Hi there,

I don't have much experience with wood textures, but here's a little trick
that can help metal textures look a little better: put a plane or dome shape
well behind the camera, and give it a suitably scaled black and white or
grey bozo pigment. I usually just use the included metal textures (T_Gold_3D
and T_Gold_5E are my favorites), and this technique often adds some
interesting highlights to the metal parts of a scene.

Another trick I stumbled on once was to use radiosity to get a glowing
"aura" around the edges of a metal surface. It's hard to duplicate, but
looks pretty cool. Here's a little example to illustrate...

Regards,
Dave Blandston

PS - Nice job on the modeling. I like the wooden base as it is, except the
glass and stand underneath look a little awkward to me.

"jfmiller" <jfm### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message
news:3d63166b@news.povray.org...
> Hi All,
>
> This is a model of a gyroscope I've been working on for a larger picture.
I
> like the shape, and basic design but I don't like how a lot of the
textures
> turned out.  The gyroscope Mass and housing should be "polished stainless
> steel"  while the outer holder is brass.  Both look like plastic.  Also
the
> wood on the base turned out nice, but the rest just doesn't seem right.
> Wood on flat or near flat surfaces like the base seems pretty easy, does
> anyone have any advice on wood over curving or cylindrical surfaces?  As
> always any other advice or comments are gladly accepted.
>
> JFMILLER

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