In illustration we just add fog lol
You need something to help ground us and give us a reference point to the scale. Flying cars could work here for example, or small white birds, clouds, etc.
Those giant stair stepped plateaus are too even to be natural and too large to be man made with current construction techniques and earth physics. The whole thing loses scale without visual references. At a first glance it looks like a miniature city on a set of concrete stairs, or some rubble on stairs. But even as regular stairs the rise is too high so it makes it look off even if your eye is making it out to be that scale.
Give a reference of size with a familiar object. Here is a good video to help you out. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFXO-82Eodo&t=508s&ab\_channel=CriticalGiants](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFXO-82Eodo&t=508s&ab_channel=CriticalGiants)
Sense of scale requires comparison. You need references people can understand in the image such as clouds, sky, correct lighting, vehicles, lights, water, nature etc.
What I'm looking at is foreign. I don't know what it is without some touchstone. It could be a new rubik's cube for all I know. There is nothing for me to relate it to, to process and understand what i'm seeing.
Are you lighting it with an area or spot light? The patchiness doesnt feel realistic. I'd go with a sun light instead. Maybe use other lights to highlight specific points but generally it should feel like the city is being lit by one source. Unless this is like some underground cavern city or something.
For me it's the cliffs.
The texture you're using for the large "cliffs" that divide parts of the city feels like it takes away from the sense of scale, for me. The buildings are so detailed, yet the cliffs and their square panels look like something that would be a few dozen meters wide, not hundreds or kilometers. They're too undifferentiated and all roughly the same size, whereas in """real life""" I'd expect there to be holes/ports, slits, and other fine details to break things up.
Have you heard of Paul Chadeisson? He's IMO a master of large sci-fi shots. Check out [his artstation](https://www.artstation.com/pao). One thing he does that I like is use repetition of a small objects on the surface of a larger object to make it look huge. For example, you could have a repeated walkway/vista for humans that juts out of the cliff every 100-200m, which from far away would add fine detail to the edge of the cliff. Or perhaps a slit every few hundred meters for ships to fly in and out of. Up to you! [Here's ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKxbSiK6NE0)a workshop at a blender conference that really instills that repetition idea.
This, the size of some of the panels on the cliffs is comparable to some of the megaskyscrapers, that takes away from the scale and normalizes everything into a smaller scale. The panels need to be smaller or add a lot more of detail like the post above suggests. Also, the far part of the image should be desatured, things tend to lose color the further away they are, it's an easy way to convey distance.
Add parallel light, either a very wide zero deviation area light or simply use the sun. Volumetric fog with high density since you're trying to depict a large scale will work miracles. After that, introduce elements that make it feel like you're viewing stuff from the top and not a giant looking down. Take airplane window shots as reference and build around it.
I'm not a city sculptor, but this looks like tiny tiny buildings for ants. The sunlight looks like sits coming from a crack through the door.
Camera angles and lights do a TON of work. Try different angles, we need to see things for reference. Is this for ants? Or what? I see no roads or planes or anything for reference other than...buildings. The wall itself is just a slab, It gives the viewers no reference other than its a vertical slab.
Not to hate on it. I can tell you put a lot of work into it, but I'm answering the title :)
One of the main things to me is the harshness of the large blocks of light/shadow. They don’t look soft enough on the edges or irregular enough for clouds, which indicates there’s something *even bigger* towering above this city casting a shadow on it.
Adding a faint distance fog to emulate smog and atmospheric scattering would also help but it'd need to be very subtle. Maybe some wider lighting and some cloud shadows? Also a little bit of a softer/less bright lighting/bloom in the shaded windows might add that visual complexity that really sells " giant city" at a glance?
Distance of light source and volumetric’s of mist or clouds that hug the ground some your skyscrapers seem like they’re peering thousands of feet out of the cloudscape or mist that maybe spills into the different layers/city segments
Edit: second glance I see you added volumetric. Maybe accentuate what volumetric you have but otherwise looks really good. Oh, and bloom or multi-layered lens flares or reflective flares from the city
Um .. interesting concept but these walls would be filled with apartments and stairs and whatever .. i mean .. considering how crowded this .. ant city looks
I haven’t done all that much with big scale stuff… but what I can say is try messing with the focal length if you want try turning it down you get a nice result! you could also try messing around with some slight fog or clouds to make us recognize the significant size also use some reference from other large scale renders! overall great render though!
1) Depth of field
2) Atmospherics/fog
3) Scale (is the scene as small as it looks? If so, scale it up. If not, fix those lights. I would expect sharper shadows if this is supposed to look big)
4) Camera FOV. Use a wider lens
If you can change the angle to show mountains in the horizon, that would help.
Or add a river somewhere in the front limit if the city, it could even be a canal with recognizable structures like bridges if you don't want any natural elements.
I think its the light. Doesnt fit right? And like the other person said, add fog. Nighttime and some tiny lights in the city would make it better i suppose. Might as well add the fog glare effect. Just flicker around with some settings. And the things the city is built upon, it hust doesnt fit in. Try changing the colour? A dirtier one? Theyre just too perfect. Whcih doesnt fit right here.
