Alain <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote:

> Unless you use version 3.7 with area illumination on, phong and specular are
> rendered as if the area_light was a point_light.
> But, if you also use photons with area_light in the photons block, the photons
> calculations will take the area_light into account.
> When you have somewhat complex transparent objects, with an ior and reflections,
> what you see as an highlight may not be one but a reflection of a bright spot.
> The bright spot on the top of the rock is realy a reflection of the caustic at
> it's base.
>
> --
> Alain
> -------------------------------------------------
> I can read your mind, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

Again with the making of total sense. "Alain" such a nice sound, just try it,
"Alain" conjures images of angels ...

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On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:32:49 -0400, Cousin Ricky <ric### [at] yahoocom>  
wrote:
> I added some dispersion to liven things up a bit.  Woo hoo was that  
> costly!

More fun with dispersion.  The first image has quartz glass dispersion  
(according to consts.inc) exaggerated 40 times.  The second is exaggerated  
40 times with the wavelengths reversed--AFAIK, physically impossible, but  
pretty nonetheless.

-- 
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

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Attachments:
Download 'chess_caustics+40.jpg' (66 KB) Download 'chess_caustics-40.jpg' (67 KB)

Preview of image 'chess_caustics+40.jpg'

Preview of image 'chess_caustics-40.jpg'

"Gaf" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> ... Fortunately I can use a distant server for the rendering, so
> the time spent with it is not lost for me.

That's so cool you have access to puterPower. 8+ hrs, that seems like 4 or more
times what I can do here.

Previous image was adaptive level 1.


I hoped.

You must have been using level 50 for a couple of reasons, because you *can* and
because it seems to need it.

Autostop: now there's a mindbender
Something about objects with holes.
One of those, "test to see if it saves time or does what you want it to do"
features.

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Attachments:
Download 'chess9_adapt2.jpg' (253 KB)

Preview of image 'chess9_adapt2.jpg'

"alphaQuad" <alp### [at] earthlinknet> wrote:
> Autostop: now there's a mindbender
> Something about objects with holes.
> One of those, "test to see if it saves time or does what you want it to do"
> features.

I always use autostop.  A hole in the middle of an object won't cause autostop
to err because autostop doesn't kick in until the first hit.  A disjointed
union will not be a problem because it is treated as separate objects--unless
split_union off is set for that object, and i don't set split_union off for
disjointed unions.

Disjointed differences, isosurfaces and polynomials could cause autostop to err.

Now, split_union off is definitely a "test to see if it saves time" feature.  My
experience has seen this double the rendering speed or slow it down 10 times,
depending on how it was applied.  My tentative recommendation: apply it to
Round_Box_Union(), Round_Cylinder_Union(), and unions of similar complexity,
but don't apply it to anything more complex than those.

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Some board loading code, and new Knight-shaped bases for the other 5 characters.

#macro place(O,Str,r)
  #local T = <asc(strupr(substr(Str,1,1)))-68.5,0,
    val(substr(Str,2,1))-4.5>;
  object { O rotate r translate T }
#end
#macro loadpawns()
   #local i=0;
   #while (i<8)
       object { Light_Pawn translate <i-3.5, 0, -2.5> }
       object { Dark_Pawn translate <i-3.5, 0, 2.5>  }
   #local i=i+1;
   #end
#end
/*
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
 A B C D E F G H */
#if (10)
  loadpawns()
  place(Light_Rook,"a1",0)
  place(Light_Knight,"b1",y*-110)
  place(Light_Bishop,"c1",0)
  place(Light_Queen,"d1",0)
  place(Light_King,"e1",0)
  place(Light_Bishop,"f1",0)
  place(Light_Knight,"g1",y*110)
  place(Light_Rook,"h1",0)

  place(Dark_Rook,"a8",0)
  place(Dark_Knight,"b8",y*-110)
  place(Dark_Bishop,"c8",0)
  place(Dark_Queen,"d8",0)
  place(Dark_King,"e8",0)
  place(Dark_Bishop,"f8",0)
  place(Dark_Knight,"g8",y*110)
  place(Dark_Rook,"h8",0)
#end

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Attachments:
Download 'chess_set.pov.txt' (3 KB)

several base styles for different effect

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Attachments:
Download 'showchessbase.jpg' (126 KB)

Preview of image 'showchessbase.jpg'

alphaQuad wrote:
> Nice glass lesson.
> 1st rule, make sure you have lots of time or power. 2 hrs for 3 pieces.
> 
> pong to the script:
> (no board maps)
> 
Quite nice! Excellent wood texture, too.

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Mike Raiford <mra### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> alphaQuad wrote:
> > Nice glass lesson.
> > 1st rule, make sure you have lots of time or power. 2 hrs for 3 pieces.
> >
> > pong to the script:
> > (no board maps)
> >
> Quite nice! Excellent wood texture, too.

And the normals

camera { location <0, 5, -10> look_at 0 angle 35 }
light_source
{ <100, 200, -150>/50, 1
  fade_distance 6 fade_power 2
  area_light x*3, y*3, 12, 12 circular orient adaptive 0
}

#declare PlankNormal =
  normal
  { gradient x 2 slope_map { [0 <0,1>][.05 <1,0>][.95 <1,0>][1 <0,-1>] }
    scale 2
  };

plane
{ y, -.25
  pigment
  { wood color_map
    { [.4 rgb <.9, .7, .4>]
      [.6 rgb <1, .8, .6>]
    }
    turbulence .5
    scale <1, 1, 10>*.5
    rotate y*20
  }
  normal
  { average normal_map
    { [1 PlankNormal]
      [1 wood .5 slope_map { [0 <0,0>][.5 <.5,1>][1 <1,0>] }
         turbulence .5 scale <1, 1, 10>*.5]
    }
    rotate y*20
  }
  finish { specular .5 reflection .2 }
}

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Attachments:
Download 'planks.png' (149 KB)

Preview of image 'planks.png'

This one was the shallow-curve convex base set. Looked better with one piece on
the board.

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Attachments:
Download 'chessboard04.jpg' (143 KB)

Preview of image 'chessboard04.jpg'

enlarged bevel set
adaptive 1
+a0.3
1+hrs, mostly the top cuts

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Attachments:
Download 'rookbeveled.png' (128 KB)

Preview of image 'rookbeveled.png'