Hello! (my first ever post to this newsgroup!)

I've been playing with povray since version 2.0, but I've never really
accomplished much (sphere on plane, 2 spheres on plane, ball and cylinder on
plane, etc...), mainly due to lack of time. However, I'd like to start
entering the IRTC, and so I think I need to start generating more detailed
scenes :-)

What I'd like to know is how people go about constructing a scene (more
detailed than 'sphere on plane'!)
I'm aware that people may prefer different things, but I'm really at a loss
as to how I should begin.

Do you list the objects required for your scene, and then work on
constructing each object seperately?
Do you use a modeller for individual objects in your scene?
Do you use a modeller for the whole scene composition?
(If you do use a modeller - which one?)

I know that a lot of people just hand-code everything - if you are one of
these people, how do you go about the whole scene-creation process.

Thanks in advance, any help gratefully received!

Rik A

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"Rik A" <rik### [at] nospambtinternetcomnospam> wrote in message
news:3c57cd9f@news.povray.org...

<snip>

Hmm...

Wait for/seek inspiration - this generally covers the basic idea and general
composition.

Model scene element by element. Generally I'll get the background out of the way
before modelling individual objects. In general, I don't use many objects in my
scenes - often just a background and one central object.

Probably the best reason to learn some handcoding, irrespective of whether you
use a modeller or not, is to enable easy switching on/off of individual scene
components.

In general for individual elements, I'll have a good idea of what I want, but as
I write the code, I'll adjust according to problems/inspiration thrown up by the
proto-types.

Most scene elements start out fairly messy, but I'll tidy up as I go along.

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Rik A wrote:

> Hello! (my first ever post to this newsgroup!)
> 
> Do you list the objects required for your scene, and then work on
> constructing each object seperately?


Roughly, yes.  Some items just seem to add themselves at one point or 
another though.

> Do you use a modeller for individual objects in your scene?


Nope.  Although, my stuff is usually mostly CSG, so it's manageable by 
trig-and-error;  I don't expect I'd be handcoding bezier patches though.

> Do you use a modeller for the whole scene composition?


Nope.

> (If you do use a modeller - which one?)
> 
> I know that a lot of people just hand-code everything - if you are one of
> these people, how do you go about the whole scene-creation process.


I'll put generic placeholders (cubes, cylinders, spheres) and then work 
on the details of each individual element.  I usually put all my object 
in an .inc file so if my spaceship object goes from a simple gray box to 
a 5000 part CSG union, the main scenefile will not notice any difference.

If your scene gets complicated, this approach is better when it comes to 
comenting out parts of the scene, putting "/*" and "*/" around a single 
"object{ BigAlienMotherShip }" line is a lot easier to read, IMHO, than 
having five pages of green text scroll by.

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   videotron.ca  */}camera{location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a orthographic}

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Rik A wrote:
> 
> Hello! (my first ever post to this newsgroup!)
> 

Welcome.

> 
> Do you list the objects required for your scene, and then work on
> constructing each object seperately?
> Do you use a modeller for individual objects in your scene?
> Do you use a modeller for the whole scene composition?
> (If you do use a modeller - which one?)
> 
> I know that a lot of people just hand-code everything - if you are one of
> these people, how do you go about the whole scene-creation process.

This usually very much depends on the scene, for example it's important
whether you have a real world object you try to recreate of you design you
scene from imagination.  

Most experienced Povers probably have a quite intuitive method of planning
a scene, but of course it's important to do some planning, to divide the
project into single tasks.

Working on different parts individually and putting them together is
usually not a great problem, Povray offers quite a lot of possibilities
for this.

What can be really difficult is planning how much time and computer
resources things take and knowing if a certain technique is suited for
creating a desired effect.  I think everyone has experienced this problem
in form of unfinished projects or scenes that turned out totally different
than they were planned in the first place.

And to give some real world examples, several "making of's" can be found
on Gilles Tran's website:

http://www.oyonale.com/ressources/english/index.htm

and some also on my own ;-)

http://www.schunter.etc.tu-bs.de/~chris/raytracing.html


-- 
Christoph Hormann <chr### [at] gmxde>
IsoWood include, radiosity tutorial, TransSkin and other 
things on: http://www.schunter.etc.tu-bs.de/~chris/

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Rik A wrote:
> 
> Hello! (my first ever post to this newsgroup!)
> 
> What I'd like to know is how people go about constructing a scene
> (more detailed than 'sphere on plane'!)

You decide what you want to put into the scene.

Then you figure out what objects need to be used, and where they are
placed, to create the objects you want.

You place the camera, too, of course.

Then you either type out the scene code (like I do), or use a modeler.

> I know that a lot of people just hand-code everything - if you are one
> of these people, how do you go about the whole scene-creation process.

I generally sketch out things on paper, so that I can get a handle of
how everything is supposed to line up.  I also create scenes and
objects that involve a great deal of math, in order to get objects to
join smoothly, and I have pages of notes, all full of sketches and
algebra.

Regards,
John
-- 
ICQ: 46085459

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Gilles Tran has a step by step description of the making
of his IRTC winner "the wet bird".

http://www.oyonale.com/ressources/english/mkofwetbird1.htm

-- 
Phil
Behold, for I am the keeper of the sacred coffee brewing method.

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Thank you all for your responses, especially the links to "making of..."
sites - very insightful!

Rik A

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> > Do you use a modeller for individual objects in your scene?
> Nope.  Although, my stuff is usually mostly CSG, so it's manageable by
> trig-and-error;  I don't expect I'd be handcoding bezier patches though.

So do you avoid using bezier patches completely, or do you use a modeller?

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Rik A wrote:

>>>Do you use a modeller for individual objects in your scene?
>>>
>>Nope.  Although, my stuff is usually mostly CSG, so it's manageable by
>>trig-and-error;  I don't expect I'd be handcoding bezier patches though.
>>
> 
> So do you avoid using bezier patches completely, or do you use a modeller?
> 


Up to now I've stayed away from them as I alwasy managed to achieve what 
I want with CSG.

I do have Hamapatch lying around somewhere, just in case...

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   videotron.ca  */}camera{location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a orthographic}

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On Wed, 30 Jan 2002 08:07:37 -0500, Francois Labreque wrote:
> Nope.  Although, my stuff is usually mostly CSG, so it's manageable by 
> trig-and-error;  I don't expect I'd be handcoding bezier patches though.

Whyever not?  (See below)

-- 
#macro R(P)z+_(P)_(P)_(P+1)_(P+1)+z#end#macro Q(C,T)bicubic_patch{type 1u_steps
6v_steps 6R(1)R(3)R(5)R(7)pigment{rgb z}}#end#macro _(Y)#local X=asc(substr(C,Y
,1))-65;<T+mod(X,4)div(X,4)9>-2#end#macro O(T)Q("ABEFUQWS",T)Q("WSXTLOJN",T)#
end O(0)O(3)Q("JNKLCGCD",0)light_source{x 1}// ron### [at] povrayorg

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