Well the problem with your lighting is (from what I can see) there's only 1 
light source and no ambient light or radiosity to light up the shadows.


I'd suggest for starters you try something like this:

//make lighting calculations work in linear space (more physically correct)
global_settings { assumed_gamma 1 }

//main light, not to bright
light_source { <-1,1,-1>*1000, rgb 1 }

//apply this to all your materials
finish { diffuse .8 ambient .2 }

And see how that looks.


My checkered plane scene looks good because it's using radiosity and HDR, 
but those are both very advanced techniques and I suggest you should start 
by trying to get good results with just 1 light and ambient.

Also I learnt a lot about lighting by practicing with a very simple scene of 
a white ball on a white plane, that lets you try out different techniques 
until you get something that looks right without needing to wait ages for it 
to render.

-- 
Tek
http://evilsuperbrain.com

"milco2006" <mil### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message 
news:web.462161c02cd286fba35dc34c0@news.povray.org...
> "Tek" <tek### [at] evilsuperbraincom> wrote:
>> Cool concept!
>>
>> My suggestions:
>> Regiment is spelt regiment not regement!
>> The lighting is not very well balanced, I suggest you add global_settings
>> { assumed_gamma 1 } and use some ambient light or radiosity (pitch black
>> shadows look wrong with a blue sky).
>> The material on the gravestones looks strange, it has pink stripes and
>> they're brighter than the sky!
>> The text is engraved too deeply, real grave stones enscriptions are only 
>> a
>> few millimeters deep.
>> The wall at the back is just 2 flat colours, it should have a normal map 
>> on
>> it and shouldn't be pitch black, e.g. pigment { rgb .5 } normal { 
>> crackle -1
>> form <1,0,0> }
>> The sky blue colour is a bit purple, I suggest you add a little green to 
>> get
>> a more cyan-blue shade.
>>
>> I like the grass & soil, though I think the soil should be darker than 
>> the
>> grass but improving the lighting will help you see how they look.
>>
>> --
>> Tek
>> http://evilsuperbrain.com
>>
>
> Hey,
>
> Thanks for your comments. You will see my other post in relation to some 
> of
> these features however you suggestions are very useful. Especially 
> grateful
> for the comment about the spelling of regiment, slight typo during he 
> early
> experimental stages!
>
> I notice that in your images the lighting looks really natural and
> especially in your reflective ball on the checkered plane the light looks
> very natural. I have tried to play with light sources however nothing I do
> seems to work terribly well. Currently it is set up with a standard
> unexciting light_source. I tried out a more sunset sort of appearance
> however it looked really unnatural. If you could give me advice on 
> lighting
> I would be very appreciative. If I can get the lighting to work out better
> then I may stand a better chance of sorting out the other problems!
>
> Thanks again for taking the time,
>
> Malcolm
>

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