Being on the brink of moving houses this week, this seems appropriate:-)

When I started reading SF, back in the late 1960's, I came across many short 
stories and novelettes in the magazine Analog which became classics 
afterwards. Also in Analog, I discovered the work of such artists as Ed 
Emshwiller and Frank Kelly Freas, or John Schoenherr. Look for them and 
others here: http://www.noreascon.org/retroart/CatalogByArtist.html.

When looking at an old book cover, a couple of months ago, I thought I would 
make a kind of tribute to those artists by creating a scene - if not in the 
style - then in the mood of the 60's - 70's illustrators of SF. This is the 
result (WIP-01). There is still a lot to do of course. Here, no radiosity (a 
small, feeble fillin light is used), rendered in version 3.7, beta 23 in 
about 10 minutes. Another version, with the sun behind the camera, took 
about 30 minutes but seems more dull in terms of overall composition.

The title "Why don't you go home?" is, I think, emblematic for a whole 
section of SF concerned with the contact between humans and aliens, but it 
may also serve as a metaphore for our own multicultural world.

As always, comments and criticisms are welcomed.

Thomas

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Excellent. I thought it must be nearly time for another TdG creation!

The characters and clothing are great as always, reflecting all the hard work
you've put into these techniques. The trees look good; they look like POV-Tree
objects (not a bad thing). But I love the skyways and buildings! Brilliant. Is
this your own creation, or inspired by a piece of SF art in particular? And, to
hazard a guess at the method, it looks like very good use of a crackle
isosurface with some buildings placed by hand...?

I'll be following this one with some interest. :)

Bill

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"Bill Pragnell" <bil### [at] hotmailcom> schreef in bericht 
news:web.475413512440ca8d731f01d10@news.povray.org...
> Excellent. I thought it must be nearly time for another TdG creation!

Thank you indeed, Bill! <grin> yes indeed. I am hard at work on this one, a 
few others are pending (as always).
>
> The characters and clothing are great as always, reflecting all the hard 
> work
> you've put into these techniques. The trees look good; they look like 
> POV-Tree
> objects (not a bad thing). But I love the skyways and buildings! 
> Brilliant. Is
> this your own creation, or inspired by a piece of SF art in particular? 
> And, to
> hazard a guess at the method, it looks like very good use of a crackle
> isosurface with some buildings placed by hand...?

I have a slowly growing wardrobe of clothes that can be used by different 
characters, so that eases the hard work somewhat. However, I am also getting 
the experience of making them and it goes faster now. There still remain all 
kind of difficulties of course, but that is stimulating. I think I have 
found a better method to draw belts tight around the waist, better and 
simpler than what I proposed last June in povray.tools.poser. I shall come 
back to that later.

The trees are POV-Tree indeed. Mostly the basic birch model which suited my 
needs.

The skyways and buildings are inspired by the book cover I mentioned. I 
don't remember the title (the book went down to the waste paper trash as the 
stories were rather poor imo), but it showed something like these, rather 
stylized, and it triggered the rest of the scene into being. I had a couple 
of different situations in mind, one particular one showing a stupid alien 
trying to learn husbandry, but I could not find a suitable sheep model so I 
switched to the present one.

No, you are wrong unfortunately. The whole set was built from scratch in 
Silo2. It is one large mesh2, so it renders very fast.

>
> I'll be following this one with some interest. :)

I hope not to disappoint you in coming wips  :-)

Thomas

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Thomas de Groot wrote:
  > As always, comments and criticisms are welcomed.
> 
> Thomas


Good work Thomas! I especially like the buildings. The clothes are nice 
too. Makes me want to try some stuff in Blender, cloth-wise.

I'm a big fan of sci-fi myself. My favorite story is the Rama saga. 
Classic Clarke.

