"Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message 
news:43d66ec3$1@news.povray.org...
> Now, volcanos I think don't tend to be quite so vertical, nor quite so 
> symetric.  There would probably also be outbreaks of lava on the slopes as 
> well. It does, after all, melt through rock.

Good points, I'm working on all that right now :)

> The smoke seems very symetrical also. If there were no wind, I'd think it 
> would be going mostly up, or up then back down in an umbrella-like shape. 
> Maybe having the smoke going one way and the lava coming down on the other 
> side would give a nice balance.

Agreed, it's also way too translucent for volcanic smoke, I stopped working 
on it because it looks really pretty, but it's definitely going to need to 
change a lot... hopefully I can make it look pretty -and- right!

> I also doubt you'd find snow on the slopes of an active volcano,

Well according to any number of discovery channel documentaries it's pretty 
common. Volcano erupts, suddenly melts lots of snow, huge flooding in 
surrounding areas. The specific eruption that inspired this image was Mt. 
St. Helens, though the initial eruption was mostly just a huge explosion of 
snow and rock, and lava might not have started spouting out of it until all 
the snow was gone.

This isn't meant to be a stable eruption, so I'm going to need to work on 
some more dramatic effects I think.

> The ground is both too black and too bare. Lava is very shiney, as the 
> surfaces were all liquid a short time ago and cooled under gravity. It's 
> mostly brittle and crunchy, like blown glass. Plus it's full of delicious 
> plant nutrients, so even days after an eruption, you get grass there, 
> saplings, etc.

In hawaii this is true, and that's the only volcano I've been to. but my 
understanding is that volcanos that have lain dormant for a while actually 
end up covered mostly in very fertile dark soil and more mountain-like rock, 
and less smooth glassy rock... maybe... you know it's really beginning to 
sound like I need to do some research for this image! how tedious!

> The water near the shore looks kind of grey, but I don't know if that's 
> correct or not. Unless that's supposed to be a beach or something.

That's sand, and it's a placeholder I forgot I'd left in there. Oops! Thanks 
for pointing it out.

> I'm looking forward to how you manage the glow of the lava. :-)

Hmm... I thought I'd get away without radiosity in this image, but I think 
if I have much lava I'll need it...

-- 
Tek
http://evilsuperbrain.com

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