This is my project thread for the April 2021 collaboration.
Nice work, this is looking really good! Definitely your best version yet.
I think, when it comes to the shading on the leaves, there's a sweet spot for the number of faces. I tried deleting 75% of those and I think it actually works better because each face isn't getting cut off by other faces as much:
Of course it removes some volume that would have to be replaced, but you get the idea. For the leaf cards, try to use as few right angles as you can so there's less obvious straight lines:
Some translucency also really helps here so that the one card isn't way darker than the card next to it that's facing a different direction:
I would also prefer to see a bit smaller leaves (compensated for by a bigger canopy) so that they better match the scale of the other plants in the scene.
The trunk could use some texturing as well, even if it's low resolution and really simple.
Lastly, using alpha clipped in the material should be slightly faster to render than alpha hashed since only one sample is needed.
Full points for week 3. Hope this helps and keep up the good work!
@jlampel what is the difference between alpha clipped and alpha hashed?
https://cgcookie.com/questions/12949-what-is-the-difference-between-alpha-blend-and-alpha-hashed
If I'm reading it right, computationally alpha clipped is a simple yes/no. Alpha hashed does some statistical calculations which increases the computational load. For something as noisy as leaves, particularly where it's just a black and white silhouette of a leaf in the background, that extra computational load probably isn't buying one a lot.
Homework Submission - Week 4 - MG Trees
@jlampel
Time,
It waits for no man. . . and I ran out. I didn't do most of the modifications to the canopy that I wanted. I believe I made it alpha clipped, but that was it.
I got a normal and cavity map for the tree. . . but I did not do the bark shader. I think that was Kent.
That's exactly it! Alpha hashed is really useful for things that are partially transparent since it tests the transparency of every pixel several times and averages out the result (not unlike cycles averaging out the color of a pixel from each sample), but since the leaves are either full opaque or fully transparent, alpha clipped lets us get the same result more efficiently.
@jlampel
Hi Jonathan,
Thank you for the thought, but I don't think I'm going to get much updated before the weekend. I've uploaded WIP_nature_MG-trees_wardred_00.blend. That neat procedural texture for the bark is Kent's, everything else should be mine.
One thing I need to do better at is having a scratch file where I do a lot of experimenting and keep the production WIPs fairly clean. . . and versioned. I like being able to go back to before modifiers are applied if needed.
@jlampel,
That's a great explanation of why one might want the more expensive computation. I hadn't even really thought of partially transparent objects!
wardred, you posted a screen shot of your tree in the HQ forum. Is that what you want me to use as a money shot in the blog? Can you please clarify? I have already removed the Blender grid in the background and put the tree in front of a solid grey. Please advise if you want me to use it.
wardred I think this turned out really well! Congrats on finishing and full points for the last week :)