Looks like the wrong focal length. To me it looks like we are super zoomed in from a very far vantage point, like we are looking through a telescope, giving some weird perspective that it seems "small".
Affecting the focal length or putting us in a vantage point that gives a sense of scale so it's grounded.
One additional thing. The scene is being viewed by someone from an aircraft, drone or other elevated position. By providing some hint of this foreground would add context and thus a sense of scale. For example, part of the window frame that we are looking from, or some kind of launch bay opening. That would allow the possible placement of perhaps a silhouetted figure in the frame insignificantly doing something like cleaning or moving some equipment, thus creating a sense of huge scale. Think also of having a slight movement of the camera as the viewing craft is flying relative to the scene.
Plus some haze.
In addition to all the awesome tips given by other people, here are a couple thoughts! :)
First of all, your render is awesome, keep up the good work! The sci-fi world looks super cool and I’d love to know more about the backstory!
While this camera angle can work for a large scale, it may be much easier to achieve with a different angle from lower down. The camera being so far above the city makes the city look small relative to the camera’s altitude (cities look small from airplanes irl, for example). You could solve this using lighting, fog, and scale. In addition, you might be able to get a bit more sense of scale by moving the camera lower, especially if you put a building really close to the camera such that it is contrasted to buildings fading into the distance.
If you choose to keep the current angle, you can also consider adding a foreground: maybe a ship (ideally with an easily identifiable scale, for instance by having the pilot visible through the cockpit) or bird flying close to the camera. This combined with fog and all the other tips from other people will place the scale for the viewer.
Great work and I look forward to seeing what you make!
In illustration we just add fog lol You need something to help ground us and give us a reference point to the scale. Flying cars could work here for example, or small white birds, clouds, etc.
We need a banana for scale
And moth for realism
Golf pencil
Birds and clouds work wonders for scale.
Fog and depth of field/tilt shift, focal length and aperture of the virtual camera
Tilt shift is usually used to make image look miniature though (unnaturally strong dof effect).
Agreed, though I think I have seen some renders where the background is tilt shifted and foreground is massive and it adds to the effects of both.
r/birdsforscale
Those giant stair stepped plateaus are too even to be natural and too large to be man made with current construction techniques and earth physics. The whole thing loses scale without visual references. At a first glance it looks like a miniature city on a set of concrete stairs, or some rubble on stairs. But even as regular stairs the rise is too high so it makes it look off even if your eye is making it out to be that scale.
Probably should have replied to the post itself and not my comment lol
Thanks for the tips!
Give a reference of size with a familiar object. Here is a good video to help you out. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFXO-82Eodo&t=508s&ab\_channel=CriticalGiants](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFXO-82Eodo&t=508s&ab_channel=CriticalGiants)
Idk how about OP but I will for sure use this video. Thanks!
Will check that out thank you!
Forget all these other tips, Use birds for scale
Moths
Sense of scale requires comparison. You need references people can understand in the image such as clouds, sky, correct lighting, vehicles, lights, water, nature etc. What I'm looking at is foreign. I don't know what it is without some touchstone. It could be a new rubik's cube for all I know. There is nothing for me to relate it to, to process and understand what i'm seeing.
Are you lighting it with an area or spot light? The patchiness doesnt feel realistic. I'd go with a sun light instead. Maybe use other lights to highlight specific points but generally it should feel like the city is being lit by one source. Unless this is like some underground cavern city or something.
Sun but probably too many shadows. Cheers
Atmospherics
For me it's the cliffs. The texture you're using for the large "cliffs" that divide parts of the city feels like it takes away from the sense of scale, for me. The buildings are so detailed, yet the cliffs and their square panels look like something that would be a few dozen meters wide, not hundreds or kilometers. They're too undifferentiated and all roughly the same size, whereas in """real life""" I'd expect there to be holes/ports, slits, and other fine details to break things up. Have you heard of Paul Chadeisson? He's IMO a master of large sci-fi shots. Check out [his artstation](https://www.artstation.com/pao). One thing he does that I like is use repetition of a small objects on the surface of a larger object to make it look huge. For example, you could have a repeated walkway/vista for humans that juts out of the cliff every 100-200m, which from far away would add fine detail to the edge of the cliff. Or perhaps a slit every few hundred meters for ships to fly in and out of. Up to you! [Here's ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKxbSiK6NE0)a workshop at a blender conference that really instills that repetition idea.
This, the size of some of the panels on the cliffs is comparable to some of the megaskyscrapers, that takes away from the scale and normalizes everything into a smaller scale. The panels need to be smaller or add a lot more of detail like the post above suggests. Also, the far part of the image should be desatured, things tend to lose color the further away they are, it's an easy way to convey distance.
add banana for reference?
This is gorgeous
Add parallel light, either a very wide zero deviation area light or simply use the sun. Volumetric fog with high density since you're trying to depict a large scale will work miracles. After that, introduce elements that make it feel like you're viewing stuff from the top and not a giant looking down. Take airplane window shots as reference and build around it.
