Hey, now we get some dynamics into this threat! Happy to spread interest!

Yes, I agree with the thickness of the twisted ropes. The rope at the back (to
reload) could also be a metal chain, like those of bucycles.

I used a bronze-alike metal for the front as even during Roman times, bronze was
cheaper than iron or copper. And its reddish hue also harmonizes with the wood
and with war (red for war). Smaller ballista versions used copper, by the way.

Direction of the twisted ropes: yes, fully agreed. But I was shy to point that
out after you created the sample, I did not want to appeal unsatisfied or
unthankful. In faxt, I totally appreciated that you took time and effort and
sweat to help me.   :-)

Comments: yes, if needed I could add more comments. Should I? And what kind of
comments? I will go ahead with the dimensions at the file header.

There will be various ammonition types for the ballista, and ammunition boxes.
Also a ladder. MakeHuman can give humans in various positions, but no success to
find Roman armor for our humans.

When finished, I wanted to offer the ballista and all connected files as an
"object" to the "POV-Ray Object Library" so every POV-Ray user can benefit from
my/our work. Are you all okay with that?

I have not heard about the iso wood normals, and of underlaying textures. But I
am using dual textures. Like for the iron (not the front but everywhere else):
iron at first, and then a slightly reddish-brownish translucent layer above. As
metal gets darker over time and corrodes even on air, the entire metal would get
darker and slightly red-brownish. It alo will become half dull/flat, losening
the gloss. That is what I tried to archieve with my iron metal. But some random
corrosion spots can still be added. Also, the red-brownish hue gives also some
harmony with the frontal bronze, and with the wood.

Personally, I am unhappy with the heightfields, because the source images are
not the best. ideal would be them to be inhigh resolution, and light coming
straight from the front so all sides would be slightly darker of the
photographed objects.

This large anti-ship ballista is just one of the weapons that will be aboard ir
a Roman battleship that I started to rconstruct in 3D. However, the hull is
impossible for me to create with POV-Ray, due to the special curvatures of the
hull - especially at the front. Once the large ballista is completed, if anyone
wants to join the Roman battleship project, I would welcome everyone. I do
maritime archaeology since over 35 years and know about Roman ships. This is my
or our chance, to put the first really correct 3D model of Roman ships into the
Internet. All existing others are faulty in mutiple ways. That ship, if
completed, would also become a part of the "POV-Ray Object Library".

I am hospitalized now, at risk of losing my right leg. So forgive me, if there
are days where I am emotionally not able to post here.

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