> A slow computer is a good way to force one to code stuff the right way.
:o)

Exactly :)
That is one of the main reasons why I still use this old PC. Beside the fact
that I'm too lazy to set up a new system ;-)

> It looks much better now! I think the leafs are best at a distance because
> the texture doesn't show the venes realistic at close-up. But in most
scenes

Yep. As mentioned the texture isn't finished yet. Maybe I will add som "ill"
leaves as well.

> this won't be a problem and it would probably be meaningless to spend more
> resources at the tiny venes.

Yes and no. Since I want to have a close-up in my scene it is necessary for
me. Of course not for others. I also will add a "level of detail" flag to
skip unnessecary details for ferns in the background or to render quick
previews just for arranging the wings.

> I don't have a real leaf in front of me, but the long one seems too long
and

Correct it is too long. Additionally there is an optical effect due to the
positioning of the camera.

> stiff at the small end. You seem to be using a fixed distance between each
> leaf that makes me wonder if the real thing looks that way.

That is one thing I analysed very carefully. In fact the leaves have almost
the same distance over the entire wing. Only at the far end (the place where
new leaves are "born") the distance is a little bit smaller than on the
root. This happens because the wing grows only by unfolding new leaves at
the far end. The roots stay the same and get more and more wood-like.
But you are right that currently I ignored this fact and placed all the
leaves in the same distance. This is corrected within minutes but yesterday
I was too tired and it was already 1am....

> Great that you will be sharing the code with us!  :o)  I look forward to
> that!

No problem. As long nobody tries to convince me that someone else wrote the
code.... ;-)
There are no fancy POV tricks in the code. It only consists of macros
computing more or less complex ,mathematical functions. Quite boring I
guess.

regards
SY

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