This was real neat to see, both in animation and real life.  It was a good lunar
eclipse.  Saw a total eclipse once that got very dark gray-blue then a deep rust
red as it emerged, another was very red all over and could have passed for being
Mars.  This one was probably number three in rank of the ones I've seen, too bad
I haven't seen any more than those 3 total ones.  A few other partial ones too,
just not as colorful.
The representation you have done here is nice and I'm wondering how you went
about it.  I had thought of doing one too but to try and mimic the others I've
seen also.

Bob

"Chris Jeppesen" <chr### [at] digiquillcom> wrote in message
news:3887caab@news.povray.org...
| A view of the lunar eclipse happening as I type (darn clouds!) from an
| unusual prespective... close to the sun, through a telephoto lens. Remember
| when you look at it that the moon is much farther away than the earth, about
| 60 earth radii.
|
| A small demonstration of my work in progress, the PovSolarSystem. This will
| be a working model of the whole solar system, It will have the ability to
| add arbitrary bodies like spacecraft.
|
| Most astronomy programs have a hard time with eclipses. I get them for free,
| by virtue of using a raytracer. Long live POV!
|
|
|

Post a reply to this message

The clouds parted over my site and I was able to see most of the eclipse.
First
one I have ever seen in person. It was great!

The positions of the bodies were calculated using PovSolarSystem v0.02,
which
I will release shortly. This version is vastly improved and includes the
Moon
for the first time. I could go into detail about how I made it, but its
better if you
just go to www.kwansystems.org and read all about it.

I have never had much success with area lights. This was no exception. I
couldnt
get a good area light to work for the sun, so I sprinkled 50 point lights
randomly
on a sphere the size of the sun.

I put a dim orange spot light just behind the earth pointed away from the
sun
to get the orange shadow tint. Having never seen an eclipse before, I didnt
know
that the center of the shadow would be so much dimmer than the edge. I am
working on an improved version now, with an added negative brightness spot
light to cancel out some of the shadow tint in the center.

I rendered it in PovWin (Took 13 hours, far longer than the eclipse itself!)
and made an MPEG using mpeg_encode for Linux. I used 800x640 resolution
because thats what it takes to get a proper aspect on a 1280x1024 screen.
I used VMmeg 1.7, a very old but reliable mpeg player to run it. It seems
like MS Media Player doesnt like anything over 320x240.

I hope this answers your questions.

Chris


Bob Hughes <omn### [at] hotmailcom?subject=PoV-News:> wrote in message
news:3889f05a@news.povray.org...
> This was real neat to see, both in animation and real life.  It was a good
lunar
> eclipse.  Saw a total eclipse once that got very dark gray-blue then a
deep rust
> red as it emerged, another was very red all over and could have passed for
being
> Mars.  This one was probably number three in rank of the ones I've seen,
too bad
> I haven't seen any more than those 3 total ones.  A few other partial ones
too,
> just not as colorful.
> The representation you have done here is nice and I'm wondering how you
went
> about it.  I had thought of doing one too but to try and mimic the others
I've
> seen also.
>
> Bob
>

Post a reply to this message

Hadn't really gone into guessing how you did it but I went ahead and was making
my own yesterday after seeing yours here.  That, and I was trying to help
someone with a planet/moon orbit question at the moray.win group.
I used an arealight for the sun and it seemed to be okay enough, also used the
spotlight behind the Earth concept.  Not much of any other way I know to cast
light on shadowed regions in space :-) Already did the negative light for the
umbral part of the shadow too, and a second one to try and mimic the apparent
darkness of the beginning/ending eclipse.  'no_shadow' is out because of the way
it illuminates all sides.
I've yet to add image maps, was just getting the layout done, and although I
have the POV Planetarium files here I've never had a lot of success getting
specific camera positions right.  Will take a look at what your working on.
Here's my try at the lunar eclipse so far.

Bob

"Chris Jeppesen" <chr### [at] digiquillcom> wrote in message
news:388a5e51@news.povray.org...
| The clouds parted over my site and I was able to see most of the eclipse.
| First
| one I have ever seen in person. It was great!
|
| The positions of the bodies were calculated using PovSolarSystem v0.02,
| which
| I will release shortly. This version is vastly improved and includes the
| Moon
| for the first time. I could go into detail about how I made it, but its
| better if you
| just go to www.kwansystems.org and read all about it.
|
| I have never had much success with area lights. This was no exception. I
| couldnt
| get a good area light to work for the sun, so I sprinkled 50 point lights
| randomly
| on a sphere the size of the sun.
|
| I put a dim orange spot light just behind the earth pointed away from the
| sun
| to get the orange shadow tint. Having never seen an eclipse before, I didnt
| know
| that the center of the shadow would be so much dimmer than the edge. I am
| working on an improved version now, with an added negative brightness spot
| light to cancel out some of the shadow tint in the center.
|
| I rendered it in PovWin (Took 13 hours, far longer than the eclipse itself!)
| and made an MPEG using mpeg_encode for Linux. I used 800x640 resolution
| because thats what it takes to get a proper aspect on a 1280x1024 screen.
| I used VMmeg 1.7, a very old but reliable mpeg player to run it. It seems
| like MS Media Player doesnt like anything over 320x240.
|
| I hope this answers your questions.
|
| Chris
|
|
| Bob Hughes <omn### [at] hotmailcom?subject=PoV-News:> wrote in message
| news:3889f05a@news.povray.org...
| > This was real neat to see, both in animation and real life.  It was a good
| lunar
| > eclipse.  Saw a total eclipse once that got very dark gray-blue then a
| deep rust
| > red as it emerged, another was very red all over and could have passed for
| being
| > Mars.  This one was probably number three in rank of the ones I've seen,
| too bad
| > I haven't seen any more than those 3 total ones.  A few other partial ones
| too,
| > just not as colorful.
| > The representation you have done here is nice and I'm wondering how you
| went
| > about it.  I had thought of doing one too but to try and mimic the others
| I've
| > seen also.
| >
| > Bob
| >
|
|
|

