"Meothuru" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> On my experiments to make old-looking and weathers  objects, I'm
> searching for an *easy to handle* methode, to make the edges of
> objects (just like you can see below) more irregular....with some
> broken pieces etc.
>
> Any hints ?

I am poor untalented POVer, and to me, making things look old (dirty,
partially broken, distroted ... or whatever can show the aging) is THE most
difficult activity in developing scenes and is what make scene look real and
photographic.

I have no real answer to your edge problem.

Aging adresses both texturing and shaping. The texturing issue could
eventually be handled by a collection of general-pupose macros for
textures. For example something like (more or less) "#declare myOldMetal =
makeOldMetal(myMetal, rustiness)". But in what concerns the shaping, I
can't see how it could be possible to define a general approach, in
particuliar for your edge problem in objects. Or maybe my neurones are also
affected by aging ...

All I can do for now is trying to find some cases and let the more
experienced/talented POVers here answer the question "what makes it look
old in real world" for the following items that come to my mind:

  . a brick
  . a rock
  . a wall (old, ruined)
  . metal parts and objects (adding a rust layer is quite easy)
  . wood pieces (Christoph provides his 'wheathed' macros in IsoWood)
  . glass objects (bottle, glass, window)
  . floors (could meet the 'wood' item for parquets)
  . a book
  . pavement, street and road surfacing
  . vehicles (boat, car, bicycle, train ...)
  . a statue (your example)
  . a building
  . a teddy bear
  . a cloth
  . furniture (chair, table, lamp)
  . and of course ... people
  . etc ...

My opnion is that it is unfornunately rather a case-by-case problem, though
I can imagine that I could be category-by-category. Each kind of material
has its own aging process, and each manufactured object has also its own
aging process. Real life is a combination of the two.

However, aging has these main effects:

  . dirt (many kinds of, including webs)
  . surface cracks
  . global distortion (metal objects)
  . partial loss of material (wooden planks, highly rusted metal, wall ...).
We meet here you edge problem.
  . partial disassembly of components (an old clock, an old cabin, an old
wall ...)
  . .../...


Maybe people here can say more about this.

    Bruno

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