I like this picture. James Moore obscured the dead face of the poser
character, which helped a lot. I think that the effect would be more
powerful if the puzzle were much larger and if the creator had many more
tools. He doesn't look very challenged to me at all. The dice are
*great*! Their inclusion made this picture for me.

 -Shay

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One of my favorites on this round as well, along with "The Enigma of
Plumbing" (the one that got 3rd place).

Oddly, I didn't like the 1st place image. But that's me.

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Shay wrote:
> I like this picture. James Moore obscured the dead face of the poser
> character, which helped a lot.

Yes I agree here.  I also thought that the texture of the hands worked 
well, within limits, and somehow in contrast with the scattering that
seems to extend the nebula.

  I think that the effect would be more
> powerful if the puzzle were much larger and if the creator had many more
> tools. He doesn't look very challenged to me at all.

Yeah I agree, he really seems in control of his 'universe'

  The dice are
> *great*! Their inclusion made this picture for me.
> 
Hmmm, I saw them more in the way I saw the nebula, as an attempt to 
cover all bases rather than playing into the metaphor directly.

So what is the metaphor anyway?  A mirror that is a puzzle.
(It took me awhile to notice that the picture in the puzzle is a 
reflection not a recursion.)  A puzzle representing a process, a process 
of inquiry...into the universe and its mysteries?  Or a process of 
construction?...of a mystery? of self?

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Shay <sah### [at] simcopartscom> wrote in message news:3f2ebd1a@news.povray.org...
> I like this picture. James Moore obscured the dead face of the poser
> character, which helped a lot.

Agreed, and the character is well posed to eliminate most of the usual
Poserish flaws.  He obviously spent some time working out the hands, but it
paid off, they look very good..


I think that the effect would be more
> powerful if the puzzle were much larger and if the creator had many more
> tools. He doesn't look very challenged to me at all.

I thought that at first, but the more I looked at it I decided that more
stuff in the picture would have detracted from the puzzle.  I get the
feeling the challenge is in the enigma of painting the pieces.


The dice are
> *great*! Their inclusion made this picture for me.
>
>  -Shay

Yes, they add another enigma to the puzzle.

The image is well composed, and the modeling of the puzzle pieces, candles
and paint pots is good, and the lighting sets each piece off so that all fit
together perfectly.

An excellent image.  This was my top pick for the round.

RG

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Thanks for all the comments everybody!

> James Moore obscured the dead face of the poser character, which helped a lot.

My original plan was to position the face completely out of the picture so
it's seen only in the reflection in the puzzle, but it made the hands seem
too 'godlike' and didn't really give a frame of reference to the
reflection.  I also played with the background alot, trying a black
background so the person almost faded away into it, but didn't really like
it.  I then tried a starfield, but it just looked too busy.  So I tried the
misty background and liked the way it fit in with the nebula in the puzzle.
 That's one of the things I love about povray - it's really easy to comment
out a few lines and experiment with different things.

> I think that the effect would be more powerful if the puzzle were much larger
> and if the creator had many more tools. He doesn't look very challenged to me
> at all.

I wanted to make the puzzle more complicated, but the macro I used in the
GIMP would only generate a 20x20 piece puzzle and I didn't really have the
time to do it by hand.

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