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'lnreclps.mpg' (119 KB)

Hi Chris

Thanks to Sander I was able to see your very illustrative mpg.

When I tried to play your version off my hard drive Media
Player went looking for a web site.

>I rendered it in PovWin (Took 13 hours, far longer than the eclipse
itself!)
<grin>

>just go to www.kwansystems.org and read all about it.
This has always been a really great site. POV and Space Dynamics
is awesome. It is something I am very happy to have
archived on my hard drive. I only wish I had more time
to explore it. Someday, for sure.

Keep up the good work,
Peter Warren
war### [at] hotmailcom

Post a reply to this message

Saw your web pages and got your PovSolarSystem files which seem to be a
comprehensive set.  Wish you success on further efforts (even if it is a
self-serving wish of mine).

Bob

"Chris Jeppesen" <chr### [at] digiquillcom> wrote in message
news:388a5e51@news.povray.org...
| just go to www.kwansystems.org and read all about it.
|

Post a reply to this message

Very cool Bob,

The simplicity of this animation really works, at least for me.

Peter

Post a reply to this message

Thanks, have a look at the image mapped one in the new posting if you want.  It
needs to be redone but I don't know when I'll get to it again.

Bob

"Peter Warren" <int### [at] halcyoncom> wrote in message
news:388c26e2@news.povray.org...
| Very cool Bob,
|
| The simplicity of this animation really works, at least for me.
|
| Peter
|

Post a reply to this message

"Bob Hughes" wrote...
> This was real neat to see, both in animation and
> real life.  It was a good lunar eclipse.

Not strictly povray related, but for those of you who
didn't see the eclipse, take a look at...

http://www.xlcus.co.uk/photos/2001-01-09-totallunar/anim.html


Oh, and I have done some povray stuff too :-) ...
http://www.xlcus.co.uk/povray/


Cheers,

--
Jonathan Hunt
jon### [at] xlcuscouk

Post a reply to this message

Incredible!  On the small side and somewhat fuzzy but I can't recall having
ever seen such a good animation like that before.
Did the sky haze over or did the camera focus change?  It starts clear but soon
remains at a soft focus I guess.  Was this done using a video camera tracking
piggy back on a telescope?
I missed the latest solar eclipse here and wished I hadn't, Sun was 3/4
eclipsed.  Speaking of the sun I liked your sunset render too.

Bob

"Jonathan Hunt" <jon### [at] xlcuscouk> wrote in message
news:3a6236e0@news.povray.org...
> "Bob Hughes" wrote...
> > This was real neat to see, both in animation and
> > real life.  It was a good lunar eclipse.
>
> Not strictly povray related, but for those of you who
> didn't see the eclipse, take a look at...
>
> http://www.xlcus.co.uk/photos/2001-01-09-totallunar/anim.html
>
>
> Oh, and I have done some povray stuff too :-) ...
> http://www.xlcus.co.uk/povray/
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> --
> Jonathan Hunt
> jon### [at] xlcuscouk

Post a reply to this message

"Bob H." wrote in message news:3a637469@news.povray.org...
> Incredible!  On the small side and somewhat fuzzy but I can't
> recall having ever seen such a good animation like that before.

Thanks!  Glad you like it :-)

> Did the sky haze over or did the camera focus change?  It
> starts clear but soon remains at a soft focus I guess.

It turns fuzzy during totality because I had to change the
exposure of the camera from 1/250 second to an 4 second
exposure to pick up enough detail.

> Was this done using a video camera tracking piggy back
> on a telescope?

No, it was done using a Nikon Coolpix 950 digital still camera.
I took one photo every few mins over the entire three hours of
the eclipse.

I didn't use a telescope...  Just the standard lens, i.e. not a
telephoto lens, and used a tripod to keep the camera steady
during the 4 second exposures.  I didn't worry about the
positioning of the camera too much, as I aligned all the
pictures so that the moon was in the centre by hand in photoshop
afterwards.

> I missed the latest solar eclipse here and wished I hadn't, Sun
> was 3/4 eclipsed.  Speaking of the sun I liked your sunset
> render too.

Thanks, that's the render I'm most proud of so far too :)


All the best,

--
Jonathan Hunt
http://www.xlcus.co.uk/povray/
jon### [at] xlcuscouk

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