Thanks to all for the advice!

Sherry -- I would be very interested in seeing what you came up with for an IRTC
entry using this method, particularly if it is from early in your development
with POV-Ray.  Can you post a link?

What you described with taking a physcial object and converting it into CSG a
step at a time is exactly what I would like to do.  I have physical models of
different things around the house that I would love to CSG-ify, and after that I
have several scanned diagrams and schematics for various machines and devices
that it would be fun to convert into (first static, then animated) models.

Sherry Shaw <ten### [at] aolcom> wrote:
> Sometimes it can be helpful (or at least somewhat entertaining) just to
> sit down with a simple object and a ruler and try making the shape.  For
> example, grab a soda can.  It's a cylinder, right?  You can easily
> measure the dimensions of the cylinder and render it.
>
> But then you look at it again.  Well, actually, it's a lot more than
> just a cylinder.  There's a sort of stretched-up torus around the top,
> and that odd-shaped indentation under the pull tab--whoa, there's a pull
> tab!  And so on.  You just do one piece at a time--make that piece look
> right, and then move on to another piece.
>
> When you're just working on the shape, it can be useful to use a shiny
> plastic texture (like the shiny red plastic in the Help file tutorials).
>   That will give you a good idea of the shape without any textural
> distractions.  Once you've got something that looks sort of right,
> though, you'll want to make a textured version (which is where Warp's
> tutorial about improving scenes becomes really useful; it's got some
> nice examples of textures and lighting that could help transform that
> red plastic soda can into something realistic).
>
> A few years back, I sat down with a stand magnifier (you know, the
> Double-Barreled Roach Clip With Solar Lighter) and started measuring and
> coding.  About 1500 lines later, I actually had something I liked enough
> to put in an IRTC entry.  It didn't win or anything, but I was pretty
> happy with it.  ;)

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