Hi folks,

Here is the latest version of the scene that I am currently on. It's still a
work in progress, but close enough to completion that suggestions and comments
could be of use. So all feedback is welcome.

Things I am still planning to do:
- improve the models of the little green men (they will remain abstract though
and quite similar; my intention is not to add realistic seamen),
- improve texturing of the boat (add a bit more wear and tear; suggestions here
are especially welcome),
- add some rope for mooring the ship, and
- use of area lights to achieve soft shadows (due to the way the illusion is
achieved, it is not a simple change; it will require a bit of work).

Cheers,

Erwin

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'rockboat-v0_86.jpg' (195 KB)

Preview of image 'rockboat-v0_86.jpg'

That's a fun image! :)

Post a reply to this message

"Eriban" <pov### [at] spamgourmetcom> schreef in bericht 
news:web.49fc22b9a534fe8081475b100@news.povray.org...
> Hi folks,
>
> Here is the latest version of the scene that I am currently on. It's still 
> a
> work in progress, but close enough to completion that suggestions and 
> comments
> could be of use. So all feedback is welcome.
>
> Things I am still planning to do:
> - improve the models of the little green men (they will remain abstract 
> though
> and quite similar; my intention is not to add realistic seamen),
> - improve texturing of the boat (add a bit more wear and tear; suggestions 
> here
> are especially welcome),
> - add some rope for mooring the ship, and
> - use of area lights to achieve soft shadows (due to the way the illusion 
> is
> achieved, it is not a simple change; it will require a bit of work).
>

Great concept! :-)
I suppose this is CSG? You could try Bill Pragnell's meshrelief macro for 
the wear and tear.

Thomas

Post a reply to this message

"Eriban" <pov### [at] spamgourmetcom> wrote:
> - improve texturing of the boat (add a bit more wear and tear; suggestions here
> are especially welcome),

As I guess this is reinforced concrete, you will have rust "flowing" down from a
few points where the rebar structure protrudes from the concrete (the struts
that held the rebar cages in place when the concrete was cast).

You may also have places where huge chunks of concrete have chipped away and
exposed the actual rebar structure.

Post a reply to this message

nemesis <nam### [at] nospam-gmailcom> wrote:
> That's a fun image! :)

Thanks. It's nice to hear you like it.

It wasn't meant to be a boat from the outset, but once I had created the basic
structure and wondered how I could naturally place it on a reflective surface
(which seemed like a fun challenge), the idea of making it a boat came to me,
and I thought it was a fun one, especially given that it's a boat made of solid
rock. It adds an extra level of impossibility. :-)

Cheers,
Erwin

Post a reply to this message

"Thomas de Groot" <tDOTdegroot@interDOTnlANOTHERDOTnet> wrote:
> Great concept! :-)

Thanks :-)

> I suppose this is CSG? You could try Bill Pragnell's meshrelief macro for
> the wear and tear.

Thanks for the suggestion. Indeed the structure is currently simple CSG of
planes and boxes. I had a look at the meshrelief macro. I don't think I can use
it as is, but maybe I can modify it to suit my needs. One problem is that I'd
like the boat the be made from a solid, continuous piece of rock (to the extend
that's possible), as opposed to several joined bits, which would be a problem
(the single piece is too complex for the macro to cope with). Another is that I
want some edges to be interpretable in two ways: concave and convex; this is the
case in the center of the impossible structure (where the three large cubes meet
up). For this reason there cannot be any distortions at these edges, as they'll
force a single interpretation of how the sides are joined.

So yeah, to summarize, I'll see if I can mod the macro for some limited wear and
tear at carefully designated spots.

Cheers,

Erwin

Post a reply to this message

"clipka" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> "Eriban" <pov### [at] spamgourmetcom> wrote:
> > - improve texturing of the boat (add a bit more wear and tear; suggestions here
> > are especially welcome),
>
> As I guess this is reinforced concrete, you will have rust "flowing" down from a
> few points where the rebar structure protrudes from the concrete (the struts
> that held the rebar cages in place when the concrete was cast).
>
> You may also have places where huge chunks of concrete have chipped away and
> exposed the actual rebar structure.

Thanks for the suggestion. Yeah, it would make sense for the boat to be made of
reinforced concrete (it wouldn't make sense for many boats, but this one is
special ;-). However, it's currently made out of a solid piece of marble-like
rock. That makes less sense than it being made out of concrete, but there's a
reason for it. It's a bit far-fetched, but hopefully I can make it clear. The
reason is that I want to have a texture that's patterned in such a way that
everywhere where the structure of the boat is connected, the texture makes it
clear that this is indeed the case (i.e. the pattern should be sufficiently
complex everywhere so that it is difficult to imagine that it's not connected).
It's pretty hard to make out in the current image at the given resolution, but
if you look closely at the center of the structure (where the three large cubes
meet), you can see that the texturing is actually continuous. Achieving that was
a fun challenge. Arguable, it probably wasn't worth the bother, but since I
bothered, I don't want to lose this feature of the image :-). That in turn
implies that I cannot make the boat of concrete, as concrete would have a more
plain overall texture (with pigment correlations only to very nearby points).

Cheers,

Erwin

Post a reply to this message