I like a lot your results JamieB, I think you guessed the enviroment to complement you work. That looks like a photo that image, and is pretty good aesthetically for me, is nice how the fossil is mixed on enviroment, because just how a archaeologist, put the viewer to find the fossil within your composition, but maybe the fossil is pretty mixed and could be lose a lot, because I feel alll on the image have a same grade of importance.
That is indeed a black emission node, i use it to lower the brightness of the SSS. When i added the SSS and Diffuse/Glossy together, it made the whole material much brighter, and i needed something to calm it down. This works really well.
I get what you mean, i have it submerged in the beach as i wanted it to look as though it has just been discovered. I am going to be experimenting with different ways of making the fossil leap out at the viewer, rather than blending in with its surroundings.
But for know im going to focus on getting the modelling, texturing and materials 100% complete, and focus on the other aspects during my final composition
This is a terrific looking result so far, Jamie! Thanks as well for sharing the sand shader- hopefully I’ll remember to use this as reference if I ever have to create an extreme closeup of sand/dirt!
Jaime a idea for dont made much changes on your scene, is maybe change the angle of the camera looking a little to the sky, for break the continuity this images show roughly the angle I image:
but you can ignore my suggestion, maybe that not your search on you image. greetings!
Not expert in geology, but it think its wrong.
I would think that since you got a positive (outward) print on a stone.
That we would deal here with the remainders of the animal “frozen in time”…
As the animal had once a different chemical composition as the main rock.
Then the stonification (is that a word) would be likely of a different color, like a dark carbon remainder.
If the remaining print was a negative print (inwards) of the the creatures that was once covered in clay.
And the clay over the ages turned into stone, then the negative print would be in the chemistry of the clay, and thus in the colors of the clay, be it that some chemical mixing at the border could have occurred, however that might have been washed away over time.
As a positive, you add some small fractures or so (as it is a different material as clay), combined material differences tend to crack.
For realism, maybe add some dirt, or a bit of moss, dont do it on the center of the spiral, or on a verry ‘artistic’ located place, preferably a bit random place, maybe a side corner of the stone, other things you might add could be included small stones, or some small iron kristalls or so clay can contain a lots of materials that it collected in its weak period. (Kristal can be kristalization of iron rich clay)
> now it looks like a casted printed of historical peace, made old (like filling Yeti foot prints with rubber to get a positive then spray paint it) > such “prints” are shown to people in musea, who cantt imagine a create as a negative print.
ok i leave commet as is, watched to much to the ground counting ants :))
Thanks for commenting 
The sand shader usually works best in dark scenes with a lot of shadows 
I see what you mean, and thanks for the referances. Unfortunatley due to the current geometry of my floor surface, it’s difficult to get a convincing shot from other angles. Also the U.V layout for my rock is not good, due to the fact that the texture i am using for it is not seamless.
@Razorblade - Thankyou for you’r detailed feedback 
I am currently in the process of adding vegetation to the scene. I’m not to good with modelling plants and such so im giving the Ivy Generator Add on a go. I will post a render up shortly. But i am worried that adding these extra details will cause the overall image to suffer aesthetically, as i am not that experienced with vegetation.
As for dirt, i am planning on adding dirt to the areas where the fossil meets the rock, although i am not fully sure how to achieve this without sacrificing to much RAM. As i am currently on the verge of running out of it, This scene currently uses 6GB to render, And i only have 8GB altogether.
Anyone know a good way to add dirt? I’m thinking using an alpha mapped texture as a mix factor in the shader of the rock, but i’m not sure how good this will turn out because i dont make textures myself that often, so my skills are lacking.
I jsut finished a render with a plant growing from a crack in the shell, im not happy with the results. I think i know the problem though.
So im gonna get back to work now and hopefully have a render ready for tomorrow 
Stunning work so far.
By the way, you don’t need to have an emission node using black as the color if all you need to do is tone down a shader effect, you can just choose not to plug anything to the second output of the mix node (which would simply output black).
Thanks man! glad you like it
And it never even occured to me to try leaving the second input unplugged, and you’re right it does give the same results.
I’ve finally started to make some progress with the vegetation.
I couldn’t find any referance photo’s of plants growing from fossils, so i just guessed what a plant living in those conditions might look like. I have no horticultural experience so i don’t expect it to be a factually accurate plant, just one that looks real(ish) and fits in well with the scene.
I imagined a plant that’s roots are sprawling out everywhere, trying to seek out a place to anchor themselves on such a hard surface. I used the ivy generator for the roots, and a particle system for the leaves.
I’m not fully happy with how it’s turned out… The plant doesn’t seem to fit in with it’s surroundings and i’m not sure why? Any one have any ideas/advice?
Cycles – 500 samples – 1hr 15 mins
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Thought i’d upload this composition too… I think the mono toning works well with this image.
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Hi everyone,
I’ve been away for a few days so i’ve not had a chance to do much work on this project.
I’m thinking of removing the vegetaition and adding some sort of creature, like a scorpion or a spider. Most of the people i have showed this project to agree with me that the plant doesn’t fit with the scene so i’m just gonna scrap the idea of having vegetation at all.
Anyone have any input for me? do you think adding a creature to the scene is a good idea?
Hi again,
I’ve removed the vegetation and i’ve added some ants into the scene.
The ants are models from TurboSquid that i modified slightly (They were pretty good for free models).
I’m not sure about them though, i think they look okay, but i can’t help thinking a spider or scorpion would look better. My scorpion model that i am working on is coming along alright, i’ve got the tail, stinger and the main part of the body done.
But i think i need to re-do the tail, after looking at some referance images it seems i am off by quite a bit on the shaping of the thing. Haven’t started work on a spider yet, but i will do soon. I want to test the scene with a few different creatures before i decide on which route to take.
Any way… Here is my latest Render. i may of gone slightly overboard with the Post-Production though
Cycles – 500 samples – 1Hr 12 Mins
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Wow!! Great, fantastic 
Well done.
I specially love the first image you have posted here, the surface reflection is more better and realistic tan the final image you have posted in my opinion, but the final one is great too
I am really impressed. with your work. I like the addition of the plant, I think it helps bring the fossil into focus for the viewer and makes it seem less lost in the noise.
I was also checking out your node structure and I was wondering why you gave different a strength to the normal for the diffuse node. clearly it is working for you, but it was outside the box thinking for me. What is the logic behind that decision?