Blender Snow w/ a SNOWMAN!

Hello! I’m Kyle Mayne, this is my first WIP post. Be easy on me :stuck_out_tongue:

After losing my 3ds max license I looked for free 3d modeling software and found Blender. The transition from 3ds max to Blender was nail biting and I literally pulled out my hair trying to remember all the shortcuts. I feel like most of the important features are hidden in the UI. Anyways-enough with that! Below I show you the process on how I created my 3d scene. This was my first time using the displace modifier and I was pleased with the results!

Little by little I added more details until i got to the fourth render.


Although I was happy with the results of this render it lacked something. I do like the simplicity of it but needed more balance and had no true focal point. The stick dragging in the snow represents a section from a children’s book called “Snowday”. Where a little boy is walking through the snow dragging a stick.


After a week of modeling the image above was created and I wasn’t completely happy. I duplicated the *.Blend file and created the render below. I spent more time creating the previous render and the second render needs more time. The tire tracks are too wide, the screen is cropped at the bottom, the image is over exposed and what’s the stick on the right!?


Let me know what you think! Thanks

First of all, welcome to Blender! It looks like you’ve ported some skills!

I liked the more defined tire tracks. I think the fence posts are much too frequent and with more space between them, a diagonal cross beam here and there would be nice. Your textures are hands-down, very nice. More control over shadow color (more blue!) and gloss effect.

You should post this in Critique because your work is solid but needs the feedback of real sticklers! If I’m really pushing C&C, I’d have to say pick a time how long ago it snowed because there are some split decisions all showing at once - snow depth, snow melt, exposed grass, frozen top, etc. I’d love to see the sunny side of all objects melted down if it’s been a couple days as that glossy surface suggests - and if the snow is more fluffy and recent, less grass, etc.

Glad to have you in Blender! Remarkable project so far!

first off, great work!

my recommendations are:

more footprints around the snowman
paths where the snowballs were rolled up to make the snowman
maybe a little mud in the tire tracks

How did you do the snow clumping?

Thank you for your recommendations I agree! I have so many different states at which snow should be at one current time. I’m pushing hard to be the best i can be :slight_smile:

The snow clumping was done with my displacement map in Photoshop. I started with a perfect gray, half way between white and black. I used a grunge brush with white with a super low opacity and populated my scene. Anything lighter than the neutral color will be raised and anything darker will be lowered (tire tracks and footprints etc… )

Thanks!

Did you use the Andrew Price Tutorial to create this?

I’ll have to look that tutorial up because the snow lumps and bumps are great.

Yes it was. Find the tutorial here directly: http://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/make-snow/

Wow. It looks… Real! Its very impressive. I like second render better, the lighting is spot on, the snowman adds abit of life and the snow looks more Icy.

Also how many samples?