Sam

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stbenge wrote:

> I'm a big fan of sci-fi myself. My favorite story is the Rama saga. 
> Classic Clarke.
> 
> Sam

I have mixed feelings about the Rama series.  I agree that the first 
(Rendezvous) is classic Clarke, but to me, the remainder with his 
collaboration with Gentry Lee went rapidly downhill.  Rama II was merely 
disappointing, but the third book (Gardens) was boring and its 
(non)ending was annoying.  I now have no interest in reading the fourth 
(Revealed).

OTOH, I think my all-time favorite SF book is "Code of the Lifemaker" by 
James P Hogan.  His Giants series is excellent also.  IMHO, all very 
classic Clarkeish.    ;-)

      -=- Larry -=-

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"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet> wrote:
> Being on the brink of moving houses this week, this seems appropriate:-)
>
> When I started reading SF, back in the late 1960's, I came across many short
> stories and novelettes in the magazine Analog which became classics
> afterwards. Also in Analog, I discovered the work of such artists as Ed
> Emshwiller and Frank Kelly Freas, or John Schoenherr. Look for them and
> others here: http://www.noreascon.org/retroart/CatalogByArtist.html.
>
> When looking at an old book cover, a couple of months ago, I thought I would
> make a kind of tribute to those artists by creating a scene - if not in the
> style - then in the mood of the 60's - 70's illustrators of SF. This is the
> result (WIP-01). There is still a lot to do of course. Here, no radiosity (a
> small, feeble fillin light is used), rendered in version 3.7, beta 23 in
> about 10 minutes. Another version, with the sun behind the camera, took
> about 30 minutes but seems more dull in terms of overall composition.
>
> The title "Why don't you go home?" is, I think, emblematic for a whole
> section of SF concerned with the contact between humans and aliens, but it
> may also serve as a metaphore for our own multicultural world.
>
> As always, comments and criticisms are welcomed.
>
> Thomas

I love the old guy with the skinny legs. :) I like his clothes a lot too. The
short cape thing is great. I do wonder, though, what is behind that sheet??

Janet

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"Janet" <par### [at] attnet> schreef in bericht 
news:web.4754f1c72440ca8dd382c7d70@news.povray.org...
>
> I love the old guy with the skinny legs. :) I like his clothes a lot too. 
> The
> short cape thing is great. I do wonder, though, what is behind that 
> sheet??
>

Thank you Janet! Both characters are derived from Apollo Maximus which 
provides us with a wealth of different morphs. Adapting them to one's needs 
is then fairly simple.

Imo, the sheet itself is the bone of contention, so to speak, the alien 
trying to sell it to the old guy who does not see any use for it  :-)

Thomas

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"stbenge" <stb### [at] hotmailcom> schreef in bericht 
news:47546e85@news.povray.org...
> Thomas de Groot wrote:
>  > As always, comments and criticisms are welcomed.
>>
>> Thomas
>
>
> Good work Thomas! I especially like the buildings. The clothes are nice 
> too. Makes me want to try some stuff in Blender, cloth-wise.

Thank you Sam! I think Blender would be excellent for making clothes.

>
> I'm a big fan of sci-fi myself. My favorite story is the Rama saga. 
> Classic Clarke.

I liked the first Rama, but I was disappointed by the others. One of my 
favourite (classic) authors is Cordwainer Smith and his Instrumentality 
saga.

Thomas

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"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet> a écrit dans le message de 
news: 475402e4@news.povray.org...

Thomas the Great as usual ;-)

I like how your images are a backdoor  into a larger story.
In this one I specially like the cultural clash and the encounter between 
the feudal shepherd(?) and the merchant who has access to a hi-tech 
civilization (though doesn't look like he belongs this civ.).
As many I like the huge yet light buildings.
The merchant looks very athletic for a cloth seller.
The trees are very equal in size and plantation. is it an orchard?
Anyway the grass below them should be shorter (less light, soil dried by 
trees roots)

It is always a pleasure to see your works :-)

Marc

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"M_a_r_c" <jac### [at] wanadoofr> schreef in bericht 
news:47551390@news.povray.org...
>
>
> Thomas the Great as usual ;-)
<grin> Thank you Marc!

