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From: Tim Nikias
Subject: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 17 Jun 2007 10:29:27
Message: <46754547@news.povray.org>
Just a WIP I've been working on for about a week or so.

Lately, I've often begun images, but don't manage to finish them. Most 
of the time, what I want to say with them doesn't really fit into a 
single image, or it evolves as time progresses and I later don't see 
what I saw when I started the image. Kinda shows how chaotic my life is 
to me at the moment...

Anyways, back to the image. The signposts where scripted, all I do is 
collect words I want on them, and assign them to a small and simple 
script. It positions the texts on small signs, attaches them to a post 
and places it on the hill. Thus, over time, the sign-maze gets thicker, 
as I think of more words.

The little person was modelled with the Silo 2.0 Beta. I'm no good at 
organic/human modelling so far, always want to exercise it more, but 
never get around to it, so I'm sticking with more stylized figures. I'm 
pondering about modifying my furry fellows or such. Creating a small 
"Tim Nikias" World, so-to-speak, in which I don't have to use human 
forms to make the messages for universal, but that is probably for later 
images, unless I give my fellows some arms or such.

The hill is a pattern-based heightfield, the grass was dug up from my 
old "Miss You (while you're gone)" image. I'm thinking about modifying 
it a little and make it available to the public: It creates a set of 
grass-blades (like 50 or so, set via parameter), and reuses these to 
create small bushels, where each bushel is random again. Thus, memory is 
kept low (the blades are meshes and thus, reusing them doesn't require 
much memory), even though it all looks pretty random.

Yet to to is some more work on the ground (plain brown isn't realistic, 
is it?), some stones (maybe arrange for a path or two) and a background 
and proper sky. Lighting is also just preliminary so far.

Regards,
Tim

-- 
aka "Tim Nikias"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>


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From: Alain
Subject: Re: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 17 Jun 2007 11:11:35
Message: <46754f27$1@news.povray.org>
Tim Nikias nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/06/17 10:29:
> Just a WIP I've been working on for about a week or so.
> 
> Lately, I've often begun images, but don't manage to finish them. Most 
> of the time, what I want to say with them doesn't really fit into a 
> single image, or it evolves as time progresses and I later don't see 
> what I saw when I started the image. Kinda shows how chaotic my life is 
> to me at the moment...
> 
> Anyways, back to the image. The signposts where scripted, all I do is 
> collect words I want on them, and assign them to a small and simple 
> script. It positions the texts on small signs, attaches them to a post 
> and places it on the hill. Thus, over time, the sign-maze gets thicker, 
> as I think of more words.
> 
> The little person was modelled with the Silo 2.0 Beta. I'm no good at 
> organic/human modelling so far, always want to exercise it more, but 
> never get around to it, so I'm sticking with more stylized figures. I'm 
> pondering about modifying my furry fellows or such. Creating a small 
> "Tim Nikias" World, so-to-speak, in which I don't have to use human 
> forms to make the messages for universal, but that is probably for later 
> images, unless I give my fellows some arms or such.
> 
> The hill is a pattern-based heightfield, the grass was dug up from my 
> old "Miss You (while you're gone)" image. I'm thinking about modifying 
> it a little and make it available to the public: It creates a set of 
> grass-blades (like 50 or so, set via parameter), and reuses these to 
> create small bushels, where each bushel is random again. Thus, memory is 
> kept low (the blades are meshes and thus, reusing them doesn't require 
> much memory), even though it all looks pretty random.
> 
> Yet to to is some more work on the ground (plain brown isn't realistic, 
> is it?), some stones (maybe arrange for a path or two) and a background 
> and proper sky. Lighting is also just preliminary so far.
> 
> Regards,
> Tim
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
As the figure is secondary to the arows hill, keeping him as is looks OK to me. 
Hi's posture is expressive enough.
Just some tweaking of the sky and polishing of the hill and signs.
Maybe adding some colouring to the posts.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
You know you've been raytracing too long when you see something in the real 
world and you think, "Hey! How did they get that effect?"


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 17 Jun 2007 13:09:37
Message: <46756ad1$1@news.povray.org>
Tim Nikias wrote:
> Yet to to is some more work on the ground (plain brown isn't realistic, 
> is it?), some stones (maybe arrange for a path or two) and a background 
> and proper sky. Lighting is also just preliminary so far.

