http://www.geekissues.org/sohcahtoa/motobike.avi (4.10 megs, DivX 6)
http://www.geekissues.org/sohcahtoa/motobike.m1v (5.42 megs, MPEG1)

Hurray!  Support structures!  It really adds a lot to the ride, IMO. 
Oh, and the reason it starts fast is that this is a launched coaster. 
It has no lift hill, but rather uses LIMs to launch the train.  I 
haven't implemented acceleration due to launches, so I just made it 
start at the end of the track at high speed.

I'm pretty sure I'm using the wrong radii for the cylinders/spheres 
creating the supports though (Remember, my project isn't a roller 
coaster itself, but rather, a program to convert tracks from No Limits 
(http://www.nolimitscoaster.de) to POV-Ray!).  No Limits also doesn't 
make the cylinders attach directly to the track, but rather, it has all 
the cool hardware that makes the connection.

I'm also experimenting with the finishes and lighting, because the whole 
pitch-black shadow thing was bugging me.  I tried using a dim shadowless 
light, but I didn't like the result.  In this animation, everything has 
an ambient of 0.35, diffuse 0.8, and the light color is 0.75.  To me, 
the track has the very flat-looking "obviously computer rendered" look 
that makes me think of old computer graphics demos from the late 
80s/early 90s.  The supports also look extremely flat.

I messed around with putting a sun in the sky_sphere using a cylindrical 
pattern with an extremely bright center, but to get it to look good, I 
had to have an extremely low error_bound, and it was going to take hours 
for a single frame, and that's just not acceptable when I need to make 
an animation.

Any ideas on getting good lighting?

-DJ

Post a reply to this message

DJ Wiza wrote:
> http://www.geekissues.org/sohcahtoa/motobike.avi (4.10 megs, DivX 6)
> http://www.geekissues.org/sohcahtoa/motobike.m1v (5.42 megs, MPEG1)
> 
> Hurray!  Support structures!  It really adds a lot to the ride, IMO. Oh, 
> and the reason it starts fast is that this is a launched coaster. It has 
> no lift hill, but rather uses LIMs to launch the train.  I haven't 
> implemented acceleration due to launches, so I just made it start at the 
> end of the track at high speed.
> 
> I'm pretty sure I'm using the wrong radii for the cylinders/spheres 
> creating the supports though (Remember, my project isn't a roller 
> coaster itself, but rather, a program to convert tracks from No Limits 
> (http://www.nolimitscoaster.de) to POV-Ray!).  No Limits also doesn't 
> make the cylinders attach directly to the track, but rather, it has all 
> the cool hardware that makes the connection.
> 
> I'm also experimenting with the finishes and lighting, because the whole 
> pitch-black shadow thing was bugging me.  I tried using a dim shadowless 
> light, but I didn't like the result.  In this animation, everything has 
> an ambient of 0.35, diffuse 0.8, and the light color is 0.75.  To me, 
> the track has the very flat-looking "obviously computer rendered" look 
> that makes me think of old computer graphics demos from the late 
> 80s/early 90s.  The supports also look extremely flat.
> 
> I messed around with putting a sun in the sky_sphere using a cylindrical 
> pattern with an extremely bright center, but to get it to look good, I 
> had to have an extremely low error_bound, and it was going to take hours 
> for a single frame, and that's just not acceptable when I need to make 
> an animation.
> 
> Any ideas on getting good lighting?

Wow fantastic! Can you handle support structures for loops?

Post a reply to this message

Am Tue, 23 May 2006 19:09:32 -0700 schrieb DJ Wiza:

> http://www.geekissues.org/sohcahtoa/motobike.avi (4.10 megs, DivX 6)
> http://www.geekissues.org/sohcahtoa/motobike.m1v (5.42 megs, MPEG1)
> 

Wow, this look fantastic!
But I wouldn't ride it, there's a support reaching right through the track ;-)

It definitely needs some background, a colored skysphere would be a good
start and maybe some mountains (heightfield) or a sea in the far.

Great work,
Sebastian

Post a reply to this message

DJ Wiza wrote:
> Any ideas on getting good lighting?
> 
> -DJ

Sure, zip it up and submit it to IMP.  Then you can enable all the fancy 
lighting you want :)

...Chambers

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