Op 27/10/2021 om 01:09 schreef Samuel B.:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>> Continuing Sam's investigations on crystal shapes and materials, and
>> using KrystalShaper as the primary crystal builder.
>>
>> This is a crystal of apophyllite. The coloured variety is
>> Fluorapophyllite-(K).
>> (...)
> 
> Hey Thomas, it looks good!
> 
Thanks Sam! It turned out rather well indeed. It is a bit out of the way 
in terms of colours, but I liked the wikipedia example too much to let 
it pass.

> I agree with Bald Eagle that a cleaner render would be nice, but of course that
> would drive up the render time, should you wish to increase the number of
> samples. I mean, you're using scattering media + caustics, and we all know how
> that goes.
> 
I was indeed fully aware of the grainy render, and - at this stage - it 
was on purpose for experimentation's sake, as otherwise I would loose 
way to much time waiting for the render to finish before starting the 
next try. As always, a project starts rendering fast and gradually slows 
down along the way when better settings and more stuff are added.

> How long did this take to render? The file name says 004d, so I really hope it
> wasn't 4 days ':/
> 
Oh no! That is the version number ;-) This render was pretty fast: less 
than an hour iirc.

> I'd like to discover a cheap and realistic way to add internal fractures to
> mineral renders. Apophyllite is one of those minerals prone to being found in a
> fractured state. I have two ideas in mind, but both are rather expensive: 1)
> height fields intersecting not only each other, but also the crystal shape
> (which is itself an intersection); or 2) isosurfaces. Both can be very, very
> slow. Sometimes I wish media had an ior block.
> 
Ah... yes indeed. I have not considered your first method, but 
considered the isosurface one. However, I also cringe at the implied 
render time.

Another thing I would like to do is model more asymmetric crystals, like 
they occur in nature. The KrystalShaper models are too perfect for our 
grubby little hands. :-) Maybe by carefully manipulating the set of 
planes in the intersection, or working directly on a mesh2 model 
converted back to .obj for instance, and load it up in our favourite 
modeller...

> Is there an online POV-Ray render farm anywhere? :P
> 
That would be nice.

> Apophyllite is one of those minerals I'd love to find. Since it occurs in basalt
> vesicles, one might think it'd be everywhere, but finding any mineral-bearing
> cavities is already a challenge...
> 
Yes, you will need a bit of luck I guess.

-- 
Thomas

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