need help with convincing sand

[Dave Buckley]

just practising my materials and i am trying to create some convincing sand. this is what i have so far, any assistance/tips would be great.

 

yes i have copied the scene from an ad i saw for liquid in the florida design book

[Dave Buckley]

maybe i should elaborate a bit more, i'm using mental ray and this is my sand material so far, also did a bit of post on the previous image, which i think came out ok

[beestee]

Considering the rest of the composition I don't think adjusting the sand material will do much. It is the horizon that I find distracting or less convincing. Somehow I would expect to see mountains or water, or perhaps a mirrage in the far distance.

 

Something that may help with the sand is moving the sun to be closer to the horizon, casting longer shadows along the surface, then it may show more depth...but the horizon will probably still be a weak point if left as is.

[Dave Buckley]

apologies, i should have also said that this is far from finished

 

still got a lot to do, i always have a play in post mid way through just to throw more ideas at myself.

 

however, i'm not ready for post yet, still untextured and not very populated, and as you say, not a very aesthetically pleasing comp yet.

 

i'm hoping to swap out the physical sky with a photo, which will hopefully contain mountains or water or a mirrage in the far distance

 

i'l try shifting the sun closer to the horizon cheers for the suggestion tho

[Tommy L]

I think the sand looks fine.

[Horhe]

I agree with Tom about the sand, its looking good. I think the palms need some more work, perphaps you could swap them for some different models?

 

This is comming along nicely.

[assifv]

you can download an excellent sand material for mental ray & 3ds Max from mrmaterials dot com.

[CJI]

Sand material works fine i think. Maybe add some Sand dunes and Oasis' in the distance on top of the mountains, mirage etc. But your sand is good as is.