Hi roymac.
Thanks for the offer and opportunity to comment.
A very interesting re-work. It looks as if a great deal of time and effort has gone into modifying some of the content in this great Route of Andy's.
Shot 1.
Foliage looks good! The nice variation of greens and the contrast of foreground to background vegetation looks as if a real breakthrough has been made. This image paints Andy’s route in a completely new light.
Unhappily, some of the later shots tell a slightly different story, IMHO.
Shot 2
The trees in the middle distance, just showing above the blue loco and tender look a bit “grainy” and unnatural in colour and texture. Perhaps that's just personal preference.
Shot 3
The big tree to the left doesn’t look totally natural. The smaller branches are a bit too spiky. The trunk and bigger limbs look a bit too sculpted with the lines of the relief bark effect made up of a series of several straight lines, rather than a flowing pattern.
The trees in the background, above the loco cab, seem be of billboard construction, but have alternate light and dark planes. This loses the illusion of reality that has made trees such as Trunda’s, and those of other renowned tree creators, such a success.
Shot 4
Some of the trees to the right of picture are badly distorted and others have the light/shade on the billboard faces badly mismatched as in the last shot. This appears to be a major problem.
Shot 5
A nice picture.
The only tree which looks unreal is the SpeedTree (I think that’s what it is) to the left of the track in the distance. It’s out of scale with the others, and looks as if it’s lurking, ready to pounce on the train as soon as it is within range! It’s foliage looks like a collection of star shaped clumps.
The embankment to the left is too straight and knife edged. I suspect Andy would have had this covered with foliage. It either needs some replacements, or possibly to be reshaped/textured to make it less uniform, if it is to be left bare.
Shot 6
Those shadows are nice!
I don’t see the light source. Presumably it’s coming from the ceiling within the building, because the shadow is cast the other way in the opposite entrance. I’d be interested to know how these shadows are produced. Are they simply part of the asset texture and therefore fixed (perhaps appearing at night like any light pool asset), or produced and move dynamically?
If the female figure is placed in the lighted area, would she cast a shadow as well?
Shot 7
The “SpeedTrees”, in particular the cluster of three to the right, and the single to the left, look unnatural and out of scale.
In fact they, unfortunately, serve to make the other finely worked assets, i.e. the building, vehicles and rolling stock appear toy like. Try covering those trees with your fingers. The other assets then magically appear to be properly scaled again.
Having just re-read this prior to posting I hope this doesn’t come across as “SpeedTree bashing”. It’s simply my opinion on the screenshots as posted and the impact as I see it, with a few areas pointed out where improvement could perhaps be made. I do admire the effort that is being invested by the pioneers of this foliage.
I hope this will be accepted as constructive criticism.
The new genre of trees is clearly improving, but IMHO has a fair way to go before I’d be happy.
Cheers
Casper
