Hello and welcome to this Blender tutorial series on creating an island environment in Blender 2.6!
In this three-part tutorial series by David Ward you will be taken through the complete process of creating a tropical, island environment in Blender 2.6. With David’s guidance you will go from a barren landscape to the lush, final result that you see below in just about three hours.
What you’ll learn:
Through this tutorial you will learn how to use the ANT Landscape Generator add-on to create the landscape, how to use the OceanSim modifier, how to make easy trees and vegetation with alpha-mapped textures, how to populate your vegetation with particle systems, and you will learn how to create easy procedural rocks with a displacement texture and modifier. You will also be taken through the steps needed to composite the final render together, including add depth to the horizon, adding the clouds background and much more.
i was doing part 2 and you gave the 3rd thanks!
i like the emitter particles with billboard so much!
Just to let the admin know if you click on part two number 3 tutorial shows up and same with number 3 showing up number two…
Fixed and thank you for letting us know!
David Ward, you are so AWESOME!
You have no idea how excited i am to see these tutorials series. One of the BEST tutorial ever! Thank you very much, dude! This is great!
I was waiting for this. thanks
Great series Dave. I believe the reason you couldn’t erase the image first time around is because it probably didn’t have an alpha channel. In Gimp you can go to Layer > Transparency > Add Alpha Channel to add one and then I think you would have been able to erase the image. Hope that helps!
That was my solution as well.
Hi.
I learned a lot here in a very short time! Thanks you for sharing this knowledge!
That was an awesome insight into how to make a decent environment
One question about the final render: the clouds seem to blend into the top of the mountain. I think thats simply due to how the mist is created. But i would like to remove this blending. I could change the clouds image by removing the clouds behind the moutain, but uis three a more ellegant way to get the mist without getting the clouds blend in ? In your course title image the problem is not apparent…
use transparent backround and alphaover node after that.
Can you please expand on this a bit? I too am seeing my background clouds on top of my mountain. It’s very faint, but it’s there. Can you give me the node sequence? I’ve been playing around with it for a while and can’t reach the desired outcome of having the clouds completely behind the mountains while maintaing the mist. Thanks!!
Brilliant tutorial
Can’t wait for the next tut you do
I personally don’t really like the tutorial. Especially not the way that it shows one picture, and ends up with a completely different one quality-wise. The billboards for trees would be a good idea if you had more variations, but here it is obvious that they are all the same image. Also, the way that the water connects with the land looks very fake. Overall, the tutorial could be good for a beginner, but the quality is not the usual for blendercookie. The beach looks fake, the rocks are scattered in unrealistic ways, trees grow on slopes that would usually not be possible (well, maybe, but still, it’s rare). I really don’t like the way that the tutorial handles the texturing of the island itself. There are better ways than aproximating with the camera then baking (for example, you can use Andrew price’s technique for snow, but switch and add materials).
I know that the point of a tutorial is to teach us to make stuff on our own, but this one, while helpful to some, teaches awkward, inefficient, and not very flexible techniques. Also, attention to details compared to the picture that you were going by is lacking.
Then, perhaps, you should do your own tutorial instead of trolling here.
I have to say that I don’t feel Ssslouter was trolling at all; he gave very valid feedback and backed up that feedback with his reasons. For that, we greatly appreciate his comments.
@Ssslouter,
Thanks for the comments and honest feedback. We are always looking for ways to improve both the site and our content and there is no better way to do this than honest feedback. Thank you
-Jonathan
@jon: It’s alright, I expected some people to get mad. I really love blendercookie and would not be at my current skill level without it. I’m planning on getting citizen during the summer. It’s just that I found this tutorial somewhat disappointing.
@Jderek: I’m gonna start working on an Island the moment I have time (so around next week) and write down everything that I do. I might post it in blenderartists in the turtorial section if it ends up nice.
If you don’t like it, then DON’T WATCH IT AND SHUT UP!
