Another WIP version of this scene. I've changed the tree-cylinder to 
make it look a little more treelike and less telephone polelike, added a 
couple of boxes to break up the lighting a little and an almost-white 
sphere for myself as a lighting test object (no, it's not a ball), and 
played with the lighting setup a bit.. but most importantly, I've 
changed the leaves to make them larger, flatter, somewhat more uniform 
in color, and better-fitting to the ground.

Do the leaves look better now? Comments? Suggestions?

-Xplo

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Attachments:
Download 'oakleaf-c.jpg' (91 KB)

Preview of image 'oakleaf-c.jpg'

Looks much better.  The leaves look too flat and stuck to the ground, like a
pattern on the ground rather than an object laying on the grass.  Perhaps
split the difference with the prior post (with respect to how the leaves
appear on the grass)?

Jim

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And don't forget the area_light when going for a final
render, and perhaps some good focal-blur settings instead
of antialiasing...

I can't make the actual proportions of everything. In my
mind, those stones are just big enough for two feet aside
each other, and then several of these would make the side-
walk.
But then, the leaves are too small, and the trunk is really
way too small...

Perhaps adding some grass for reference would be good,
or some marbles from a child's game or such.



--
Tim Nikias
Homepage: http://www.digitaltwilight.de/no_lights/index.html
Email: Tim### [at] gmxde

> Another WIP version of this scene. I've changed the tree-cylinder to
> make it look a little more treelike and less telephone polelike, added a
> couple of boxes to break up the lighting a little and an almost-white
> sphere for myself as a lighting test object (no, it's not a ball), and
> played with the lighting setup a bit.. but most importantly, I've
> changed the leaves to make them larger, flatter, somewhat more uniform
> in color, and better-fitting to the ground.
>
> Do the leaves look better now? Comments? Suggestions?
>
> -Xplo
>
>


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Tim Nikias wrote:
> And don't forget the area_light when going for a final
> render, and perhaps some good focal-blur settings instead
> of antialiasing...

Of course. Shall I just send you the shipping address for the new 
computer I'll need, then? ;)

> I can't make the actual proportions of everything. In my
> mind, those stones are just big enough for two feet aside
> each other, and then several of these would make the side-
> walk.
> But then, the leaves are too small, and the trunk is really
> way too small...
> 
> Perhaps adding some grass for reference would be good,
> or some marbles from a child's game or such.

The sidewalk is 3-foot squares. The trunk is a little more than half a 
foot or so in diameter, and the leaves are roughly 3-6 inches long. The 
sphere is a foot in diameter, for whatever it's worth (since it doesn't 
represent a real object and won't be present in any kind of final render).

Of course, I can't do anything about any delusions you may have that 
everything is smaller than it really is. ;)

The final scene will have some things in it that give a better sense of 
scale (dunno what yet.. probably some grasses or something, maybe a hose 
or some toys). Although really, I would have thought the tree and leaves 
would provide some of that...

-Xplo

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> Of course. Shall I just send you the shipping address for the new
> computer I'll need, then? ;)

Hm. Well then, how about adding some patience to
your to-do list? ;-)

About the tree: why don't you try to model some
roots, at least make the base less cylinder-like. If
you'd use a blob, and add some y-stretched spheres
to the base, and yet some unstretched spheres near
the stretched ones, you'd perhaps get a more realistic
trunk...

And the scale... Well, add some toys, I think that'd
fit nicely.

Regards, Tim

--
Tim Nikias
Homepage: http://www.digitaltwilight.de/no_lights/index.html
Email: Tim### [at] gmxde

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Tim Nikias wrote:
>>Of course. Shall I just send you the shipping address for the new
>>computer I'll need, then? ;)
> 
> Hm. Well then, how about adding some patience to
> your to-do list? ;-)

Uh huh.

Be sure you send me a really fast computer. >_>

> About the tree: why don't you try to model some
> roots, at least make the base less cylinder-like. If
> you'd use a blob, and add some y-stretched spheres
> to the base, and yet some unstretched spheres near
> the stretched ones, you'd perhaps get a more realistic
> trunk...

Because I haven't really bothered with the tree, except to play with the 
texturing on the cylinder. It's not the final tree, which will probably 
be an isosurface or something.

-Xplo

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The leaves seem to be a bit too flat and uniform. What about half or rolled
ones? Yes, I know it's difficult, but that's what an eye expects. And some
leaves on the plates?
I would play with some fog/ground fog. In case of fog you will need very
soft shadows.
Some details would be nice, but you could try to stay in these grey and
brown colors - it's a nice atmosphere. Perhaps some lost toys getting rusty
or so...

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J. Diehl wrote:
> The leaves seem to be a bit too flat and uniform. What about half or rolled
> ones? Yes, I know it's difficult, but that's what an eye expects. And some
> leaves on the plates?

More meshes mean more RAM and parsing time. You'll want to get in touch 
with Tim Nikias so you can pitch in for that shiny new computer he's 
sending me. ;)

> I would play with some fog/ground fog.

If I find any, I'll ship it to you for a small fee.

But seriously.. why would there be fog? It's late afternoon. And at this 
angle, it wouldn't really have a beneficial effect on the scene.

-Xplo

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Now, about that "shiny new computer": it looks
like my resources are empty, but I could offer you
to send me the required files and I'd trace the final
image for you. I don't know how much RAM you've
got, I've got 528 with a 1.4 GHZ Athlon, so if you'd
perhaps prepare four or five meshes for the final,
and set the scene to use them when a certain variable
is set to "on", I could run the scene with a few more
meshes...

Its just an offer to compensate for the computer,
I'm really sorry about that!