I agree with Alain. In addition, the grass looks like the kind of thing 
you get in a desert or at a beach. Maybe dunes would be more appropriate 
there. :-)

Also, consider footprints circling the hill. A joke that's classic for 
good reason. :-)

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     His kernel fu is strong.
     He studied at the Shao Linux Temple.


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From: Tim Nikias
Subject: Re: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 17 Jun 2007 14:34:19
Message: <46757eab$1@news.povray.org>
Darren New wrote:
> I agree with Alain. In addition, the grass looks like the kind of thing 
> you get in a desert or at a beach. Maybe dunes would be more appropriate 
> there. :-)

Hm, what would be required to make it less duny and more normal grass?

> Also, consider footprints circling the hill. A joke that's classic for 
> good reason. :-)

Hm... I'm not so sure if I wanna go that direction, after all, though 
it's kinda funny, it's also kinda sad that this guy doesn't know where 
to go, and I don't want to put too much weight on either side.

Regards,
Tim

-- 
aka "Tim Nikias"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>


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From: Tim Nikias
Subject: Re: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 17 Jun 2007 14:38:14
Message: <46757f96@news.povray.org>
Alain wrote:
> Tim Nikias nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/06/17 10:29:
>> Just a WIP I've been working on for about a week or so.
>>
>> Lately, I've often begun images, but don't manage to finish them. Most 
>> of the time, what I want to say with them doesn't really fit into a 
>> single image, or it evolves as time progresses and I later don't see 
>> what I saw when I started the image. Kinda shows how chaotic my life 
>> is to me at the moment...
>>
>> Anyways, back to the image. The signposts where scripted, all I do is 
>> collect words I want on them, and assign them to a small and simple 
>> script. It positions the texts on small signs, attaches them to a post 
>> and places it on the hill. Thus, over time, the sign-maze gets 
>> thicker, as I think of more words.
>>
>> The little person was modelled with the Silo 2.0 Beta. I'm no good at 
>> organic/human modelling so far, always want to exercise it more, but 
>> never get around to it, so I'm sticking with more stylized figures. 
>> I'm pondering about modifying my furry fellows or such. Creating a 
>> small "Tim Nikias" World, so-to-speak, in which I don't have to use 
>> human forms to make the messages for universal, but that is probably 
>> for later images, unless I give my fellows some arms or such.
>>
>> The hill is a pattern-based heightfield, the grass was dug up from my 
>> old "Miss You (while you're gone)" image. I'm thinking about modifying 
>> it a little and make it available to the public: It creates a set of 
>> grass-blades (like 50 or so, set via parameter), and reuses these to 
>> create small bushels, where each bushel is random again. Thus, memory 
>> is kept low (the blades are meshes and thus, reusing them doesn't 
>> require much memory), even though it all looks pretty random.
>>
>> Yet to to is some more work on the ground (plain brown isn't 
>> realistic, is it?), some stones (maybe arrange for a path or two) and 
>> a background and proper sky. Lighting is also just preliminary so far.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Tim
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
> As the figure is secondary to the arows hill, keeping him as is looks OK 
> to me. Hi's posture is expressive enough.

Good that I got that right on my first attempt. :-)

> Just some tweaking of the sky and polishing of the hill and signs.
> Maybe adding some colouring to the posts.

Yeah, all that is on my to-do list. For now, I just tweaked the hill for 
the main form, scripted the stuff for the signs and tweaked the scripts 
for the grass, modelled the guy, it's really just an early stage of the 
image.

Regards,
Tim

-- 
aka "Tim Nikias"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 17 Jun 2007 16:02:49
Message: <46759369$1@news.povray.org>
Tim Nikias wrote:
> Hm, what would be required to make it less duny and more normal grass?

More smooth and fewer clumps, I think. Roots don't go well horizontally 
in sand, which is why the grass tends to grow in clumps on sand.

> Hm... I'm not so sure if I wanna go that direction,

Yeah, it's hard to say whether it would improve things. It would 
definitely change the tone and story of the image.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     His kernel fu is strong.
     He studied at the Shao Linux Temple.


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From: Grassblade
Subject: Re: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 17 Jun 2007 16:10:02
Message: <web.467594f476265285662040f20@news.povray.org>
Tim Nikias <JUS### [at] gmxnetWARE> wrote:
> Darren New wrote:
> > I agree with Alain. In addition, the grass looks like the kind of thing
> > you get in a desert or at a beach. Maybe dunes would be more appropriate
> > there. :-)
>
> Hm, what would be required to make it less duny and more normal grass?

