I opened sunrise test.xml and here is my latest creation. A very dreamy sunrise! What do you think? I will try again tomorrow. Thank you very much!! I visited your web site and I liked it very much. Congratulations!!

It looks cool in an artistic way.

Did you aim for realistic sunrise? If so, you should take references from Google Pictures and try to mimic the scene. Your scene is too saturated and the clouds could need some tweak too. I would get rid of the Skybox and use Volumetric Clouds. Command is r_volumetricclouds=1 if I'm not mistaken. You can find tutorials on Youtube.

Good luck, keep going.

Thank you for your kind words, I appreciate that.

My primary goal has always been art. I am aware that my sunrise is too saturated; that is why I called it a dreamy sunrise! So far you are doing very well. I think you have a good grasp of the interplay between the “real” and the “fictional”; I liked your Misc night scene - Cryengine V very much. Thank you for your help!

I think it's good to consider both situations. You created your fictional scene, why not looking into something realistic?

Fictional = cool and interesting, it's good to have it that way.
Realistic = harder but this is what really matters in the industry.

Thank you, you're welcome.

There is a point, I think, at which the realistic becomes art and surpasses the everyday reality. In the same way, Ancient Greek art was realistic but its beauty surpasses everyday reality in many different ways. Don’t be afraid of the interplay between the “real” and the “fictional.” But I agree with you that the emphasis must be towards the realistic.

Ancient Greek art is fascinating and still surpasses everyday reality in many ways, I can agree with that.

I didn't get by what you mean about the interplay between realistic and fictional scenes in ancient Greek art though.

I will use 2 examples from Ancient Greek art: 1) The Kouros (marble, 580 BC) and 2) Hermes of Praxiteles (4th century BC). The Kouros we see in the photo is one of two heroic brothers who gained immortality and eternal recognition for the respect and love they had shown toward their mother. In this sculpture we see an exceptional realistic rendering of the male body, but the smile of the Kouros is not real; it is not about this life; it is about the blissfulness of immortality. We don’t see this idealized smile of blissfulness in our everyday lives; it is fictional. 2) In 500 BC, Hermes was represented as an old man with a long beard. Praxiteles transformed him into a young man resting against a tree trunk covered by a mantle. He holds in his left arm the baby Dionysus (the god of wine and ecstasy). He is probably holding a bunch of grapes in his right hand and he is trying to arouse Dionysus’ passion for ecstasy and absolute freedom. The sculpture is huge (H. 2.15 m). We could say that its size is reasonable because here we have the representation of an immortal God and not a mortal human being. On the other hand, his body looks more like the body of a young athlete than the body of an aged God with a long beard on his face. But his highly polished and idealized face is more appropriate to a God. In other words, we witness in this sculpture a joyful interplay between the humane (real) and the Godly (fictional). I taught art history for many years and now I am convinced that natural beauty depends on the interplay between light and shadow. Artistic beauty (cosmetics, fine arts, drama, cinema, video games, etc.) depends, I think, on the interplay between the real and the fictional.

This sounds interesting and thank you for your explanation.

I do believe in one of the monotheism religions but I can't share the opinion of these sculptures of a joyful interplay between the humane (real) and the Godly (fictional). The sculptures still look like humans.

God can't be equal to human beings.

However I respect your view and in what you believe.

Yes artistic beauty is composed out of real and fictional thoughts.

I also respect your view. Thank you for the nice conversation we had on aesthetics!