Please tone down the rhetoric. Yelling does no one any good and is just a good way to get your comments removed. We wish to create a very friendly, accommodating community here and these type of comments have no purpose but to in-flame. Leave them elsewhere.
-Jonathan
I definitely think you should not show a different image than the result of the tutorial. It is very misleading. Dave might have mentioned it, but I dont remember. Did he say he made that image himself using the techniques covered in the tutorial? I really do hope so. Otherwise, the techniques shown here kind of feel like false advertisement; Even if they can achieve stunning results. Moreover, if Dave did make the first image, I always prefer to have a longer tutorial of higher quality.
When the tutorial shows the reference image as the title image, someone could watch a 2 hour long tutorial that they otherwise wouldnt have, only to find the result is not to their liking.
Jon, I suppose if you’re going to show the reference image, it would be a good idea to advertise that information somehow. Perhaps show a reference/result contrast?
I think the main idea of the tutorial is to experiment with the techniques that are covered in the tutorial. David refers often to the seed values that you can tweak to make something you like the look of and the use of weight maps.
Daneli’s image in the gallery is a good example of this they’ve used the techniques described in the tutorial and come up with there own result.
Play around and have fun
N.b. Great to see some more tutorials from you David
Pretty sure he mentioned somewhere within the 3rd part that the image (or reference, whichever you prefer) shown was created by him with a lot of time and effort. Think it was somewhere either in the middle or towards the end (not quite sure.
).
With the same techniques shown the image used above can be recreated, and shows what can be accomplished if you choose to go a step further than the tutorial itself.
… David! Show me God! And you better show him to me right! lol And here’s my proper reason why you should. Firstly, once you’ve spent eternity tweaking /that/ image to utter glorious and mind blowing perfection, you’ve got every right to show us your best result. And then when you devote the rest of your life to showing us how you did it in a 80,000 part tutorial, I want to see every gripping and brain deadening hour you spent tweaking each and every parameter to get it just like you did in that Holy Image! I personally want to thank you for not boring me to death with such an asinine attempt at perfection each and every time. I’m just funnin’ guys… I disagree on the point though, with the whole false advert angle tho. Blender Nerd is a Huge violator with that and at that level it is very annoying to be left with no friggin idea how the Header image was created because it wasn’t covered in the tut! I just don’t ever see anything like that here at all. I can clearly see that the final image was created using the same techniques, just without the extra hours of tweaking, so I say carry on Dave!
I generally don’t follow “series” tutorial to the letter. and this was the first one that I tried. I usually just use them to make something of my own. Here, I wanted, for the first time to do exactly as told, so I guess my expectations were high. But still, I wouldn’t have minded a fourth part showing the final scene and some of the tweaks that he made. I know that the final image in tutorials is not always the same as the tut itself, but here the difference is drastically different. It was really obvious.
I personally appreciated the information in these tutorials. While it is true that the end result wasn’t identical to “as advertised” the techniques can be useful especially in a time crunch. I feel like these techniques could be extended and expanded upon to produce great results.
That is definitely correct. But it’s not possible to get the quality to the maximum level in a tutorial like that. It shows the technique, gets you on the path and wherever you take it from there is your own task, just to everyone complaining about your complaint
I think the OP makes very valid points and constructive criticism, and I really appreciate the way Jonathan handled it. Very Professional!
If I get one or two tricks/tips out of a tutorial then I feel like the time was well worth watching these. This time I learned about Seeds, Billboards, and using hair particles to scatter objects.
Thanks for the great videos from everyone at Blendercookie.com!
I watched this on Vimeo before it was out in Blender Cookie, hehe, watched it before it was cool.
Very helpful and descriptive, again thanks for all your effort and quality of your tuts.
As far as that gimp bit goes it happened because the background didnt have an “alpha” layer which you can always add by right clicking on the selected layer, either way your way worked fine too
I have a white line around parts of the rendered island. Anyone else get that and how do I get rid of it. BTW really fun tut.
I believe you have to enable “Full Sample”. He goes over that towards the end of this video if you need a refresher. The last 5ish minutes or so. Hope that helps.
