The Bridge at Rakotz

[BBB3]

An attempt at creating a naturalistic mood. The scene depicts an existing place in eastern Germany and was inspired by the photography of Kilian Schönberger.

Modeling in 3ds Max 2015; rendering in V-Ray 3; Max plugins used: Forest Pack Pro, GrowFX, Debris-Maker.

Post-production in RandomControl's ArionFX (best glow ever from .exr) and Nik Color Efex Pro.

The scene has two fog gizmos and two different fog elements. Untypically for me, I used V-Ray's physical sun and sky for illumination instead of an HDR because of the slightly faster render time and better fog interaction in this particular example. There are five*Forest objects for large trees, small trees, grass, pebbles, floating leaves, and quite a lot of displacement. The pollen is a very basic PFlow object.

The only sneaky trick in the scene is the use of a Max standard spotlight to*illuminate the underside of the bridge*and*simulate caustic reflections from the sun on the lake. The spotlight is set up to affect only the diffuse channel and is restricted to the bridge. It doesn't interact with any other object in the scene.

The main image took about 12 hours to render at 3K.

Below two detailed shots.

[AJ Jefferies]

Fantastic!

Looking at the photographer whose work inspired you, I would say yours is much better BUT the clarity of the reflection in his image causes the bridge to form a ring, which is really nice. I understand that yours is much more naturalistic, but I think it's a shame that the surface disruption in the water lessens this effect.

Still, incredible work as always

[BBB3]

You're right. I tried with a smooth reflection, but it looked too perfect to me and, somehow, too CG. Ha!

[mikeh]

comparing the two images is a lesson in what makes a good image. I love them both but I agree that the ring looks too CG. But it makes for a very interesting photo. Just goes to show what you can get away with in photography but not computer graphics. Beautiful work, by the way. I understand shining the light up on the underside of the bridge. Years ago I did a pool in a residence and the architect was adamant that I show the rippling light reflected up onto the adjacent ceiling. Had to make a rippling light pattern light for that.
mh

[lukx]

top notch as expected