CGTalk - On the fence - Dreamscape or Manual

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Chapt0r

03-17-2009, 03:13 PM

Hey guys,

I am working on a very large arctic scene for a client that is starting to come together as I am creating my water shader tests, ice, etc.. But I came across dreamscape here on the forums and have to tell you I am now second guessing myself if I should invest the $ into this plugin and rock out the scene? It claims to be exceptionally good at the exact things I am looking to recreate for my scene.

There is that whole "hey I did that from scratch" saying that goes with a scene, but there is also a "meet deadline, and continue to obtain work" sort of thing.

Has anybody worked with dreamscape, or is able to offer any advice/tips on what road to stick with? http://www.afterworks.com/DreamScape.asp

Appreciate the peer advice and catch you soon.

W

BrandonD

03-17-2009, 05:33 PM

There are many advantages to using DS for water elements. The camera dependent geometry is very efficient and allows you to have lots of detail close to the camera at all times without generating a uniformly dense mesh. The water shader and atmospheric tools are good and for arctic scenes the SubSurface volumetric approach to water depth is very useful. You're also not entirely stuck with the DS shaders as you can still just use the geometry and apply your own water and sky shaders in Mental Ray. Calm oceans can look very realistic across a wide FOV, but the wave matrix will tile when you increase the wave height, so try to avoid wide shots of violent seas.

Chapt0r

03-17-2009, 06:17 PM

Thanks Brandon for the feedback, I think I just needed that slight nudge. I just put my order in for DS, and now I am very anxious to start playing with it.

Will post results as they come in. ;)

Cheers,

W

Chapt0r

03-19-2009, 05:03 AM

First Impressions after a day of working with Dreamscape 2.5

A series of great education materials come with the purchase that allow you to be up and running very quickly. I was a little frustrated that it doesn't "seem" to play well with Mental Ray. The scene that I made the purchase for is using Mental Ray specific shaders, SSS, etc

After playing with Dreamscape for a bit I actually went back to MR, and build my scene manually. I did and plan on using Dreamscape at the very least to produce my skymap, and hopefully as I get more involved with it I will be able to utilize more if its features. The new sea foam is the cats arse that compliments their already amazing sea system.

Again frustrated that I couldn't utilize it as much as I hoped for this project, but I am sure to spend quite a few more hours playing with it.

Or also if I am just doing something wrong and Mental Ray and Dreamscape actually love each other, advice or help is appreciated. ;)

Cheers,

W

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