I think my first experiences playing around with POV were at around v2.1.

However, I have mostly used it like a 3-D CAD thingy, to visualize some
ideas and such.  So getting it "realistic" wasn't something I strove for.

This image is of a Steam Loco I was working up for doing a small animation
to amuse my small child and grandchildren (yes, I had another one very late
in life).

So far I am putting it together piece by piece, just trying to get a
pleasing look  from a proportional standpoint. There are lots of details to
go, but I got to learn a bit about prisms, bezier splines, and am looking
forward to putting all sorts of neat tubing together on it with sphere
sweeps and all.

Please be gentle in your criticisms, many parts are just initially there as
a simple box or something for the sake of something being there, and not
just empty space.

I've got to get more of a slightly reflective steel surface texture rather
than the silver I am using.  Anybody have any suggestions for the rails and
the wheels?

Randy

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Download 'choochoo v001.png' (257 KB)

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"Randy" <han### [at] sbcglobalnet> schreef in bericht 
news:web.450f65bf5128460061c8c96c0@news.povray.org...
>I think my first experiences playing around with POV were at around v2.1.
>

I think we are all some kind of newbie :-)  So much to learn!

I think your loc is cute, and you should pursue in the same direction.
A few comments perhaps. Imo, the rails are too shiny (too much reflection). 
Make them a bit darker and perhaps more rusty? The weels have no flanges, is 
that correct? At least, I cannot see them (reflections?), but adding them 
would be easy I suppose.

Thomas

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Randy wrote:
> This image is of a Steam Loco I was working up for doing a small animation
> to amuse my small child and grandchildren (yes, I had another one very late
> in life).

As someone who was once a small child fascinated with trains, I like the
picture. And as another POV newbie, I like seeing other people's
prototype works.

> 
> So far I am putting it together piece by piece, just trying to get a
> pleasing look  from a proportional standpoint. There are lots of details to
> go, but I got to learn a bit about prisms, bezier splines, and am looking
> forward to putting all sorts of neat tubing together on it with sphere
> sweeps and all.

I think the front of the train looks a little skinny, especially right
above the front wheels. One cow or even a penny on the tracks and that
might bring the boiler down into the ties. I like that you put the bolts
on the bracing straps. The more I look at it, the more it looks like a
toy I might have had.

> 
> Please be gentle in your criticisms, many parts are just initially there as
> a simple box or something for the sake of something being there, and not
> just empty space.
> 
> I've got to get more of a slightly reflective steel surface texture rather
> than the silver I am using.  Anybody have any suggestions for the rails and
> the wheels?

You could either texture the tracks and wheels with something that would
look like a hammered surface, or reduce the reflection and try upping
the diffusion. One of my favorite metal textures uses very low
reflection, 0.25 or so, .7 diffuse, and just enough ambient to make it
sparkle. Then change the normal block to get get the right surface
texture, either hammered or stressed, and phong highlights to make it
look polished. If you'd like to see it, I can dig through some files to
find it.

I can't wait to see what direction the image takes next.

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Sabrina Kilian <ski### [at] vtedu> wrote:
> Randy wrote:
> > This image is of a Steam Loco I was working up for doing a small animation
> > to amuse my small child and grandchildren (yes, I had another one very late
> > in life).
>
> As someone who was once a small child fascinated with trains, I like the
> picture. And as another POV newbie, I like seeing other people's
> prototype works.
>
> >
> > So far I am putting it together piece by piece, just trying to get a
> > pleasing look  from a proportional standpoint. There are lots of details to
> > go, but I got to learn a bit about prisms, bezier splines, and am looking
> > forward to putting all sorts of neat tubing together on it with sphere
> > sweeps and all.
>
> I think the front of the train looks a little skinny, especially right
> above the front wheels. One cow or even a penny on the tracks and that
> might bring the boiler down into the ties. I like that you put the bolts
> on the bracing straps. The more I look at it, the more it looks like a
> toy I might have had.
>
> >
> > Please be gentle in your criticisms, many parts are just initially there as
> > a simple box or something for the sake of something being there, and not
> > just empty space.
> >
> > I've got to get more of a slightly reflective steel surface texture rather
> > than the silver I am using.  Anybody have any suggestions for the rails and
> > the wheels?
>
> You could either texture the tracks and wheels with something that would
> look like a hammered surface, or reduce the reflection and try upping
> the diffusion. One of my favorite metal textures uses very low
> reflection, 0.25 or so, .7 diffuse, and just enough ambient to make it
> sparkle. Then change the normal block to get get the right surface
> texture, either hammered or stressed, and phong highlights to make it
> look polished. If you'd like to see it, I can dig through some files to
> find it.
>
> I can't wait to see what direction the image takes next.

