Description
I’ve been wanting to do a proper Sonoran desert scene for a while now. Over the last few months I’ve come back to the theme quite a few times and have rendered a number of attempts that never made the gallery. I think these scene turned out pretty well though and I hope you enjoy it. Perhaps I will post some of the rejects in the weeks ahead 🙂
Nathan Zachary [lifer] –
Thanks for adding the 3840×1200. 🙂
Nathan Zachary [lifer] –
Hi Ryan, this is a great render, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting the multiscreen renders. It looks like some of them are missing though. One in particular is 3840×1200 dualscreen.
Ryan –
Those are wonderful critiques! I will certainly refer back to them the next time I explore this theme 🙂 Thank you!!
D. C. Sessions [lifer] –
Thanks for the widescreen!
OK, I promised nits and here they are (but remember, I love it!)
1) Saguaro live ridiculously long lives but are paradoxically fragile. That means that the uniformly sized population you show is ..off.
2) Younger saguaros have no arms. The first arms develop around age 50 years. You have some without arms but most do.
3) Saguaro have enormous root structures — the density on the slope is not possible even where there’s plenty of water, and on a slope like that there isn’t much. On the other hand, the lower, flatter areas have more but are thin.
4) The smaller plants are too few and too uniform. Where there are saguaro there will also be creosote bush, saltbush, brittlebrush, various cholla species, and barrel cactus (sort of a miniature saguaro.) Typically there will also be trees such as palo verde and ironwood (olnea tesota) which will dominate the runoff channels since their roots are deeper and their trunks tougher to withstand injuries that saguaro can’t.
5) Your geology is great. You could have included some igneous formations common to the basin and range territory but the rounded aggregate formations are also common.
6) The clouds have two types that don’t mix: the lower multilevel ones and the towering ones found (as you show) during the summer rainy season. The summer monsoon air is too turbulent to let the lower tier clouds form.
7) The lighting is dead on for the calm after a summer storm. If anything a slightly lower angle would fit the typical late afternoon time for storms, but they happen when they will.
8) All in all, very nice work. I doubt that the nits above would be noticed by anyone who hadn’t spent over 60 years in the Sonoran desert region.
Zorz [basicmember] –
I would love to see a version of this at night with some stars or even some moonlit clouds
Rodewaryer [lifer] –
You nailed this one, the sky is superb and the depth it eludes is just excellent. I don’t comment much but when I do, it warrants it. Great job here.
Kris [lifer] –
I love the way the sun breaks threw the clouds, like the promise of a new beginning after a forest fire has wiped it all out. It is just a bit too baren.
D. C. Sessions [lifer] –
I really can’t wait for the 2xuhd.
That aside, I really like it and any criticism is going to be really technical. Which doesn’t mean I don’t likeit.
Ryan –
I just started the multiscreen rendering on my Bucephalus workstation. It’s going to look quite nice :-)If you are running two 1080p monitors you should be able to get the UHD image to span across your two screens. Some of the top and bottom will be cropped though.
Aslan [liferplus] –
Wonderful. Can it stretch to a Dual Screen ?
No worries if not but would love to see some more of this other world landscape.
Keep well all.
Dragonwings35 [plusmember] –
Definitely like this one a lot. Pretty soothing in a way.
Rick Raborn [liferplus] –
Nicely done Ryan. I’m a huge fan of the WIP Star Citizen for PC. This very much reminds me of that and that’s a great thing. The emerging sunlight is fantastic!
Kaz [plusmember] –
Desert and arid landscapes are some of my favorites, and I love the drama of the light in this one.
Weird, though, I never received an email that this was posted. I literally stumbled across it… Last gallery email was 4th of March.
Ozaawaagosh [plusmember] –
This is really too cool, It reminds me of the 10 years I spent living off and on in the Sonoran Desert, Love the desert scenes the best out of the landscape renders, Beautiful work my friend, this is the best!!
Mangoman232 [liferplus] –
This got put onto the monitor right away….as do most of your creations most of the time. This one’s also a big Home Run. Thank you, Ryan, again, for sharing your incredible imagination and talent with the world. It deserves to be out there. Could this one be a shot of part of Mars? Perhaps. Then again, maybe your uncle’s farm in Wisconsin? This picture is worth ten Billion words.
Littlemom [liferplus] –
This one is AMAZING!!! I just love it!!! But where are the facebook cover and free mobile links?
Mark A. [liferplus] –
it’s nice a peaceful