Hill of Tara Henge Structure
The Henge structure on The hill of Tara
A visualisation of the Henge Structure on The Hill of Tara was commissioned as reference artwork for a guide book. Evidence of the wooden henge posts was discovered during a survey of the known features. The artwork seen above is a projection of the potential features of the henge. Two rings of posts, one inside the other, and a ditch between dug in the space between the two rings. The author requested a realistic piece, including grass and other plant life that would have populated the area at the time the henge stood on the hill.
Despite the simple design, the henge has a striking effect. The challenges of the project stemmed from the scale of the landscape. This was especially true considering the need for grass, tree and plant simulation. LOD practices were employed to minimize render time. The dense square of blue dots is the area of highest detail. The grass is realistically scaled and dispersed. This is the bulk of what is seen in the larger image above.
Surrounding the dense square is a larger area of more sparse grass population. Outside this second square there is a large, accurate terrain model. This terrain model had a noise based texture applied to it to mimic grass dispersion, along with small clumps of grass models placed atop the highest of distant hills to hint at the overall texture.
Half way through the project the author readjusted their request. It had been decided that the area surrounding the monuments would have been cleared of most large plant life. Instead we were to focus on ensuring that the other earthen structures surrounding and intersecting the wooden henge would be clearly visible. New terrain models were placed to highlight these features.
These earthen features were often hidden by the density of grass. The grass created a noise effect that obscured any detail that the geometry might have shown. The most effective solution was to light the scene from a low angle, creating long dramatic shadows. The end results can be seen below.