Thank you for your comments, Thomas and Sabrina.

I got to do a little work on it. It might not seem like much, but there were
major design changes to the boiler that required numerous other adjustments.
 Thank God I started out writing most of this scene based on parameters !
One of the things I love about POV is that you can write a scene so that
when you increase a length here, other objects that are dependant on that
length can automagically adjust.

Anyway, next things to work on are the domes, bell, whistle, guide and drive
trucks, cowcatcher, headlamp, fixes to the cab, pipes and tubes, signage and
whatnot.

This is fun!  (but my wife thinks I'm crazy!)

Randy

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Preview of image 'choochoo v001 cam6.png'

<grin>
I just discovered that your locomotive comes originally from the 
PaintShopPro picture tube :-)
Nice!

Thomas

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"Randy" <han### [at] sbcglobalnet> wrote:
> I think my first experiences playing around with POV were at around v2.1.
>
> However, I have mostly used it like a 3-D CAD thingy, to visualize some
> ideas and such.  So getting it "realistic" wasn't something I strove for.
>
> This image is of a Steam Loco I was working up for doing a small animation
> to amuse my small child and grandchildren (yes, I had another one very late
> in life).
>

I really like your first image! It has a "minimalist" look to it (in the
best sense of the word.) Even the camera angle is "just right." The image
reminds me of the painter Thomas Hart Benton's work.  Or even Rene
Magritte. (Did I spell that right?) Personally, I think that adding too
much detail would spoil the effect. To me, it doesn't seem to need
"realism," in the sense of POV photorealism. Oh, and I like the original
engine shape better, too--those different-sized tubes just look more like
an old-timey train to me.

Some stylized puffs of smoke would be nice.

Making a POV image for your child and grandchildren is a wonderful idea. It
kind of puts the entire process of POV work in perspective. Many of us out
here work at trying to attain higher and higher levels of "perfection" in
our images (whatever that means.) Perhaps we should take a step back every
now and then, leave the technicalities behind, and just have some fun with
the program, as you are obviously doing. Your image is actually quite
inspiring.

Ken W.

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Randy said the following on 09/23/2006 21:56:

> Anyway, next things to work on are the domes, bell, whistle, guide and drive
> trucks, cowcatcher, headlamp, fixes to the cab, pipes and tubes, signage and
> whatnot.
> 
> This is fun!  (but my wife thinks I'm crazy!)

Reminded me of a train I did for a profect a few years ago. The app needed a 
little banner sized logo so I put a low detail train together (think the logo 
only ended up at 120px high)

Anyway, this is what I ended up with.

-- 
Glyn Royds           .-=^=-.          Xavier Educational Software Limited
                                       Special Software for Special Needs
                                       http://xavier.bangor.ac.uk/
... Madness takes its toll - please have exact change
The disclaimer is foisted on me by the mail server. Sorry.

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In response to Glyn and Kenneth,

Wow, thank you for your kind words.

I was not expecting to be complimented much, let alone called "inspiring" !!

I was trying for the toy-like thing, but decided the heavier boiler was
better.

I need to add more details, things like the linkages, the whistle and the
Bell are absolute musts for a steam locomotive, Don't you think? And they
will make animations so much more interesting from both a visual and
modelling perspective!

Looking forward, I made the rails out of a prism, but can't figure out how
to get them to work for a curved section of track.  Any ideas?

Randy

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"Randy" <han### [at] sbcglobalnet> wrote:

> Looking forward, I made the rails out of a prism, but can't figure out how
> to get them to work for a curved section of track.  Any ideas?


Same way as real rails on a real track... shorter straight sections end to
end at a slight angle.

Somewhere I have a macro I wrote to make curved track from straight rails,
but that was a hard drive failure ago... I'll have to scrounge around some
old disks to find a copy.

RG

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Wasn't it gonzo who wrote:
>"Randy" <han### [at] sbcglobalnet> wrote:
>
>> Looking forward, I made the rails out of a prism, but can't figure out how
>> to get them to work for a curved section of track.  Any ideas?
>
>
>Same way as real rails on a real track... shorter straight sections end to
>end at a slight angle.
>
>Somewhere I have a macro I wrote to make curved track from straight rails,
>but that was a hard drive failure ago... I'll have to scrounge around some
>old disks to find a copy.

"bend.inc" from Chris Colefax (written back in 1997) should do the job.

http://www.geocities.com/ccolefax/bend.html

-- 
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure

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