Hi,

Thanks to all of you for your replies! The POV-Ray forum surely belongs to
the best places on the Internet because people here get the best treatment
along with great advices.

I will collect my reply in one post this time:

Xplo Eristotle wrote:
> If you're going for photorealism here, you'll want
> a more realistic surface for them to rest on.

Indeed, the ground looks more like grey pancake. Next time I'll try
something else.


Jeremy Praay wrote:
> Could the chrome-like appearance be due to a blue
> sky_sphere?  That would be my best guess.  If so, simply
> changing the sky_sphere and/or other surroundings may
> make them look a little more golden.

I can understand why you think it's a sky_sphere, but it's actually a
blueish area of light (both in terms of light_sources and in terms of an
object) to the right.

Blue gives the image a natural coldness in contrast to the area on the left
side, that is slightly red and warm. To obtain a more golden look, I could
change the blue light but I'd also loose the "natural coldness" element and
I don't think that should be necessary. I think (without having a sample of
gold nearby) that real gold has a higher diffuse value and is less
reflective, so it keeps more of it's own yellow color... Anyone please
correct me if I'm wrong.


Tek wrote:
> Are those imperfections in the model or in
> the material? They really make it look convincing.

Yes, imperfections are important. There are some imperfections in the model,
as you can see in the attached image. What probably can't be seen in the
attached image, are all the round edges. But there are no perfectly sharp
edges on these models. In concert with specular reflection this increases
realism and helps to define an objects shape. It's possible though, that I
went a little overboard with the soft edges, so the screws look melted.

> my only suggestion would be to do several
> different materials based on this

That's a good idea and could help in finding the perfect material for
various purposes. I should do that - and hope they'll work in other
enviroments too, but this has not always worked in the past.


Jaime Vives Piqueres wrote:
> Indeed, your Wings3D skills are really good.

Oh, thanks! It's about a year ago now that I began with Wings3D and I was a
complete newbie to polygon modelling back then. I'm slowly improving and it
seems we're both going to benefit from this software. I originally had the
same problem as you regarding the interfaces of other modelling
applications. But Wings3D quickly becomes an extended part of ones hands.


Marneus Calgar wrote:
> It's a photo ???? no, it can't be a render,
> it's too realistic !!!! Awesome!

Love these kind of responses.  :-)  Again, thanks to everyone for replying.
Next time I will render the scene with less noise and aliasing.

Regards,
Hugo

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