"Carl Hoff" <hof### [at] wtnet> wrote in message news:404a9453@news.povray.org...
> > I liked it --
>
> Thanks... Its been fun making it.
>
> > I would like to see a smooth MPEG-1 version though ;-)
>
> I'm working on it.  Sounds like I need to find a program called
> Tmpgenc and figure out how to use it.  I'm about as green as
> they come when it comes to this stuff.  I learn something new
> everyday I think.  The first shot I took at making MPEGs
> looked very rough and there were artifacts everywhere.
> I had downloaded a program called VideoMach II and its
> evaluation period is about over but I never liked the output
> that I got.  I thought the gifs looked better that I could make
> but they are MUCH bigger files.  Is there a tutorial out there
> something along the lines of how to making nice MPEGs for
> dummies?

If you want to ensure that you have 100% full control over making your
MPEG-1 files, definitely want to go netpbm :-) They have a program inside
called pnmtompeg which is real difficult to use, but the trade-off is that
you get full control.

> > Also, as I remember in the movie, the light trails did not
> > reflect.
>
> Correct.  That's something I added.  Also the lines on the
> trail should be vertical not curved as they are on mine.  And
> its also been pointed out then the lower body isn't reflective
> chrome either.  Also the floor isn't reflective at all in the movie.
> Those are all effects that I added.  I'm sure there are other
> differences.  Call it artistic licence...

Yeah, if they had the ability, they probably would have reflected the floor
at the time too :-)

> > If you could make the light trails non-reflective,
>
> That's easy enough but I sort of like the reflection.  That's
> why I put it there.
>
> > a bit more ambient,
>
> Does that mean brighter?  I'm still learning what all these
> terms mean.

Well, sorta -- it really describes how much ambient light the object is
absorbing from its environment. However, if you go beyond the value of 1, it
has the effect of making the object look like it is glowing (although it
isn't a real glow).

> > and even glow just a bit using atmospheric effects, it
> > would be even better.
>
> Oh I love that idea.  I haven't played with atmospheric
> effects yet though.  Could you give me just a little piece
> of code to play with to see how the glow effect can be
> made?

I threw this together:
http://<broken link>/imagery/glow.shtml

I'm still a student of atmospheric media myself :-)

> > Also, less reflective on the floor less of the "normal"
> > amount would make it look a little better too. It's a
> > little too watery and detracts from the bike itself..
>
> Ok... I like some normal though so I don't want to
> get rid of all of that effect but I can tone it down.  Note
> in the movie there is no floor reflection.
>
> > The walls around the arena also need textures
>
> In this scene there aren't any walls.  Its just an infinite
> grid.  The blue in the back-groud is a sky sphere.  I
> will get around to adding walls though.  Here is one
> of the first pictures I made:
>
> http://www.tron-sector.com/gallery/show.aspx?ID=1037

Sweet!!!

<snip />

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