site…and the web site itself is amazing relay tight.
S
Thanks for posting the alpha, Acrylic.
And thanks also to Aurick for the explanation of how to do it in ZBrush. It would never have occurred to me to try doing this in Z. So much to learn… 
Beautiful work
The water looks great
stargo