The base of the grassblades is too wide. The way you have set them up, it
looks realistic for very short grass. But we can use Lost Guy to measure
grass heigth and realise it's quite tall. The grass near the path could
also be flatter, as it's likely someone trod on it. Your grass is also of
random height, but flat on average. Real grass tends to be in clumps, some
taller and greener, others shorter and yellower, but clumps near a tall and
green clump are more likely to be tall and green too. Finally, grass is
nearly white near the ground.
Gilles Tran's grass-making macro is very good although not perfect, you may
want to compare notes with it.


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From: Alain
Subject: Re: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 17 Jun 2007 18:18:23
Message: <4675b32f$1@news.povray.org>
Grassblade nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/06/17 16:09:
> Tim Nikias <JUS### [at] gmxnetWARE> wrote:
>> Darren New wrote:
>>> I agree with Alain. In addition, the grass looks like the kind of thing
>>> you get in a desert or at a beach. Maybe dunes would be more appropriate
>>> there. :-)
>> Hm, what would be required to make it less duny and more normal grass?
> 
> The base of the grassblades is too wide. The way you have set them up, it
> looks realistic for very short grass. But we can use Lost Guy to measure
> grass heigth and realise it's quite tall. The grass near the path could
> also be flatter, as it's likely someone trod on it. Your grass is also of
> random height, but flat on average. Real grass tends to be in clumps, some
> taller and greener, others shorter and yellower, but clumps near a tall and
> green clump are more likely to be tall and green too. Finally, grass is
> nearly white near the ground.
> Gilles Tran's grass-making macro is very good although not perfect, you may
> want to compare notes with it.
> 
> 
A good use of the bozo or bumps pattern. Use it to modulate the height and 
colour of the grass.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
   My wife likes to talk on the phone during sex; she called me from Chicago 
last night.
	Rodney Dangerfield


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From: Tim Nikias
Subject: Re: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 17 Jun 2007 18:24:33
Message: <4675b4a1$1@news.povray.org>
Grassblade wrote:
> Tim Nikias <JUS### [at] gmxnetWARE> wrote:
>> Darren New wrote:
>>> I agree with Alain. In addition, the grass looks like the kind of thing
>>> you get in a desert or at a beach. Maybe dunes would be more appropriate
>>> there. :-)
>> Hm, what would be required to make it less duny and more normal grass?
> 
> The base of the grassblades is too wide. The way you have set them up, it
> looks realistic for very short grass. But we can use Lost Guy to measure
> grass heigth and realise it's quite tall. The grass near the path could
> also be flatter, as it's likely someone trod on it. Your grass is also of
> random height, but flat on average. Real grass tends to be in clumps, some
> taller and greener, others shorter and yellower, but clumps near a tall and
> green clump are more likely to be tall and green too. Finally, grass is
> nearly white near the ground.
> Gilles Tran's grass-making macro is very good although not perfect, you may
> want to compare notes with it.

Maybe I should have another look at it, but AFAIK it places tones of 
grass-blades, while my approach is to place bushels. Maybe I'll work 
further on the placing and scaling (via patterns or function) to 
generate that more uniform look you mention when those bushels are 
closer to each other. As it is now, I just build a bushel, texture each 
blade differently and use some random scaling. But, as I said, the image 
is WIP and at its beginning, still lots of room for improvement.

Thanks for all the suggestions, btw!

Regards,
Tim


-- 
aka "Tim Nikias"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>


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From: Thomas de Groot
Subject: Re: Lost Guy - WIP
Date: 18 Jun 2007 03:34:39
Message: <4676358f$1@news.povray.org>
Deceptively simple and yet an image with a profound impact. Thanks for 
sharing this with us, Tim. Read the first stanza of Dante's Inferno and you 
will meet the same dilemma:
     Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
     mi ritrovai per una selva oscura

     ...
( free translation: Halfway on the road of our life, I found myself in a 
dark wood because the true way had been lost)

Interesting to see how some of your words are printed larger than others... 
They are very revealing I guess, if not of your own thoughts, then at least 
of the things in life that are important and/or unavoidable, and those 
that - after all - may play a secundary role. Subtle and true.

I am looking forward to next versions.

Thomas


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