Hey POV users

I'm kind of a newbie with pov-ray, and I'd like to take my skills to the 
next level... This scene, though very simple, is probably the coolest 
I've made so far, so I figured it's a good start to learn what can 
really be done with raytracing.

Only, instead of searching through the manual for functions and 
textures, I thought of asking you guys! I've been looking your scenes on 
the newsgroup for some time now, and it seems to me that you can handle 
POV-Ray...

so, what should I do with this blob?

any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all!
Maxime


oh and by the way, here's the code so you can see how much of a newbie I 
really am ;-)

// I've made an animation with it...
// clock is set to 2 on the png

#include "colors.inc"

background{ Black }

camera{ location <10-10/pi*clock,5,-10>
         look_at <-2+2/pi*clock,-2,0>
}

light_source{ <0,50,0> color Red }
light_source{ <0,20,-50> color White }

blob{ threshold 0.4*sin(clock+pi/2)+0.5

     sphere{ <-0.7,-1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-2.1,-1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-3.5,-1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-4.9,-1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <0.7,-1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <2.1,-1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <3.5,-1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <4.9,-1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-0.7,1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-2.1,1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-3.5,1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-4.9,1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <0.7,1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <2.1,1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <3.5,1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <4.9,1,0>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-0.7,0,1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-2.1,0,1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-3.5,0,1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-4.9,0,1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <0.7,0,1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <2.1,0,1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <3.5,0,1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <4.9,0,1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-0.7,0,-1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-2.1,0,-1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-3.5,0,-1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <-4.9,0,-1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <0.7,0,-1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <2.1,0,-1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <3.5,0,-1>, 1, 1 }
     sphere{ <4.9,0,-1>, 1, 1 }
     cylinder{ <-5,0,0>, <5,0,0>, 0.5, 1 }

     interior{ ior 1.5 }
     texture{
         pigment{ Yellow transmit 0.5 }
         finish{ phong 1
                 diffuse 0.3
                 reflection 0.2 }
     }
}

plane{ y, -3
     texture{
         pigment{ Clear }
         finish{ reflection 1 }
     }
     normal{ bumps 0.3*sin(2.6*clock)+0.5 scale 0.2*sin(3*clock)+0.5 }
}

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'killerblob.png' (245 KB)

Preview of image 'killerblob.png'

Hey Maxime,
     That's a good start.  I remember making scenes just like that when I
was starting out.  One thing that makes experimenting with scenes such as
this which use objects that are translated over a distance by a regular
interval MUCH easier is the "while loop".  I am sure you will have a lot of
fun with it.  You can then apply functions to the overall transformations,
and add time dependencies more easily for animations.  I will post the
source file for this image in p.b.s.f.  Yes, I did actually start with your
scene, although it's quite different now.  I used photons, no radiosity and
no antialiasing.

-Ben Scheele

P.S.  Try the animation for my scene.  It's pretty neat.

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'Big Blown Blob.jpg' (61 KB)

Preview of image 'Big Blown Blob.jpg'

Thanks Ben!

	Your image really boosted my enthousiasm! I've glanced at the scene file, 
it does indeed look a lot simpler with the while loop, and it seems to 
increase the possibilities too. I'll study it more deeply as soon as I 
get the time.

	As for the animation, with what frame rate should I render it? Or how 
long is it supposed to last?

Anyways thanks again, I'm looking forward to post my progress here :-)

Maxime




Ben T. Scheele wrote:

> Hey Maxime,
>      That's a good start.  I remember making scenes just like that when I
> was starting out.  One thing that makes experimenting with scenes such as
> this which use objects that are translated over a distance by a regular
> interval MUCH easier is the "while loop".  I am sure you will have a lot of
> fun with it.  You can then apply functions to the overall transformations,
> and add time dependencies more easily for animations.  I will post the
> source file for this image in p.b.s.f.  Yes, I did actually start with your
> scene, although it's quite different now.  I used photons, no radiosity and
> no antialiasing.
> 
> -Ben Scheele
> 
> P.S.  Try the animation for my scene.  It's pretty neat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>

Post a reply to this message

"Maxime Bonin" wrote:

 >Thanks Ben!

Sure thing.

> Your image really boosted my enthousiasm! I've glanced at the scene file,
> it does indeed look a lot simpler with the while loop, and it seems to
> increase the possibilities too. I'll study it more deeply as soon as I
> get the time.
>
> As for the animation, with what frame rate should I render it? Or how
> long is it supposed to last?

I actually included that information in the scene file.  I gave a condensed
version of the INI, but the switches are all there.  I experimented with the
animation a bit today, and I found that it looks really cool when you have
the clock go from -.35 to 3.5 over about 110 frames.  I was suprised to find
that the camera actually passes through one of the spheres.  Since they are
hollow, it has a cool effect.

-Ben Scheele

Post a reply to this message

err sorry I meant the frame rate for my bitmap2avi program... But it's a 
silly question, because I was going to make it 30 frames/sec anyway, 
it's just that I usually make animation that are longer than 3 seconds.

Thanks for the new clock settings, I'm actually rendering it in 640x480 
with anti-aliasing ;-)


Maxime



> 
> I actually included that information in the scene file.  I gave a condensed
> version of the INI, but the switches are all there.  I experimented with the
> animation a bit today, and I found that it looks really cool when you have
> the clock go from -.35 to 3.5 over about 110 frames.  I was suprised to find
> that the camera actually passes through one of the spheres.  Since they are
> hollow, it has a cool effect.
> 
> -Ben Scheele
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>

Post a reply to this message

So how did it turn out?

-Ben Scheele



"Maxime Bonin" wrote in message:

> I'm actually rendering it in 640x480
> with anti-aliasing ;-)
>
> Maxime

Post a reply to this message

"Ben T. Scheele" wrote:
> 
> So how did it turn out?
> 
> -Ben Scheele
> 
> "Maxime Bonin" wrote in message:
> 
> > I'm actually rendering it in 640x480
> > with anti-aliasing ;-)
> >
> > Maxime

Is there any decent software that will take a sequence of PNG files and create
a MPEG file out of them?  I mean beyond the mpeg_encode for unix boxes from
toe.cs.berkeley.edu ??

Dennis

Post a reply to this message

Sorry, can't help you there.  Can you stitch png's into avi's, or are those
just from bmp's?

-Ben


"Dennis Clarke" <dcl### [at] interlogcom> wrote in message
news:3DF7FBB4.55B88E9D@interlog.com...
> "Ben T. Scheele" wrote:

> Is there any decent software that will take a sequence of PNG files and
create
> a MPEG file out of them?  I mean beyond the mpeg_encode for unix boxes
from
> toe.cs.berkeley.edu ??
>
> Dennis

Post a reply to this message

> > > Maxime
> 
> Is there any decent software that will take a sequence of PNG files and create
> a MPEG file out of them?  I mean beyond the mpeg_encode for unix boxes from
> toe.cs.berkeley.edu ??

Videomach works for me, but it's windows, and i'm not sure if that's 
what you're after.  Free for non-commercial use too.

http://www.gromada.com/

Jamie.

Post a reply to this message

Dennis Clarke <dcl### [at] interlogcom> wrote in
news:3DF7FBB4.55B88E9D@interlog.com: 
>
> Is there any decent software that will take a sequence of PNG files
> and create a MPEG file out of them?  I mean beyond the mpeg_encode for
> unix boxes from toe.cs.berkeley.edu ??
> 
> Dennis

I use TMPGEnc
http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html

With this PNG plug-in
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.utilities/15796/

Works very well for me on windows

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