"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> "architype" <arc### [at] gmxcom> wrote:
>
> >
> > Was it simply the evil thing that is real life that befell this thread?
> > In any case I enjoyed it and I thought the idea of adding buildings under
> > construction was quite nice.
>
> Yeah, real life again; and I've been sidetracked, doing lots of research on
> various and interesting POV-Ray-related topics. AND trying to get my new
> computer monitor to look correct!
>
> I like this--creating a building from the inside out.  Especially the image with
> the added scaffolding, a nice touch.
>
> My only quibble would be with the vertical iron girders; I think they would look
> more realistic with a typical 'H' cross-section, rather than square. Unless they
> are supposed to be concrete pillars?
>
> I haven't forgotten my own buildings ;-) I ran into a (temporary) roadblock re:
> making them with separate upper sections of a smaller size than the base-- like
> the way lots of older buildings look in New York, with sections 'stepped back'
> as the buildings rise. My original code made that difficult, so I have to
> re-write parts of it. I'm exploring various ways of doing that. (And I still
> want to try making the building faces out of heightfields, to have a 3-D look
> rather than flat.)

>Yeah, real life again; and I've been sidetracked, doing lots of research on
>various and interesting POV-Ray-related topics. AND trying to get my new
>computer monitor to look correct!

Haha, I read part of the tech stuff, I had no idea it was *that* complex...


>I like this--creating a building from the inside out.  Especially the image with
>the added scaffolding, a nice touch.

Thanks, I attached the code for the scaffolding to begin with. In my system
everything is an .inc file and all .inc files are testable using the switch
at the top of the file.
Also I use the convention x-axis = width, y-axis = height and z-axis as depth.
And the .tch files are for what might be termed mesh scripting/generating.
Basically a .tch file contain triangles that form a (rotated) box.

So the idea is to create multiple transformed shapes *inside* the mesh so that
the number of objects become manageble...so the code looks something like:

mesh{

*parameters*
*transforms*
#include "box.tch"

*parameters*
*transforms*
#include "box.tch"

*parameters*
*transforms*
#include "box.tch"

....


#local Count = 20;
#local I = 0;
#while ( I <= Count )

*parameters*
*transforms*
*translate I units*
#include "box.tch"

#local I = I + 1;
#end

} // end mesh

I added the detail so that you can better see how the code is intended to be
used.
The .inc files with scaffold in their name "cost" only one object per scaffold,
including the steps, because everything is in one mesh as outlined above.
So the idea is of course to generate a stack (pun intended :p) of sections
(controlled by the last number in the #macro call) that can then be used in a
*very* large number...
So it should be possible to encrust multiple buildings in scaffolds if it looks
good/interesting.


>My only quibble would be with the vertical iron girders; I think they would look
>more realistic with a typical 'H' cross-section, rather than square. Unless they
>are supposed to be concrete pillars?

Good point, I will fix. I havent uploaded the code for the building yet because
it uses several files and they need to be copied and the dir searchpathes
removed...


>I haven't forgotten my own buildings ;-) I ran into a (temporary) roadblock re:
>making them with separate upper sections of a smaller size than the base-- like
>the way lots of older buildings look in New York, with sections 'stepped back'
>as the buildings rise. My original code made that difficult, so I have to
>re-write parts of it. I'm exploring various ways of doing that. (And I still
>want to try making the building faces out of heightfields, to have a 3-D look
>rather than flat.)

Hmmm that is an interesting problem... I can see the point of using heightfields
and texture images together, so that one can be sure that they match.

Personally I would probably use my mesh thingy, limit myself to a 2-4 colours
and
make a mesh for each colour... but it would probably be tricky or at least take
a
lot of work...

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Attachments:
Download 'testfilefix.zip' (6 KB)