Ok so I realise that I am giving the game away as to how my 'Before and
after' entry is going to look however there is something not quite right
about it yet and I cant figure out what it is. So in desperation I have to
reveal my entry in the hope of suggestions as to what is possibly wrong!
Any comments welcome about how I can improve this to be better for the
competition. Also apologies if I dont use your ideas however I am currently
revising for exams so trying to persuade myself to study rather than partake
in other more enjoyable activities.

Malcolm

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Attachments:
Download 'the passing away1.jpg' (235 KB)

Preview of image 'the passing away1.jpg'

Cool concept!

My suggestions:
Regiment is spelt regiment not regement!
The lighting is not very well balanced, I suggest you add global_settings 
{ assumed_gamma 1 } and use some ambient light or radiosity (pitch black 
shadows look wrong with a blue sky).
The material on the gravestones looks strange, it has pink stripes and 
they're brighter than the sky!
The text is engraved too deeply, real grave stones enscriptions are only a 
few millimeters deep.
The wall at the back is just 2 flat colours, it should have a normal map on 
it and shouldn't be pitch black, e.g. pigment { rgb .5 } normal { crackle -1 
form <1,0,0> }
The sky blue colour is a bit purple, I suggest you add a little green to get 
a more cyan-blue shade.

I like the grass & soil, though I think the soil should be darker than the 
grass but improving the lighting will help you see how they look.

-- 
Tek
http://evilsuperbrain.com

"milco2006" <mil### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message 
news:web.462113eabdf9d2e4d178c7da0@news.povray.org...
> Ok so I realise that I am giving the game away as to how my 'Before and
> after' entry is going to look however there is something not quite right
> about it yet and I cant figure out what it is. So in desperation I have to
> reveal my entry in the hope of suggestions as to what is possibly wrong!
> Any comments welcome about how I can improve this to be better for the
> competition. Also apologies if I dont use your ideas however I am 
> currently
> revising for exams so trying to persuade myself to study rather than 
> partake
> in other more enjoyable activities.
>
> Malcolm
>

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I meant to add to my post:
1)If anyone can help with more realistic soil effects then please could you
help as I was annoyed with myself that I couldn't make the soil look good.
I have at the moment settled for the unrealistic but most effective method
that I have played with so far (i.e just texturing the plane).

2)I am still working on the wall textures but any comments or suggestions
are still welcome.

3)As with the last post, any suggestions are welcomed and if you have any
thoughts on how to increase potorealism or any other aspect then I would
very much appreciate to hear them.

~Malcolm

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"Tek" <tek### [at] evilsuperbraincom> wrote:
> Cool concept!
>
> My suggestions:
> Regiment is spelt regiment not regement!
> The lighting is not very well balanced, I suggest you add global_settings
> { assumed_gamma 1 } and use some ambient light or radiosity (pitch black
> shadows look wrong with a blue sky).
> The material on the gravestones looks strange, it has pink stripes and
> they're brighter than the sky!
> The text is engraved too deeply, real grave stones enscriptions are only a
> few millimeters deep.
> The wall at the back is just 2 flat colours, it should have a normal map on
> it and shouldn't be pitch black, e.g. pigment { rgb .5 } normal { crackle -1
> form <1,0,0> }
> The sky blue colour is a bit purple, I suggest you add a little green to get
> a more cyan-blue shade.
>
> I like the grass & soil, though I think the soil should be darker than the
> grass but improving the lighting will help you see how they look.
>
> --
> Tek
> http://evilsuperbrain.com
>

Hey,

Thanks for your comments. You will see my other post in relation to some of
these features however you suggestions are very useful. Especially grateful
for the comment about the spelling of regiment, slight typo during he early
experimental stages!

I notice that in your images the lighting looks really natural and
especially in your reflective ball on the checkered plane the light looks
very natural. I have tried to play with light sources however nothing I do
seems to work terribly well. Currently it is set up with a standard
unexciting light_source. I tried out a more sunset sort of appearance
however it looked really unnatural. If you could give me advice on lighting
I would be very appreciative. If I can get the lighting to work out better
then I may stand a better chance of sorting out the other problems!

Thanks again for taking the time,

Malcolm

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milco2006 wrote:

> Any comments welcome about how I can improve this to be better for the
> competition.

The sky looks promising, but has very fine structure. Maybe you
can try scaling it up a bit. Also, the composition might feel
more natural if the setup would not be perfectly symmetrical
and the camera a bit more distant from the tombstone.

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Well the problem with your lighting is (from what I can see) there's only 1 
light source and no ambient light or radiosity to light up the shadows.