How come when I do Full Sample my whole image turns darker after post processing? Any way to fix that?
i fink it looks like the island from the video cast away but great job
Tutorials are ment to teach, it is not important what you are makeng or if it ends up looking like the teachers copy. What’s important is that you learn what the tools can do, and that you take something away with you that you did not have before.
Personaly I have learned something from every tutorial on this site and for that I am very greatful.I can also understand why you would be less than happy that the tutorial did not recreate the image shown for the tutorial, I suspect it took a lot more tweeking and test renders to achive that result.
I really liked the tutorial David “more please sir”.
I completely agree with you, it’s not about getting the exact same result as the artist creating the image, it’s about learning the techniques the artist used to create whatever it is they are giving a tutorial on and use what you learned to create something unique. I’m betting if u spent enough time on your image though, u could get a very similar result as the title image ( if not better ) just look at some other user submitted images and u will see what I’m talking about.
Thanks for the tutorial!
But I agree with SSSlouter: The image should show what you end up with.
Becuase when you begin, you are very excited: Wow, at the end I will have this gorgeous island! And then you are very dissappointed when the result is not that good.
I just want to say two things
#1 everyone have a nice day
#2 great tutorial David
I liked this tutorial a lot, but i was kind of disappointed seeing that he used images for the trees. It was still a very good tutorial showing a lot of good Techniques. The end result in the video differs really much from the original image. A lot of the water could be improved a little bit. It feels like Davids tutorials differ a lot from the original picture, maybe spend a little more time on the tutorial and not try to rush things? Writing down every step at making the original will maybe help when doing the tutorial? I dunno. Still a good tutorial with some things lacking. I like the produceral textures and the way you used normal mapping on the mountain.
I appreciate your work. You show the workflow as it is in your videos.Sometimes try and catch with the settings. I like it.
thanx David and have a nice day
dani
this rocks !! thanks mr. dave, i love all the island
images, their Awesome..
i’m learning a lot about the node editor, i’d love to have a entire tutorial dedicated to the features you can achieve with it.
Hi David,
Did you check this link out: http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?254881-ANT-Landscape-World-Update&p=2118687&viewfull=1#post2118687
It is a post on how to create a realistic snowy mountain. Very cool..
I loved this tutorial! thank you very much david, I learned a lot watching them. I’m pretty impressed of the results knowing that you used cutout trees… Thank you for your work!
Mathias.
Ty for the great tutorial i’ve never used anything like this before and your tutorial gained me a lot of knowledge very quickly i’ve uploaded my image. It’s not perfect but i’m very happy with it thanks for uploading this tutorial
Just a quick question does any one know of a good way or tutorial for creating paved roads?
Great tutorial! Really enjoyed information about adjusting mist effect using color ramp in compositor. I never would have thought of that. Thanks!
This was a great tutorial, David! I kind of approached it like one would a Bob Ross tutorial; you know it’s not going to look as good as one of his, but it gives you the techniques to build your own creation. The technique is what a person will carry on to other projects, not the banner image. I can see how he got the final image using the techniques shown here. I had a lot of fun with this one. Keep them coming, I’m a cookie addict.
Hi David, Great tips and ideas to use in my future projects, I like the way you used the mist, If I remember correctly in the tutorial “creating an ocean using oceansim modifier and Cycles, we had more difficulty dealing with the horizon line than this technique, I’m always lookin to try new ways, Thanks your a great teacher. Ron
For everyone who is a bit disappointed that he used billboard images for trees:
Couldn’t you just model a couple of trees and use the same method he used for the rocks?
I completely agree.After watching this tutorial i was gonna do just that. I mean, he showed us two techniques to put objects on the island. i’m sure if someone wanted to they could use the billboard effect for the rocks.