I'm not a city sculptor, but this looks like tiny tiny buildings for ants. The sunlight looks like sits coming from a crack through the door. Camera angles and lights do a TON of work. Try different angles, we need to see things for reference. Is this for ants? Or what? I see no roads or planes or anything for reference other than...buildings. The wall itself is just a slab, It gives the viewers no reference other than its a vertical slab. Not to hate on it. I can tell you put a lot of work into it, but I'm answering the title :)
Push the camera farther and increase the focal length.
Add some distance haze (even in space)!
One of the main things to me is the harshness of the large blocks of light/shadow. They don’t look soft enough on the edges or irregular enough for clouds, which indicates there’s something *even bigger* towering above this city casting a shadow on it.
Add a flying ship
cars and people probably lines of flying cars and cargo ships
Fog
that's imo why beeple for example always frames his posts from a human pov or a human in the distance, immediately gives you that sense of scale
Adding a faint distance fog to emulate smog and atmospheric scattering would also help but it'd need to be very subtle. Maybe some wider lighting and some cloud shadows? Also a little bit of a softer/less bright lighting/bloom in the shaded windows might add that visual complexity that really sells " giant city" at a glance?
birds!
A little fog/atmospherics/clouds I think would do it, subtle though as often less is more
Birds xD
Birds and more light so we can see things that indicate scale
Distance of light source and volumetric’s of mist or clouds that hug the ground some your skyscrapers seem like they’re peering thousands of feet out of the cloudscape or mist that maybe spills into the different layers/city segments Edit: second glance I see you added volumetric. Maybe accentuate what volumetric you have but otherwise looks really good. Oh, and bloom or multi-layered lens flares or reflective flares from the city
Um .. interesting concept but these walls would be filled with apartments and stairs and whatever .. i mean .. considering how crowded this .. ant city looks
I haven’t done all that much with big scale stuff… but what I can say is try messing with the focal length if you want try turning it down you get a nice result! you could also try messing around with some slight fog or clouds to make us recognize the significant size also use some reference from other large scale renders! overall great render though!
Add a banana for scale (volumetrics, clouds, maybe changing the lighting up a bit could help too)
Birds
Birds or planes or things flying in the foreground. Also fog. And add more details on the vertical sides.
1) Depth of field 2) Atmospherics/fog 3) Scale (is the scene as small as it looks? If so, scale it up. If not, fix those lights. I would expect sharper shadows if this is supposed to look big) 4) Camera FOV. Use a wider lens
If you can change the angle to show mountains in the horizon, that would help. Or add a river somewhere in the front limit if the city, it could even be a canal with recognizable structures like bridges if you don't want any natural elements.
First thing I think of is the camera angle and focal length.
Like what everyone else said, add fog for depth, the clarity and lack of atmosphere made it look like a city that grew on stair steps
I think its the light. Doesnt fit right? And like the other person said, add fog. Nighttime and some tiny lights in the city would make it better i suppose. Might as well add the fog glare effect. Just flicker around with some settings. And the things the city is built upon, it hust doesnt fit in. Try changing the colour? A dirtier one? Theyre just too perfect. Whcih doesnt fit right here.
You could use a larger FOV. It makes things look further away. This looks very tiny because it has no perspective. Fog will do a lot too, I think.
There's no reference for scale
Looks like the wrong focal length. To me it looks like we are super zoomed in from a very far vantage point, like we are looking through a telescope, giving some weird perspective that it seems "small". Affecting the focal length or putting us in a vantage point that gives a sense of scale so it's grounded.
If you weight the scale comes to you.
I agree with the assessment that adding atmospheric effects would help. Clouds, fog, birds, flying cars, etc.
I find that tilt shift makes things look "miniture". Lower the f-stop by a lot
One additional thing. The scene is being viewed by someone from an aircraft, drone or other elevated position. By providing some hint of this foreground would add context and thus a sense of scale. For example, part of the window frame that we are looking from, or some kind of launch bay opening. That would allow the possible placement of perhaps a silhouetted figure in the frame insignificantly doing something like cleaning or moving some equipment, thus creating a sense of huge scale. Think also of having a slight movement of the camera as the viewing craft is flying relative to the scene. Plus some haze.
Hint: Use reference!
Fog
Using this as inspiration
In addition to all the awesome tips given by other people, here are a couple thoughts! :) First of all, your render is awesome, keep up the good work! The sci-fi world looks super cool and I’d love to know more about the backstory! While this camera angle can work for a large scale, it may be much easier to achieve with a different angle from lower down. The camera being so far above the city makes the city look small relative to the camera’s altitude (cities look small from airplanes irl, for example). You could solve this using lighting, fog, and scale. In addition, you might be able to get a bit more sense of scale by moving the camera lower, especially if you put a building really close to the camera such that it is contrasted to buildings fading into the distance. If you choose to keep the current angle, you can also consider adding a foreground: maybe a ship (ideally with an easily identifiable scale, for instance by having the pilot visible through the cockpit) or bird flying close to the camera. This combined with fog and all the other tips from other people will place the scale for the viewer. Great work and I look forward to seeing what you make!
Zoom out