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From: clipka
Subject: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 17 Sep 2009 11:58:49
Message: <4ab25cb9@news.povray.org>
Found some time at last to get back to this model again.

So far, I've been able to stick to solid CSG modelling.

The boiler fairing was quite straightforward as expected, being 
basically just a spline lathe. The firebox fairing is a spline prism 
(actually two copies tilted a bit along the boiler axis) and to my 
surprise fits snugly with the lathe.

The smokestack is a blob construct; the upper rim turned out differently 
than planned, but I think it's perfect as it is. I'm a bit worried 
though whether I can use the same approach for the steam dome and sand boxes

Boilerplate "decoration" is just a bunch of rounded boxes and -cylinders.

Well, still a long way to Tipperary...


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steam.png


 

From: Ive
Subject: Re: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 17 Sep 2009 12:31:12
Message: <4ab26450@news.povray.org>
clipka wrote:

> Well, still a long way to Tipperary...

...crossin' some plains?

-Ive


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From: Trevor G Quayle
Subject: Re: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 17 Sep 2009 13:50:01
Message: <web.4ab275a7c716c3fd81c811d20@news.povray.org>
clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> Found some time at last to get back to this model again.
>
> So far, I've been able to stick to solid CSG modelling.
>
> The boiler fairing was quite straightforward as expected, being
> basically just a spline lathe. The firebox fairing is a spline prism
> (actually two copies tilted a bit along the boiler axis) and to my
> surprise fits snugly with the lathe.
>
> The smokestack is a blob construct; the upper rim turned out differently
> than planned, but I think it's perfect as it is. I'm a bit worried
> though whether I can use the same approach for the steam dome and sand boxes
>
> Boilerplate "decoration" is just a bunch of rounded boxes and -cylinders.
>
> Well, still a long way to Tipperary...

Cool work from what I can see.
Perhaps test render in a flat white texture so it's easier to see details.

-tgq


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 17 Sep 2009 13:54:45
Message: <4ab277e5@news.povray.org>
Ive schrieb:

>> Well, still a long way to Tipperary...
> 
> ...crossin' some plains?

Absolutely :-)

Though they won't be this green...

I even got a perfect-fit quote from the book.


BTW, the steam dome and sand box "humps" were actually easier than I 
would have thought. Not exactly to the blueprints, but could you tell?

(For some reason though they remind me of German WWII helmets :-P)

I was really worried about those; now that I got them, I'm confident 
that I'll indeed be able to make it an all-CSG object.


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steam.png


 

From: clipka
Subject: Re: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 17 Sep 2009 15:28:13
Message: <4ab28dcd@news.povray.org>
Trevor G Quayle schrieb:
> Cool work from what I can see.

Thanks - though such things are usually supposed to be steaming hot :-)

> Perhaps test render in a flat white texture so it's easier to see details.

Well, I didn't want to bore you, but since you ask for it... I think the 
black version is more impressive though ;-)


(BTW, someone knows how to get rid of the artifacts at the smokestack?)


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steam.png


 

From: clipka
Subject: Re: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 17 Sep 2009 15:45:30
Message: <4ab291da$1@news.povray.org>
clipka schrieb:
> (BTW, someone knows how to get rid of the artifacts at the smokestack?)

Ah well, never mind...

(Lesson learned: When punching a hole into a blob with a smaller but 
stronger blob, make sure that it leaves a substantial wall thickness... >_<)


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From: P Brewer
Subject: Re: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 18 Sep 2009 16:20:01
Message: <web.4ab3eb5fc716c3fd3653e1bc0@news.povray.org>
Looks great so far.

Question for you, how do you control blobs into such a defined shape? =) I
always considered them limited to "organic" shapes and myself have virtually
never used them. But with what you are doing, they look quite powerful.

I applaud your detail and devotion to an sdl-only model. I'm trying to keep my
in process IRTC entry sdl and I sometimes think that whipping out the 3D modeler
would make some things a lot easier. There's something magical about a detailed
complex model that is built using pure sdl.





clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> clipka schrieb:
> > (BTW, someone knows how to get rid of the artifacts at the smokestack?)
>
> Ah well, never mind...
>
> (Lesson learned: When punching a hole into a blob with a smaller but
> stronger blob, make sure that it leaves a substantial wall thickness... >_<)


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 18 Sep 2009 17:29:17
Message: <4ab3fbad$1@news.povray.org>
P Brewer schrieb:
> 
> Question for you, how do you control blobs into such a defined shape? =) I
> always considered them limited to "organic" shapes and myself have virtually
> never used them. But with what you are doing, they look quite powerful.

I'm not sure yet. I'm still learning (you might also say "toying around").

One thing I did was write macros to get a different parameterization for 
the blob components. As my initial goal was no more than to get a 
rounded transition between cylinders, I wrote blob macros that allowed 
me to specify the "idle" radius of the blob component (i.e. the radius 
it will have when not anywhere near another component) and the distance 
from its "idle" surface to its limit of influence (to directly control 
the size of the transition region).

Apparently this must be a quite intuitive blob parameterization scheme, 
as I'm surprised myself how quickly I got good results not only for the 
smokestack, but also for the sandboxes, by basically just experimenting 
with the parameters.


> I applaud your detail and devotion to an sdl-only model. I'm trying to keep my
> in process IRTC entry sdl and I sometimes think that whipping out the 3D modeler
> would make some things a lot easier. There's something magical about a detailed
> complex model that is built using pure sdl.

Well, actually I'm more of a mesh-model person normally, using SDL only 
for quite simple models. And usually I don't even model the mesh objects 
from scratch, but just customize 3rd party models to fit my needs.

In this case, however, I feel that I'd be lost with this approach, 
because I expect to need a close-up of the engine, at a detail level 
that a pre-fabricated mesh-based model could probably provide only at a 
humongous polygon count.

I might have attempted to try selectively adding detail to an existing 
mesh model in the areas I intend to show close-up - but here's another 
problem: I'm not really sure yet what perspective to settle on. And 
given the highly technical, non-organic structures of a steam engine, 
being basically an assortment of cylinders, pipes, bars and bolts, I 
figured it would actually be easier to pull this off using CSG.


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 20 Sep 2009 21:00:25
Message: <4ab6d029@news.povray.org>
Growing a chassis...

Problem #1 that had to be solved: Develop a framework to generate nicely 
beveled prism-like objects.

I wasn't sure whether I could pull this off by combining sphere_sweep 
and prism objects in some mathematically smart manner, so I ultimately 
settled for a nice framework to specify polygons with basically linear 
outline, but rounded off at the vertices with circular arcs of arbitrary 
radius. This also makes the whole thing easier to control.

The downside is that the heavy use of CSG already starts taking its toll 
on rendering times, so I needed a quality parameter to switch beveling 
off for quick test renders.

Problem #2 to overcome: Decipher the blueprints. (fortunately I do have 
some at all :-))


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Attachments:
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steam.jpg

Preview of image 'steam_1.jpg'
steam_1.jpg

Preview of image 'steam_2.jpg'
steam_2.jpg


 

From: Thomas de Groot
Subject: Re: Picking up steam... slowly...
Date: 22 Sep 2009 03:37:16
Message: <4ab87eac$1@news.povray.org>
Impressive and interesting. Nice texture too. I am curious to see how long 
you will be able to sustain the CSG construction before render times become 
unmanageable...

Thomas


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