I'd suggest for starters you try something like this:

//make lighting calculations work in linear space (more physically correct)
global_settings { assumed_gamma 1 }

//main light, not to bright
light_source { <-1,1,-1>*1000, rgb 1 }

//apply this to all your materials
finish { diffuse .8 ambient .2 }

And see how that looks.


My checkered plane scene looks good because it's using radiosity and HDR, 
but those are both very advanced techniques and I suggest you should start 
by trying to get good results with just 1 light and ambient.

Also I learnt a lot about lighting by practicing with a very simple scene of 
a white ball on a white plane, that lets you try out different techniques 
until you get something that looks right without needing to wait ages for it 
to render.

-- 
Tek
http://evilsuperbrain.com

"milco2006" <mil### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message 
news:web.462161c02cd286fba35dc34c0@news.povray.org...
> "Tek" <tek### [at] evilsuperbraincom> wrote:
>> Cool concept!
>>
>> My suggestions:
>> Regiment is spelt regiment not regement!
>> The lighting is not very well balanced, I suggest you add global_settings
>> { assumed_gamma 1 } and use some ambient light or radiosity (pitch black
>> shadows look wrong with a blue sky).
>> The material on the gravestones looks strange, it has pink stripes and
>> they're brighter than the sky!
>> The text is engraved too deeply, real grave stones enscriptions are only 
>> a
>> few millimeters deep.
>> The wall at the back is just 2 flat colours, it should have a normal map 
>> on
>> it and shouldn't be pitch black, e.g. pigment { rgb .5 } normal { 
>> crackle -1
>> form <1,0,0> }
>> The sky blue colour is a bit purple, I suggest you add a little green to 
>> get
>> a more cyan-blue shade.
>>
>> I like the grass & soil, though I think the soil should be darker than 
>> the
>> grass but improving the lighting will help you see how they look.
>>
>> --
>> Tek
>> http://evilsuperbrain.com
>>
>
> Hey,
>
> Thanks for your comments. You will see my other post in relation to some 
> of
> these features however you suggestions are very useful. Especially 
> grateful
> for the comment about the spelling of regiment, slight typo during he 
> early
> experimental stages!
>
> I notice that in your images the lighting looks really natural and
> especially in your reflective ball on the checkered plane the light looks
> very natural. I have tried to play with light sources however nothing I do
> seems to work terribly well. Currently it is set up with a standard
> unexciting light_source. I tried out a more sunset sort of appearance
> however it looked really unnatural. If you could give me advice on 
> lighting
> I would be very appreciative. If I can get the lighting to work out better
> then I may stand a better chance of sorting out the other problems!
>
> Thanks again for taking the time,
>
> Malcolm
>

Post a reply to this message

I have played around with my lighting a bit however in making the gravestone
look better it has dulled the clouds and the grass seems to change a lot. I
have posted the picture again below so you can see the changes I have made.
I still havent worked on wall textures as I have been busy getting back to
uni for the last few days.

Any further advice would be much appreciated however I realise you have a
real life too so no worries. This is only my third attempt at a full scene
for an IRTC type thing and so not had much experience yet. Also the fact
that until now lighting has not played a big part means that I am not very
good at it yet and I guess, like the rest of povray skills, it just comes
with practice.

Thanks Tek,

Malcolm

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Attachments:
Download 'grave before and after2.jpg' (307 KB)

Preview of image 'grave before and after2.jpg'

milco2006 nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 17-04-2007 10:32:
> I have played around with my lighting a bit however in making the gravestone
> look better it has dulled the clouds and the grass seems to change a lot. I
> have posted the picture again below so you can see the changes I have made.
> I still havent worked on wall textures as I have been busy getting back to
> uni for the last few days.
> 
> Any further advice would be much appreciated however I realise you have a
> real life too so no worries. This is only my third attempt at a full scene
> for an IRTC type thing and so not had much experience yet. Also the fact
> that until now lighting has not played a big part means that I am not very
> good at it yet and I guess, like the rest of povray skills, it just comes
> with practice.
> 
> Thanks Tek,
> 
> Malcolm
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
Is that an actual hole at the center of the crosses, or is it an artefact due to 
coincident surfaces?

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
'Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense'

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> >
> Is that an actual hole at the center of the crosses, or is it an artefact due to
> coincident surfaces?
>
> --
> Alain
> -------------------------------------------------
> 'Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense'

It is an artifact that I havent yet succeeded in getting rid of. I reckon if
I just move the surfaces around a little it will go away, however at about
20 minutes to render the scene completely each time I wasnt feeling
inclined to try when I noticed it just before posting my last message!

Malcolm

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LOL
I particularly like the pun embedded in the name!  :-)

Thomas

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