;-)

Regards,
Tim

--
Tim Nikias
Homepage: http://www.digitaltwilight.de/no_lights/index.html
Email: Tim### [at] gmxde
"Xplo Eristotle" <xpl### [at] infomagicnet> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:3d859669@news.povray.org...
> J. Diehl wrote:
> > The leaves seem to be a bit too flat and uniform. What about half or
rolled
> > ones? Yes, I know it's difficult, but that's what an eye expects. And
some
> > leaves on the plates?
>
> More meshes mean more RAM and parsing time. You'll want to get in touch
> with Tim Nikias so you can pitch in for that shiny new computer he's
> sending me. ;)
>
> > I would play with some fog/ground fog.
>
> If I find any, I'll ship it to you for a small fee.
>
> But seriously.. why would there be fog? It's late afternoon. And at this
> angle, it wouldn't really have a beneficial effect on the scene.
>
> -Xplo
>

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Xplo Eristotle wrote:
> 
> Another WIP version of this scene. I've changed the tree-cylinder to
> make it look a little more treelike and less telephone polelike, added a
> couple of boxes to break up the lighting a little and an almost-white
> sphere for myself as a lighting test object (no, it's not a ball), and
> played with the lighting setup a bit.. but most importantly, I've
> changed the leaves to make them larger, flatter, somewhat more uniform
> in color, and better-fitting to the ground.
> 
> Do the leaves look better now? Comments? Suggestions?

They look quite good, but their distribution seems somewhat uniform, if
they were removed from the path there should be more quite near to it,
also they should be more dense nearer to the trunk.  

Christoph

-- 
POV-Ray tutorials, IsoWood include,                 
TransSkin and more: http://www.tu-bs.de/~y0013390/  
Last updated 13 Aug. 2002 _____./\/^>_*_<^\/\.______

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Christoph Hormann wrote:
> 
> They look quite good, but their distribution seems somewhat uniform, if
> they were removed from the path there should be more quite near to it,
> also they should be more dense nearer to the trunk. 

They are indeed uniform; I'm using a new scattering method (within a 
box, as opposed to out from a central point). This will allow me to 
better control how many leaves appear in a given area, as well as doing 
things like having them collect along edges and in corners (there aren't 
any of these yet, but there will be).

-Xplo

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Tim Nikias wrote:
> Now, about that "shiny new computer": it looks
> like my resources are empty, but I could offer you
> to send me the required files and I'd trace the final
> image for you. I don't know how much RAM you've
> got, I've got 528 with a 1.4 GHZ Athlon, so if you'd
> perhaps prepare four or five meshes for the final,
> and set the scene to use them when a certain variable
> is set to "on", I could run the scene with a few more
> meshes...
> 
> Its just an offer to compensate for the computer,
> I'm really sorry about that!

Still, it's a generous offer, and your machine's specs are much better 
than mine (G3/266, 136 MB). Thanks, I will consider it.

-Xplo

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I don't know if this is useful or not, but I for one wouldn't mind rendering
some scenes now and then, or perhaps parts of scenes ,say 4-5 hours per
part. I have to leave my computer on the whole day anyway (unfortunately) so
it oculd just as well do some work. Aren't there more people with
rendering-capacity left over?
Maybe you could split up the image into a few parts and distribute them
amongst those that want to help you...

But, more on-topic:

Am I right in saying that it looks like the leaves at the pavement side are
partially _under_ the slightly transparent pavement?
I must say though that I preferred the more dense leaves in the earlier
post, it kind of deters from looking at the leaves too detailed, like one
would be inclined to do with only so few leaves on the ground. Maybe you
could combine the two methods, so that you can still have them gather in
corners as well as around the tree?

"Xplo Eristotle" <xpl### [at] infomagicnet> wrote in message
news:3d86185f@news.povray.org...
> Tim Nikias wrote:
> > Now, about that "shiny new computer": it looks
> > like my resources are empty, but I could offer you
> > to send me the required files and I'd trace the final
> > image for you. I don't know how much RAM you've
> > got, I've got 528 with a 1.4 GHZ Athlon, so if you'd
> > perhaps prepare four or five meshes for the final,
> > and set the scene to use them when a certain variable
> > is set to "on", I could run the scene with a few more
> > meshes...
> >
> > Its just an offer to compensate for the computer,
> > I'm really sorry about that!
>
> Still, it's a generous offer, and your machine's specs are much better
> than mine (G3/266, 136 MB). Thanks, I will consider it.
>
> -Xplo
>

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Daan Sprünken wrote:
> 
> Am I right in saying that it looks like the leaves at the pavement side are
> partially _under_ the slightly transparent pavement?

Since there are no leaves there and the pavement's not transparent, nope. :)

-Xplo

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Many people have already pointed out that the first leaves were too round
and these are too flat. Instead of finding a half-way point, could you
perhaps let pov pick a radom value between the too for each leaf? I don't
know how your scene is set up so I don't know if it can be done simply but I
think it ultimately would be the best solution.

Corey
--
http://www.4gigs.com/~schitzo/

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I don't want to meat the bird that layed and egg that big :)

The color and texture of the leaves and trunk are much improved.

JFMILLER

"Xplo Eristotle" <xpl### [at] infomagicnet> wrote in message
news:3d842476@news.povray.org...
> Another WIP version of this scene. I've changed the tree-cylinder to
> make it look a little more treelike and less telephone polelike, added a
> couple of boxes to break up the lighting a little and an almost-white
> sphere for myself as a lighting test object (no, it's not a ball), and
> played with the lighting setup a bit.. but most importantly, I've
> changed the leaves to make them larger, flatter, somewhat more uniform
> in color, and better-fitting to the ground.
>
> Do the leaves look better now? Comments? Suggestions?
>
> -Xplo
>
>


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