Farshore is the inverse of most 3D terrain modeling efforts because it emphasizes post-process painting over a large rendered background image (2250 pixels).

Painting land forms with the same detail, perspective and dimensional accuracy that 3D modelers can muster is difficult and time consuming, especially on a small monitor. Using a terrain render as an underlying template provides a simpler solution that makes photo-real landscape painting much easier, even at print resolutions.

Terrain modelers don't handle distant foliage very well, especially with the level of detail that is visible in larger print formats. Using Jungle DVD, Tree Forestry and some Grains & Grasses nozzles/tubes solves that problem. Even the background hillside foliage is painted in Farshore. The terrain model render serves mostly as a color, form and shading template (1). The result is a 2250 by 3000 pixel painting that translates well to print.

Working with the rendered template, the distant trees are painted on a hillside layer using the Small Foliage nozzle from Jungle 2D(2). The rendered background layer provides a template for lighting because it defines the angle of the sun as determined in the 3D scene. Shading the trees is simply a matter of using Grain to darken the shaded foliage or painting the shaded foliage on a separate layer so it can be color balanced independently.

The mid and foreground trees are a combination of White Oak mastering nozzles from Jungle 3D (now DVD) and Oak 4 library from Tree Forestry (3). Multiple layers are used for each tree. See the Forestry manual and/or the Painting Trees or Foliage Structure tutorials for further details on painting trees using layers.

The foreground grasses are simply a few layers of grasses and grains, some of which are on Jungle DVD (4). We used multiple layers to help with perspective, positioning and lighting control. Retouching and clean-ups are easier when foreground elements stay on separate layers as well.

That's all there is to it. Of course, there were assorted mistakes and redos. It's not a 10 minute job in other words, but even so it's a very speedy process compared to painting this kind of detail using traditional techniques, and lots of fun too.

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