Just a little unremarkable thing to cool off from the giga-series.
This scene has been left untouched since February and I decided to finish it, alongside the recording which will go up on Youtube some point over the next day or so
http://wduwant.com/index_uploads/uploads/5450e542052c.jpg
Also I tried out manual DoF. I know the hard edges are there but it's a start at least
You know I would do the same as you - make a complicated scene just like you posted with a nice foreground, something going on in the middle and a far away background complete with sky and atmosphere and the entire packet of lights that would match the environment. lots of detail, lots of elements.
But looking back at the single frame you posted on discord - I woke up to it and had to stare at it for at least a minute to take it in. without all the complicated composition or atmosphere or even sky for that matter - it was so much more striking while at the same time incomparably simpler
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/710/3ff79e1a-1528-4a52-9df6-07bd36707020/image.png
and this raises a question that's been pressing on for quite some time now in my head - how smart are we to put so much work and detail into a single frame, when more striking and simpler compositions could invoke equal if not larger amounts of interest and attention?
Because it's a prevailing attitude here, for some reason, that anything that doesn't have 9000 individual blades of grass and a Space Man bellowing while firing his Avtomate 999 101 .505 rifle at a threeving throng of Snxdians while a man constructs an aeternam junction from pieces of HL2 props, it's too boring to post. Dudes in a black void is boring as shit, but simple atmospheric scenes are far more breathtaking to me than any of the scenes of grand battles that get posted here on the regular. Not to disparage them, but it's a clear that there's a bias against them (and most non-battle poses)
Its cloud cover
Sun goes through the parts of clouds that don't have cover and create bright spots
Looks fine to me
if something as fundamental as the color direction is lacking, then i believe "incredible" is not the word to use.
my main gripes would be the upper left corner (the bright spot sticks out from the dark surroundings and draws the eye way too much), the visible sand under the grass - that's not a major one though - and the lack of anti-aliasing that's most apparent when viewing the shot in its full size. as most of it seems on the foliage and that's Source's fault, you could always fix that by taking the shot in a bigger poster size and downscaling it. the posing, scenebuild and lighting are all good.
grand battles? posted on the regular? how many "grand battles" do you see on the front page of this subforum right now?
oh and i'd like to add that the axe is a great detail and i thank you for the way it's placed, because having it on the back blade down would make my Chernarus flashbacks even worse
Man this aliasing is going to be the end of me I swear. I don't know what happened. As far as I remember poster_aa was on the whole time and I can't think of any layer that would've overturned that.
Also thanks for the rest of the feedback, it's refreshing to see.
I was constantly saying to myself throughout the post-edit phase that the background was too obstructive and the guys in the middle blended too much with it but no one's bringing that up so I guess it was just me?
it's something you can't really help, because Source can't do antialiasing properly with transparent textures - thus all trees, bushes and grass will be aliased, always. the only way around it is to up your poster size and downscale.
also yeah the two guys on the right blend with what's behind them a little bit too well, some slight atmospheric haze or dust between them and the background would fix that
DUST EFFECTS why have I never thought of that
dust, fog, smoke and atmospheric haze are the best possible tools one can have when it comes to making character and object outlines pop in situations where the lighting alone doesn't do it
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