Just want to point out, unless you were in a studio… you’d have to have one pretty powerful PC to manage that
Think about how many polys would be on each tree, plus at least 4 polys per leaf used (or each needle for pines), may sound okay-ish for one tree, but for an island, that also has its own subdivision levels, compiled against rocks and other scenic items… not quite as easy~
Any ideas on how you could achieve it on a home computer though? (that isn’t also worth a studio PC/super-computer
)
I’d assume you’d just use several low-poly trees instead?
The tutorial looks hard but when followed correctly, is a snap! (PS: This tutorial actually revealed the true power of my laptop!)
Hi, could someone give me a blender file of the completed island? Im wondering how it could export to x3d, thanks in advance
nvm, just noticed that its available for citizens
Is there anyone who knows how to get movement in the ocean water as I want to circle the island with a camera path.
Going to hesitate a guess, but I think you’ll have to bake it (tried it, and I’ve not got it working, so I can’t really help with that)
* Alternatively; *
Add a cloud (or other displacement) texture to the ocean, set the normals as necessary. Under “MAPPING”, press the I key when the mouse is over any of the “OFFSET” values. Change the frame, and change the offset values, press the I Key again. Open the IPO/Curve Editor, and select the curve.
With the Curve selected, click on “KEY” at the bottom, and select “CONSTANT” under “INTERPOLATION”.
*Alternatively: *
)
Use a wave modifier. (← this alternative seems a little cheeky/cheesy, lmao
Thank you very much for the tutorial. I learnt a lot about the particle system and dabbled with the node system for the first time (which I had always ignored before because I found it too intimidating!) For a beginner I can’t tell you how exciting it is to produce something that, to my eye at least, doesn’t look too bad.
How do you create those “Key Press Combinations” in you tutorials?
Is that something I’d have to buy Camtasia Studio for or is it another program running in the background? Maybe even a Blender plugin or option?
Thanks.
It is actually a Add-on that is bundled with Blender called Screencast Status Keys. You can find it in the 3D View category.
Cool. That’s very nice. Thanks.
Finally finish this! I’m actually part of the Modeling Workshop but it so way over my head I’m floundering: this tutorial I could finish. At this point, I’ll watch the modeling videos and stuff but I really can’t do the assignments: I’m a total fail at retopo and topology in general.
For now.
One of the caveats I’ve discovered with these videos – any video pertaining to Blender, really! – is: don’t expect the default settings to be those that Jonathan is working with. I’m in 2.63a: the Render : Post-Processing : Compositing and Sequencer tick-boxes were un-ticked, so all I was rendering after laboriously putting the compositing node stuff together was the core scene *sans* compositing stuff. So, no background sky, no mist, bugger-all. Just the scene.
It culd very well be that in previous versions of Blender, these were not settings to contend with or that they were ticked by default. Just an FYI: don’t get frustrated… it’s not you.
I’d like to thank you big time David, I needed an Island for my Animation Assignment at college, thanks to you I could do it!
I learned so much with this tutorials, thank you very much!
+1 for David
Just wondering – are you planning on revisiting this for Cycles, David? I’ve been going back to it from time to time – think I might be getting a handle on water, but particle distribution of vegetation and also baking textures (like for the rock formations) would be awesome to have another look at.
Just wondering – are you planning on revisiting this for Cycles, David? I’ve been going back to it from time to time – think I might be getting a handle on water based on this:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?277252-18th-century-naval-cutter
… but particle distribution of vegetation and also baking textures (like for the rock formations) perhaps into .exrs would be awesome to have a look at.
This is one of those tutorials – and scenes – that have that sort of enduring appeal … doing a Cycles version would do much to teach the exciting new possibilities that Cycles offers.
I had a lot of fun with this tutorial! I didn’t know that you could use weight painting with a particle system, so that was a cool revelation! It was fun to play with the ANT add-on and the ocean simulator and the effects are quite awesome! Thank you for sharing these tools and techniques!
I would love more tutorials like this.
If you hit Shift + R after rendering with full samples and making edits in the Compositor, it will re-read the rendered files cached to the disk and get rid of the aliasing. That way, you don’t have to re-render the scene each time.