My first real work since Radio Graves...

I simply started out with POVTree/TomTree and went from there.  I wanted to
make something more fun, and less realistic.

I'm not planning on adding too much to this at this point, other than simply
adding more detail, or modifying some textures, but maybe I'll change my
mind.

I'm open for comments/suggestions!

Tree was created with POVTree.  The ground is an isosurface with a texture
map applied to make the cracks more visible.  The rocks are isosurface blobs
(using isocsg) with horizontally stretched granite on top of the blobs (I
love isosurfaces!).

The butterflies use the butterly macro available in the POV-Ray Objects
Collection, but I found my own wings.  In fact, the wings of the yellow
butterfly on the left are the result of a scan of real butterfly wings that
I found outside my house a few days ago.  Apparently, something ate the
butterfly and left the wings.  They seem to look better than the other
wings.  Hopefully, I'll find more dead butterflies lying around.

-- 
Slash

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Attachments:
Download 'juggling9.jpg' (97 KB)

Preview of image 'juggling9.jpg'

Nice picture...

Just add one nice sun using Abe macro
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.scene-files/26067/
and your scene will be almost completed.

Try to add a slight media or fog to show the heat and to smooth the pic (and
smooth the contrast between the ground and the tree).

May be a glow from Colefax glow and lens will give you a nice camera glow
effect.

Then, add one or two red flowers at the end of the upper branches of your
tree.  Just like succulent or desertic trees which look like dead but are
alive and keep having one or two colourful flowers (most of the time red)
to attract insects (and butterflies) and to survive !!

Tommy

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"lieven_ke" <lie### [at] yahoofr> wrote in message
news:web.3eeeb4cf7a5a20d8a472d3920@news.povray.org...
> Nice picture...
>
> Just add one nice sun using Abe macro
> http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.scene-files/26067/
> and your scene will be almost completed.

I looked for some "sun" source code awhile back.  I'll have to take a look
at that.

> Try to add a slight media or fog to show the heat and to smooth the pic
(and
> smooth the contrast between the ground and the tree).

Media...  Hmmm...  I've successfully avoided learning it all this time...
;-)  Is there a way to make the distant background appear as if there are
"heat waves"?

> May be a glow from Colefax glow and lens will give you a nice camera glow
> effect.

What/where is that?  I'm not familiar with that.

> Then, add one or two red flowers at the end of the upper branches of your
> tree.  Just like succulent or desertic trees which look like dead but are
> alive and keep having one or two colourful flowers (most of the time red)
> to attract insects (and butterflies) and to survive !!

I thought about the flowers as well.  I think perhaps I'll do that.  I'll
have to come up with a nifty little flower macro.

Thanks for the comments!  This is the first time I've openly submitted a
WIP, so all comments are greatly appreciated.

-- 
Slash

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Slashdolt wrote:
>My first real work since Radio Graves...
<snip>
>I'm open for comments/suggestions!
<snip>
>Slash
>

Neat idea!

The monochrome background with just splashes of color in the butterflies is
great, but the color seems understated now. Adding the flowers would be
good, and maybe move a butterfly out in front or something to emphasize the
color a little more (although that may not even be necessary in a larger
render...)

Also, the rocks in the background seem too in line with each other, maybe
moving them around in relation to each other would give it more depth.

Look forward to the final!

RG

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"Slashdolt" <jer### [at] questsoftwarecom> wrote in message
news:3eee0fa2@news.povray.org...
| I'm open for comments/suggestions!
|

This is a nice idea for a picture, but the tree macro you are using just
isn't cutting it. I would suggest writing another tree macro which will
make a better looking dormant or dead tree.

 -Shay

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Slashdolt wrote:
> . . . . The ground is an isosurface with a texture
map applied to make the cracks more visible.

I really like the effect this achieved.  Could you be a little more specific
about how you did this?

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> This is a nice idea for a picture, but the tree macro you are using just
> isn't cutting it. I would suggest writing another tree macro which will
> make a better looking dormant or dead tree.
>

Unfortunately, since the tree was largely "just something neat that
happened" with POVTree/TomTree, there isn't much I can do with the macro,
other than perhaps to change the textures.

Other than the texture, I'm quite pleased with it.  It's not a completely
reaslistic tree, but real trees don't have eye-balls either.  The branches
look very much like fingers to me.  Additionally, when I stare at it long
enough, it seems like I can make out an expression on the tree's "face".
It's very subtle and leaves quite a bit to the imagination of the viewer,
and I think I'd like to keep it that way.

Even so, there are some things that prevent the tree from blending into the
scene.  I plan to work on that more.

-- 
Slash

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"gonzo" <rgo### [at] lansetcom> wrote in message
news:web.3eef5f127a5a20d8a0c272b50@news.povray.org...
> Neat idea!

Thanks!

> The monochrome background with just splashes of color in the butterflies
is
> great, but the color seems understated now. Adding the flowers would be
> good, and maybe move a butterfly out in front or something to emphasize
the
> color a little more (although that may not even be necessary in a larger
> render...)

I was thinking of having something in the forefront, but because the focus
of the image is the the tree itself, I haven't really come up with anything
at this point that would not distract from the subject.

> Also, the rocks in the background seem too in line with each other, maybe
> moving them around in relation to each other would give it more depth.

I've moved the rocks several times so far, but since they take FOREVER-42 to
render, they're still not exactly as I want them.  For one thing, I can't
figure out why the rock in the middle is smoother than the others.  I'm sure
it has something to do with isosurfaces and how they use functions, but so
far, I can't figure it out.  *sigh*

I wanted the image to convey the notion that the rocks feel as if they are
"closing in" on the tree.  Not in a literal sense, but more in a feng-shui
kind of sense.  The rocks and the desert itself are "exerting pressure" on
the tree, and the tree is desparate to hold on to "life", which is best
conveyed (IMHO) by the use of the color in the butterflies.

-- 
Slash

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"Dave Matthews" <mat### [at] dinecollegeedu> wrote in message
news:web.3eef6a1c7a5a20d87196f5900@news.povray.org...
>
> I really like the effect this achieved.  Could you be a little more
specific
> about how you did this?
>

I used Cristoph Hormann's IsoCSG library.  The ground is basically an
iso_plane minus a granite texture functure.  I don't have the source in
front of my now, but it's basically like this (my syntax may is likely all
wrong, but hopefully you'll get the idea):

#fuction F_Ground = iso_plane(y,0)
isosurface {
  function(F_Ground(x,y,z) - f_granite(x,y,z)*0.02)
  contained_by box { whatever size }
  texture { T_Ground }
}

T_Ground is a gradient texture_map, so that the lower "cracks" are darker
than the higher areas.

If that doesn't explain enough, let me know, and I'll try to post a working
source code snippet later on.  :-)

-- 
Slash

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"Slashdolt" <jer### [at] questsoftwarecom> wrote in message
news:3eef7576$1@news.povray.org...
|
| Unfortunately, since the tree was largely "just something
| neat that happened" with POVTree/TomTree, there isn't much
| I can do with the macro, other than perhaps to change the
| textures.
|

There should be a way to add some #write statements to the data in order
to output the positions of the branches. You could then build a better
(for close inspection) tree with a near identical shape. My idea would
be to build a mesh tree and then create some code to crease and divide
the mesh into something resembling bark. I'm the worst to give advice in
that respect, however, as I don't mess with organic.

 -Shay

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