Crystal Peak

[MoonDoggie]

Alright just did a 10min mockup and worked completely non-destructively. (Even when applying filters). Couple of things that might help:

Your raw render is horribly noisy...You're using Brute force it looks like, but you gotta get that noise out of the spots where the GI is bouncing. I've always thought this was a high pass filter you were doing, but it's in what appears to be the completely raw render.

Crops at 200% and 100%





For photoshop, use more Adjustment layers .

From what I saw, you selected your mask (from PSDmanager) and cut and copied it from the original render.

What I did, ctrl-click your mask layer from psdmanager, create a new adjustment layer (like for the metal), add a curves/levels adjustment layer and do the tweaks with it.

I created a simple glow layer and set it to be a smart object (so you can change the amount of blur anytime to whatever you like). I set the two layers above it to only affect the layer below (called "glow"), desat'ing one, and clamping up the blacks so only the bright spots glow.

It's really hard to distinguish any sense of depth in your tree line. To fix this I render out a ZDepth pass and as things get further away I adjust the blacks and whites to be less contrast (bottom dials on the levels adjustment) (Levels adjustment layer with the zdepth pasted in the mask), this will help create more depth in the tree line, right now it's just so busy it's flat.

I'm sure you probably know all these tricks, but I'd figured I'd type them out in case anyone in the future doesn't know them .

Hope this helps! Take a look.



Note: Photoshop CC

Crystal Peak gate_Colin.psd:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/7edcdg

[glorybound]

it looks like I uploaded the wrong on, but this one looks great. I'll study your PS work. I know, a lot of noise, but they were only going to print them out on 8.5 x 11, so I wasn't overly concerned. My concern, at the time, was deadline.

[MoonDoggie]

No worries. It's not brilliant or anything. Most challenging was just trying to pull what I could out of the base render, which proved to be very difficult (moreso than my renderings).

A Zdepth would have made all the difference for these exterior type shots when I was doing architecture it makes it look 2x more real.

Check what the adjustment layers did and how I did all the same things, but kept everything non-destructive.

[glorybound]

I usually do a zdepth pass, but rarely use it. Why is it so important in your workflow?

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

I usually do a zdepth pass, but rarely use it. Why is it so important in your workflow?

Because you can control colors/contrast and more by distance. So trees that are very far and so on can be tweaked to behave as they were behind fog, or just air and so on.

Like this:
http://hdwallphotos.com/wp-content/u...llpaper-HD.jpg

[glorybound]

okay, that is what I would us it for, too, along with DOF.

[MoonDoggie]

Yes, it helps break out the different layers of the image for your eye to distinguish distance.

http://jefflynchdev.files.wordpress....izon_large.jpg

As objects get further away they have less saturation and less contrast in them. This would help your scene by separating the layers of trees a lot more.

To compare the results:
1. Select your zdepth layer
2. Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C
3. Create a new Adjustment layer of type "Levels"
4. Alt+click the mask for the adjustment layer you just made
5. Ctrl+V to paste the zdepth in the mask you made
6. Alt+click the mask to leave it and view your image
7. Tweak the levels move to reduce contrast in the far away objects

8. Ctrl+Click the mask in your levels move to select it
9. Add an adjustment layer "Hue"
10. Turn down the saturation for distance objects slightly.

Compare results.

[glorybound]

I will try it on my next project - thanks!

Yes, it helps break out the different layers of the image for your eye to distinguish distance.

http://jefflynchdev.files.wordpress....izon_large.jpg

As objects get further away they have less saturation and less contrast in them. This would help your scene by separating the layers of trees a lot more.

To compare the results:
1. Select your zdepth layer
2. Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C
3. Create a new Adjustment layer of type "Levels"
4. Alt+click the mask for the adjustment layer you just made
5. Ctrl+V to paste the zdepth in the mask you made
6. Alt+click the mask to leave it and view your image
7. Tweak the levels move to reduce contrast in the far away objects

8. Ctrl+Click the mask in your levels move to select it
9. Add an adjustment layer "Hue"
10. Turn down the saturation for distance objects slightly.

Compare results.