So I've been spending a nice huge chunk of my time over the last week looking at various pictures, photos, etc. depicting the four seasons: Autumn, Spring, Summer, and Winter. In addition I spent a bit of time reading up on some material related to the subject of seasons (Basically the Wikipedia articles on each season, plus the various articles linked from/referenced on them)
The main focus of the research was mostly on what key features of each season are visually the most significant. Obviously this includes information such as "In Winter.... it
SNOWS (Dun Dun DUUUUUN)" but another important detail that must be noted is that said snow is amazingly good at reflecting light. Not that it can show reflections, of course, but when the ground is covered in a nicely leveled layer of snow, the sun's light can reflect pretty well off of it on a sunny day, making the day even brighter. This can even happen on a somewhat cloudy day (Just ask anyone why wears transition lenses, such as myself.)
Another aspect of winter worth noting is the present contrast, basically Snow Vs. Everything that is not snow. In comparison to the white snow everything else appears slightly darker then usually. In some cases this is just because of the present contrast, and other times it's because of certain objects getting wet from melted snow, saturating the colors.
So, come the end of Winter we have Spring. First thing to note is that not all of the snow melts at once, there are still some clumps and areas covered for a time at the beginning. There is also areas of grass that has died and become dry and discolored. Trees are bear some saturation/wetness remains. As time goes on, however, the ground is renewed and new life begins to grow and replace what had been lost throughout winter. By the half-way point, flowers have begun to bloom.
The best means of approaching Spring is to look at it as one giant transition between Winter and Summer. The cooler temperature then summer allows for more saturation and moisture to be present, but it is still warm enough to support plant life and prevent snow.
Then we have Summer, the leaves and other plant life has grown, the sun has dried up excess water desaturizing the present colors to appear more "even", and the sky is a clear, light blue. From my observation it also appears that this is the season in which shadows are their strongest and sharpest. Instead of gradually going from dark to light, there almost seems to be a line between the areas hit by light and the areas in shadow.
Depending on how strong the heat is, and how little rain there is, Summer can also come with areas of dead, dried out grass, this probably won't be focused on to much, if at all, in my own project unless I find myself with time to make a second set of textures for summer to reflect this. The most important area to focus on is the desaturation of color, the brighter blue sky, and the "fullness" of leaves in the trees.
The final season is Autumn, or Fall. The two biggest changes are the transition of colors from greens to browns, reds, and oranges (this is mostly seen in the leaves, though the grass itself also changes to a more brownish shade of green.) Shadows become more elongated, and the edges begin to blur. Leaves, after changing color, eventually fall off and are blown away in the wind, or simply fall onto the ground. Plantl life that was previously thriving begins to curl and either die or go into a hibernative state. This is in preparation for the coming winter, and with it's coming, the season's cycle is renewed.
With this information I believe I am ready for the next step in the project: Textures. The model itself is basically complete (There are still some tweeks to be made and fixes will probably be needed. I may decide to try and see if I can reduce the poly count to help with the rendering time.)
