Nature's Wonders Sneak Peek Thread

[Lyne]

 

[Ken Gilliland]

nice. An anole wasn't on my list yet, maybe sometime down the road...

 

[Lyne]

@Ken Gilliland - wow on the art piece!

and I'm learning what SubD can do for the map itself too... SubD HAS to be set at at least 1, if not 2... yes takes longer to render at 4 but I love how the map looks at this setting... which means, too, that Ken's maps are going to be even more spectacular ....(I didn't try subD before... duh!)

I remember how much my pet Anoles loved licking up strawberry jam!

This is the coloring and scale sizes I've worked out ... now trying the various colors of greens and browns... I got kinda OCD with this !

PS: I CAN'T share my mapping, I'm working with/off Ken's... these are just for my own use, sorry!

 

[Miss B]

Looks nice Lyne.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Since I've wrapped up Volume 3 this morning, I went straight to work on the Sagebrush Habitat and finished all the modeling. The three plant used are the Great Basin Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), Gray Rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa ) and Eyelash grass/Blue gamma (Bouteloua gracilis). There will be 5 different rock materials used. I'm now cleaning up the UV maps and will hopefully texture painting tomorrow (which should go pretty quickly). The big challenge will be mapping/painting the ground. Because the expectation is to offer close-up camera angles-- the ground textures has to be very high resolution. I haven't decide on a tiled texture or placing it sections on 4-4k maps.

 

[Lyne]

Looks nice Lyne.

Thanks, MissB... I'm still fussing with the scale of the scales (LOL!) in some areas... those lizards have such FINE scales, their skin can look more 'leathery'...

and @Ken Gilliland ... just curious... ground is "red" ? I thought desert was sandy colored? But don't get me wrong, I LOVE this set and will buy and use it FOR SURE... I REALLY REALLY LOVE LIZARDS!

 

[Ken Gilliland]

... just curious... ground is "red" ? I thought desert was sandy colored? But don't get me wrong, I LOVE this set and will buy and use it FOR SURE... I REALLY REALLY LOVE LIZARDS!

The ground is usually red in the outback (Australia) where these skinks are from. You'll also find areas of red sand throughout the southwest USA, too. Some Model Credits for the picture above... The ground texture that was from my "Art Treasures from the Bower Bird Collection" and the plants are from xFrog's Oceania sets

 

[Ken Gilliland]

I have posted DAZ Studio iRay Materials for Lizards, Volume I and II on my website (for those who want them right away). I also given them to HW to update the store sets.

 

[Miss B]

The Sagebrush Habitat is looking good Ken, and since it's "hilly", I would think the ground being textured in sections might work, especially if folks want to get in close at one particular angle, they might not see all of it at once, so tiling might not be necessary.

 

[Jan]

Well done Ken. Achoo! (sorry the Wattle in that image just aggravated my hay fever, wattle does that to me and at the moment, it is flowering everywhere) Have to look in my X-frog Oceania plants for this one. The environment is 'spot on' too. Hope the scorpion is just a meal and does not harm this pair of Southern variety blue tongues.

Slight colour change on the stripes, and these could be the Easter variety

 

[Jan]

Ken, will the plants in the Sagebrush Habitat be removable, or able to be hidden in order to put something else in their place to make a different habitat, for
Australia for instance, providing one has any plant models to suit. I have a several of Dinorauls and some others I could use. Others may wish to do this also.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Slight colour change on the stripes, and these could be the Easter variety

Actually I have one that is grayer and duller stripes with slight orange on the sides which I think you'll like

Ken, will the plants in the Sagebrush Habitat be removable, or able to be hidden in order to put something else in their place to make a different habitat, for Australia for instance, providing one has any plant models to suit. I have a several of Dinorauls and some others I could use. Others may wish to do this also.

I hadn't really thought it making the plants removable but I guess I could...

 

[Miss B]

Well, if you could create a way to make them invisible, that might work as well, but of course then you add new items, and the scene gets overly heavy, so maybe that's not the way to go.

 

[Jan]

Yes Ken, that one should do fine - what do you other Aussies here think?

 

[Stezza]

I think the blue tongue will be lonely without an emu and wombat

but ... in the meantime.. looking good

 

[Jan]

You forgot..

 

[Pendraia]

lol...@ Stezza and Jan!

Love the blue tongues Ken...

... just curious... ground is "red" ? I thought desert was sandy colored?

The outback deserts here can vary widely Lyne.
Have a look at some of these images...
outback australian desert - Google Search

 

[Ken Gilliland]

I'm waiting on my camera battery to charge so I can take some more rock texture photos outside (lol) so in the meantime, I decided to do a couple renders of what's done on my Sagebrush Habitat (rendered in Poser 2014). Most of the rock textures are placeholders right now... There are five different rock textures-- I have 1 and 1/2 done so I repeated them for these renders. I used a tiled ground texture which seems to hold up quite well in close-ups (a photo from a dirt patch in our yard).

 

[Jan]

Looking very good. I like your ground texture too, quite lifelike. I guess not only the lizards will be using this habitat, but suitable birds too. You should do a list of which ones you have created so far that would be found in this sort of setting- in the .pdf perhaps .

Never having seen Sagebrush before, are those the flowers, the yellow tops?

 

[Miss B]

I have to agree. That tiled texture for the ground does look good.