Yet one more starship.  Everything in this scene was done in Pov, including 
the image maps for the national emblems and the hull number.  Much of the 
ship is made with hand-placed triangles (~50) while the rest is primatives 
and CSG.

The model doesn't have that much detail as it's supposed to be 14KM long.  
Windows, airlocks and rivets just don't show up at this scale.

Render time is 15 minutes on a P3-866.


(And as for firepower, the armaments are inspired by the main plot element 
in Greg Bear's _Moving Mars..._)

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Nice, black on black with a little hemisphere of dark gray. Wait a
minute, I think I see some red spots in the lower right.

    Not meant as a slam of your ship (I can't critique it since I can't see
it), but there have been so many black on black images around here lately.
I've gotten used to the tasks associated with cranking my screen all the way
up and I still can't see them.

    Doesn't anyone use lights any more?

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>     Doesn't anyone use lights any more?

Good point! I almost can't see the ship either. Maybe the poster will say to
his defense that objects *really* look that way in space when there are no
sun nearby.. Which is probably true, seen with the human eye.. The light
will come from everywhere and cast no shadows.. And be very dim (?).

In science fiction, they always use artificial lights even when the
spaceships travel at warp speed.. I prefer it that way although it's no
where realistic! Another (and better) way of achieving a good look, is to
put lights on the ship itself.. I mean, lights build into the design.. This
has gotton popular in todays sci-fi too.. In any case, the dynamic range
must be compressed + expanded so it fits the whole spectre when viewed on
todays TV- and computer- screens.


Hugo

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"Bill DeWitt" <bde### [at] cflrrcom> wrote in
news:3c6fcb44$1@news.povray.org: 

> but there have been so many black on black images around here lately.
> I've gotten used to the tasks associated with cranking my screen all the
> way up and I still can't see them.

Most video cards these days can do hardware gamma correction.  Have you 
tried turning up the gamma value under control panel > display > settings > 
advanced and seeing if that makes a difference?

Calibrating your video card to create a display gamma of 2.2 (use a gamma 
chart such as the one at 
ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/images/suite/gamma.png) will fix the black on 
black problem quite nicely.


In any case, I've attached a brighter version of the original image.  It 
looks badly washed out on my systems, but can you see anything other than 
black now?

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"Coridon Henshaw" <che### [at] sympaticoca> wrote :
>
> Calibrating your video card to create a display gamma of 2.2 (use a gamma
> chart such as the one at
> ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/images/suite/gamma.png) will fix the black
on
> black problem quite nicely.

    Resetting my gamma anywhere in a range from 2.0 to 2.8 using
http://www.bberger.net/gamma2.gif (Your reference gives me greater than 3.0)
did not allow me to view your image. Of course, since gamma conversations go
on here quite a lot, I had already tried this or else I wouldn't have
mentioned it. My standard setting, before I messed with it in an attempt to
see your image, is around 2.2

> In any case, I've attached a brighter version of the original image.  It
> looks badly washed out on my systems, but can you see anything other than
> black now?

    Yes, it appears relatively normal.

    This happens with about 1:10 new posters here. 90% of images can be seen
quite easily, then someone posts something that is black on black. Of course
when someone mentions it, they protest that their system is the standard and
that making it so that most other people can see it ruins the image. Human
nature I guess.

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Coridon Henshaw wrote in message ...
>"Bill DeWitt" <bde### [at] cflrrcom> wrote in
>news:3c6fcb44$1@news.povray.org:
>
>> but there have been so many black on black images around here lately.
>> I've gotten used to the tasks associated with cranking my screen all the
>> way up and I still can't see them.
>
>Most video cards these days can do hardware gamma correction.  Have you
>tried turning up the gamma value under control panel > display > settings >
>advanced and seeing if that makes a difference?
>
>Calibrating your video card to create a display gamma of 2.2 (use a gamma
>chart such as the one at
>ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/images/suite/gamma.png) will fix the black on
>black problem quite nicely.

My system has an uncorrected gamma of around 2.6, and is hardware-corrected
to 1.8.  When displayed at gamma 2.6, your image is almost pure black.  At
gamma 1.8, it is possible to make out some of the large-scale details of the
ship and part of the outline, but nothing like the detail visible in what
you describe as the "washed-out" version (which does look slightly
washed-out).  Something between your original version and the
greatly-lightened version would be about right on my monitor.

--
Mark

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I never use gamma correction in windows. The right way is, when Povray
output images that uses the whole spectre of light and has a subtle gamma
correction, as this will fit all viewers.. It's not only a matter of having
a good monitors adjusted correctly.. Daylight / night time also has great a
influence.. I have yet to see a monitor that are good at dark details when
there's sun in the room.. So when I render something to show other people, I
try to make an image that fit most situations at which people are looking..
This does not destroy the "content" of the image, it only enhances it.

Apart from this.. It's a nice spaceship, mr. Coridon..  :o)  There are some
nice triangular and circular patterns on the hull.. The image does looks
washed out however..


Hugo

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I adjusted a bit the image with the GIMP and this is what I got.

Fernando.

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