Eh?  Why not use radiosity and v. high ambient?

-- 
Tim Cook
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean

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Timothy Cook wrote:

> Eh?  Why not use radiosity and v. high ambient?
> 
Mainly because I do a lot of animations and radiosity doesn't work well in
animations. Secondly because I think using lights it's more controllable
-- 
Ger

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Dave VanHorn wrote:

> 
> Very nice!  I had to scale it to inches, and I think then the translate
> needs to be "Count * Inch" but it looks good. I've put it in a test scene
> with the large discharge spark as you saw, plus 20 switching sparks, which
> I limited to 5 lights since they are small, and not so detailed anyway.
> 
> It's going to be a while, I'll post the image when it's done baking.

Glad you like it. :)
Btw, there is an error in the Spark_Light macro

#local Distance = (End - Start) / NumberOfLights+1;
should be
#local Distance = (End - Start) / (NumberOfLights+1);

I forgot the second set of brackets

Sorry :(
-- 
Ger

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Ger,

I really liked your scene so I rendered it myself but the results were 
not as nice as yours. What were your render settings if you don't mind 
sharing?

Thanks!

Apollo16

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> #local Distance = (End - Start) / NumberOfLights+1;
> should be
> #local Distance = (End - Start) / (NumberOfLights+1);
>
> I forgot the second set of brackets

No problem, I see what you mean.

I've made two macros, one for the big spark, and another for the smaller
ones, since I want them to look different, just like real life.

I need to tweak my settings though, it's taking a LONG time to trace.

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Apollo16 wrote:

> Ger,
> 
> I really liked your scene so I rendered it myself but the results were
> not as nice as yours. What were your render settings if you don't mind
> sharing?
> 
> Thanks!
> 

Hi, I don't really know what I changed in that image because I tend to play
around a lot with different options, but the commandline options were:
+W800 +H600 +A0.2

The scene by itself should be the one that is described.
Or can you tell me what is different?

As a teaser here is one with 100 lights to create a very high powered
spark :)

-- 
Ger

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Attachments:
Download 'sparky-005 (100 lights).jpg' (60 KB)

Preview of image 'sparky-005 (100 lights).jpg'

Ger wrote:

> A quick and dirty try to get the spark to emit light.
> 
> I tightened the spark and added a bunch of lights to it.
> The cylinders in the background are just to give an idea about the shadowing
> on the back wall.
> 
> You may have to play with the "Spark_Light" settings to get the effects you
> want.

Nice job!!!

-- 
Respectfully,          "Leave it to the coward to make a religion
Dan P            of his cowardice by preaching humility."
                                    - George Bernard Shaw
http://<broken link>

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It's definitely getting there.
I have to get the lighting amounts roughly right, they are a BIT overdone in
this image.

It does take a LONG time to trace now, even through I cut the main spark
down to 50 lights, and the minor ones to 3 lights.  (BTW: What happens if I
set it to 1 or 2 lights?)

I used to have an area light at 2 illuminating the scene, now it's cranked
down to 0.75 in this scene, and I'm working on minimizing that.

I need to work on the main spark, it's not as complicated as I'd like but I
still want the softer look that I have here. You get a sort of "burning"
look with the longer discharges, as the heated nitrogen rises and cools.

I got tired of the checkered floor.  Interestingly, I was going for a
fractally checkered floor, but this dosen't work:

#declare Floor = object { plane { y, // <X Y Z> unit surface normal, vector
points "away from surface"
                                  0 // distance from the origin in the
direction of the surface normal
                                  photons { target reflection on refraction
off }
                                }
                          texture { hexagon
                                    texture {White_Plastic}
                                    texture {Black_Plastic}
                                    texture {hexagon
                                             texture {Red_Plastic}
                                             texture {Green_Plastic}
                                             texture {Blue_Plastic}
                                            }
                                  }
                          scale <12 * Inch, 12 * Inch, 12 * Inch>
                          }

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Attachments:
Download 'marxlight1.JPG' (50 KB)

Preview of image 'marxlight1.JPG'

Dave VanHorn wrote:

> 
> It's definitely getting there.
> I have to get the lighting amounts roughly right, they are a BIT overdone
> in this image.
> 
> It does take a LONG time to trace now, even through I cut the main spark
> down to 50 lights, and the minor ones to 3 lights.  (BTW: What happens if
> I set it to 1 or 2 lights?)
> 
The very long render time comes from using photons.
If you use just 1 light it will get centered in the spark. Downside to it is
that you get a very sharp shadow. Because the spark is very long it should
give a washed out shadow.

> I used to have an area light at 2 illuminating the scene, now it's cranked
> down to 0.75 in this scene, and I'm working on minimizing that.
> 
> I need to work on the main spark, it's not as complicated as I'd like but
> I still want the softer look that I have here. You get a sort of "burning"
> look with the longer discharges, as the heated nitrogen rises and cools.
> 

-- 
Ger

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Dan P wrote:


> Nice job!!!
> 
Thanks :)
-- 
Ger

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