gonzo wrote:
> Jim Charter <jrc### [at] msncom> wrote:
> 
>>twenty-something hours render
> 
> 
> Wow! It's starting to look very good!  The flash falloff is much better and
> the remora is an excellent touch for realism.

Thanks Ron.

> 
> Only things that look funny to me now are the normal on the shark's skin is
> too pronounced 

I agreed it isn't quite right though I am not quite sure which way to go 
with it.  Right now it looks like wet seak skin to me.  It is a bump map 
so I can of course reduce the bumo_size.  The texture is created in 
Photoshop with custom brushes that I dirived from images of silhouetted 
tree branches I believe.  Right now the texture in that strange area of 
being closer-than-I've-ever-gotten, but still not "right"  So I cling to 
it.  IT's a matter of vision as well as technical I think.

and the water in the background should also have a light
> falloff with depth; the bottom of the picture should be a lot darker than
> the top, probably a dark blue-green almost black.

Yes I was playing with some of those effects back when I was 
concentrating on the lighting.  It is sort of a matter of balance. 
Pictures where you see the media effect have more of an overhead light. 
  Pictures with the strob light and severe falloff seem to have a 
clearer look with less media and debris coloring the water.  Those 
images have more tactility and visual punch it seems to me but loose the 
sense of immersion.  I guess I was trying to trade these effects off. 
Have it both ways.  Another envisioning issue.  I will have to revisit it.


> 
> Is the water color media? If so, maybe a gradient background behind it or
> maybe even negative lights below and behind.
> 
>

I was using the gradient at one point but did want to "model" the 
lighting in a cleaner way comceptually if I could.  Didn't think of the 
negative lights idea

The media is basically this:

sphere {
   hollow
   pigment  {
         rgbt <0,0,0,1>
   }
   finish {
         ambient 0
         diffuse 0
   }
   interior {
      media {
          absorption ...
      }
      media {  //bg color
         scattering { .... extinction ... }
         density {
		granite
		scale .1
		turbulence 1
		color_map { a blend }
	}
      }
      media {  //bg color
         scattering { .... extinction ... }
         density {
		granite
		scale .5
		turbulence 1.5
		color_map { a blend }
	}
      }
      media {   //large debris
         scattering { .... extinction ... }
         density {
		granite
		scale 5.5
		turbulence .1
		color_map {
			stepped with transparent color
			to get particles
		}
	}
      }
      media {   //pea soup
         scattering { .... extinction ... }
         density {
		granite
		scale .03125
		turbulence .1
		color_map {
			stepped with transparent color
			to get particles
		}
	}
      }
}

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