>I spent a lot of time on an architectural project a while back - learned a lot,
>and discovered how much more there is to learn.
>I didn't use a modeler or meshes - it's all hand-coded CSG.

>You seem to have a good working knowledge of using normals - I'd have to say I'm
>pretty weak in that area.

>https://postimg.org/gallery/5q2y5zuu/
>http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.images/thread/%3Cweb.5429f3c0df0b11825e7df57c0@news.povray.org%3E/?ttop=403012&
t
>off=100

Those look pretty good! :)
Btw I took a look at the pov-ray docs and it turns out you can add "normal on"
in the radiosity statement and get normals to work.
I havent had time to do a test image yet.

What would you like to do btw, we could split the scene into buildings/sections
and write a few ones each? I could do the rusticated one on the left and the
church with vault and pediment? As long as those two are in the scene we can
tinker with the rest and you can chose what you like to model?

>Perhaps if you could put the macros and such into a structured directory in a
>zip file, then I could implement them a lot faster, and see what you've got and
>where things can go from there.

I wrote a program in pascal/delphi/lazarus that extracts all files necessary for
the
scene from my library and dumps them into a single unstructured folder.
I know it is a bit annoying to have all the files in the same folder, but it is
not so bad since you can navigate by right clicking the include file and
pressing
"Open ...". And since all my .inc files have a default camera that can be
accessed
by setting the debug switch to 1 it should be workable. It just needs a little
documentation so you know which file is the main scene.
I dont have time to mess with the new code right now, it must be fleshed out,
cleaned up and have some docs added, before it is meaningful to upload it.

(If you want to get a feel for the workflow you can tinker with the other code I
uploaded: http://cdn-cms.f-static.com/uploads/61867/normal_579c48f086009.zip
Unzip and place AT_Aachen in the documents folder, open
UnderConstructionMain2_9.inc with povray and turn off radiosity, then you can
render & navigate using the right click open #include file method. There are
some
columns and vaults that might be reused.)

You could also use my base library of reusable components, and an incomplete
insert menu. But it is undocumented and the workflow is sort of fixed...
(I dont want to upload it for everyone to download but I could mail it to you
along with some docs/comments. If you want to try it out you can use the email
at the bottom of the page: http://povscriptcode.site123.me/
There are also some images with ideas for the scene on the webpage.)

>I'm curious about what your overall idea is about creating the structures -
>especially the open spaces like windows, doors, etc.
>Are you envisioning a modular sort of architectural toolkit, where pieces are
>added at the appropriate places to make up the whole?

Unfortunately there is no overall idea, just the primitive urge to model... ;-)
[s]and voices in my head telling me what to do...[/s]
I have some code and I intend to extend it with the rustic stone library.
As for windows, I normally dont spend that much time on them and usually only
make a simple frame and perhaps some glass.
Yes the idea is to do a modular architectural toolkit eventually, but it is
such a big undertaking so right now I will make use of what I got and just do
some design of the rustic library and implement just enough to get the first
scene done.
Also design can be very tricky, as I have learned the hard way... first there
is the balance between ease of use and control over details.
Second between the features you want and the features that are easy/possible to
implement...
Third there is ease of implementation contra writing code that is efficient to
use/runs fast.
When it comes to meshes it means keeping the numbers down and removing those
that do not belong/overlap/are not visible.
Also when it comes to CSG there are several ways to hack it, keeping down use
of difference, try and limit difference operations to cutting with planes.
Also avoid cutting complex shapes such as unions. Making complex shapes as a
union of basic elements rather than a single difference etc.

I am very interested in this stuff so I look forward to go through it in detail
when I write the rustic btm story on the left.

I have also tried out the sketchup to povray thingy and so far its looking good.
:)
I have had some annoying texture bugs though which detracts from the value.
And its annoying not to have access to parameters, I use the free version of
sketch,
but some shapes and objects are just very hard to do in povray, so its nice to
know that there is a working modelling tool.
One quick and dirty hack I have in mind is placing houses, ie write a box
component
and then arrange them neatly. Convert to pov and replace the box component with
a
detailed pov component. That would be neat if it worked.
The attached image took about 1.5h to create in sketchup and then export to pov,
which is nice, but it cannot "do" any more than just sit there... :p
How much the blocks extrude can be manipulated by scaling, but I really want the
the gap between the blocks as a parameter, it is too hard to choose that in the
beginning and not be able to alter it later.

But I need to put some more thought into design first. For example it might be
necessary to have 2 parameters for level of detail; one for modelling and one
for texture. (Ie you might want to skip the trees when testing, but maybe the
full detail texture needs to be shown, ie with normal etc)
And should the component only pass its parameter on to the sub components?
(It might not be that easy, for at some level, small components should
probably not be drawn at all. Showing also that there should be an LOD = -1
which means do not load or draw at all.)

What is it they say about relations; "Its complicated" ;)

Best wishes, /A

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