> Hi Tony!

Hi, Hugo!

> It's much better now.  :o)  The ground texture is one thing, but I see
> you've improved the black texture too, and that's especially important.

Actually, I didn't do much to the black texture, but I did reposition the
lights to properly show off the contours.

> I easily see the shape now!  I just think about, maybe it could benefit
from
> some blurred reflection.. It would add to the realism, although there's
not
> so much ...to reflect... as yet, except the ground.

Well, yes, you're right. It would be more physically accurate with blurred
reflection, but as there are no actual light objects (i.e. lamps, bulbs) to
reflect, you would not have seen any highlights on it at all, so I opted for
specular. If/when I integrate this into a real scene, I will redo the
texture.

> As you might know: taking additional normal samples can be extremely slow.

I really don't feel that it's so slow... Unless you make it reflect against
other blurred textures, but especially when you use it on transparent
objects, *then* it's slow - to the point of being impractical.

<snips trick> I'll keep it in mind, thanks.

> it seems you're using a small granite pattern to simulate
> microfacets, so ... it will look pretty smooth.

Actually, I just tweaked the image_map of the granite (desaturated, played
with levels), and used that as a bump_map. I wasn't really going for blurred
reflection, just trying to give the surface a more 3D feel.

> I have a digital camera that made me realize how realistic real life
looks.

I want a digital camera... waaa....

> Anyway, you're getting much closer to the real look.

Thanks. Although this should be my last render with this model. I would like
to move on and do others. It's satisfactory for me as-is. It's not
hyper-realistic, but realistic enough for me. :)

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