> I like how your images are a backdoor  into a larger story.
> In this one I specially like the cultural clash and the encounter between 
> the feudal shepherd(?) and the merchant who has access to a hi-tech 
> civilization (though doesn't look like he belongs this civ.).
In my view the alien is really alien, meaning he comes from a different 
solar system. However, some basic urges (like commerce, buying and selling) 
seem to be universal  :-). So, we are looking at an outpost or a colony of 
them, probably not really appreciated by the autochtons who live 
approximately at a bronze age / iron age civilization level.
I tried to give the alien a look that was fairly common to SF illustrations 
in the 1950's 1960's.

> As many I like the huge yet light buildings.
> The merchant looks very athletic for a cloth seller.
Well, being an alien, he has a slightly different morphology. But don't be 
misled! It is mostly fat, I am told  :-)

> The trees are very equal in size and plantation. is it an orchard?
That's funny, because the size varies randomly from 2 to 4 times the basic 
shape. You don't see this really indeed. I shall investigate.

> Anyway the grass below them should be shorter (less light, soil dried by 
> trees roots)
Yes, the grass needs some more work. Be aware however that the ground is 
rather marshy (there is water in the middle background, to the right)

>
> It is always a pleasure to see your works :-)
Great! :-)

Thomas

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Larry Hudson <org### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> stbenge wrote:
> > I'm a big fan of sci-fi myself. My favorite story is the Rama saga.
> > Classic Clarke.
> > Sam
>
> I have mixed feelings about the Rama series.

Me too. The first is definitely a classic but the others, as with Frank
Herbert's Dune series, proved increasingly uninteresting to me. I don't think
he originally intended ever to write a sequel (as with Herbert).

Interestingly, the descriptions in the first novel were used in some workshops I
attended whilst studying university physics, to get us thinking in rotating
reference frames about centrifugal gravity and the like.

> OTOH, I think my all-time favorite SF book is "Code of the Lifemaker" by
> James P Hogan.

I bought that randomly some years ago without knowing anything about the
author... very interesting, and a good yarn to boot.

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Thomas de Groot wrote:
> "stbenge" <stb### [at] hotmailcom> schreef in bericht 
>> Good work Thomas! I especially like the buildings. The clothes are nice 
>> too. Makes me want to try some stuff in Blender, cloth-wise.
> 
> Thank you Sam! I think Blender would be excellent for making clothes.

With the new physics enhancements, you can actually make cloth work. It 
can be a bit touchy, though. Sometimes the cloth bounces from a surface 
flies off in a funny way. But you can 'bake' the settings, and thus 
control the state of decay (all matter is in a state of it).

>> I'm a big fan of sci-fi myself. My favorite story is the Rama saga. 
>> Classic Clarke.
> 
> I liked the first Rama, but I was disappointed by the others. One of my 
> favourite (classic) authors is Cordwainer Smith and his Instrumentality 
> saga.

That seems to be the consensus around here, excluding me of course. Ray 
Bradbury is good too, except for his Halloween-themed works. Never liked 
those much.

'The One Who Waits' and 'The Little Assassin' are two of my favorites.

Sam

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"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet> wrote:
> Thank you Janet! Both characters are derived from Apollo Maximus which
> provides us with a wealth of different morphs. Adapting them to one's needs
> is then fairly simple.
>
> Imo, the sheet itself is the bone of contention, so to speak, the alien
> trying to sell it to the old guy who does not see any use for it  :-)
>
> Thomas

Oh, I see. Clearly, the alien needs to talk with his marketing people about this
problem. :)

I just looked at the link you provided to those retro sci-fi artists - its very
inspiring! Thanks.

I have checked out Apollo and he does look amazing, and like you said, many
morphs for that boy. I read the post about your new method of belt tightening -
so i hope you post more about that when the time is right.

Janet

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"Janet" <par### [at] attnet> schreef in bericht 
news:web.475639b02440ca8dfaea24460@news.povray.org...
>
> Oh, I see. Clearly, the alien needs to talk with his marketing people 
> about this
> problem. :)
I believe that the notion of marketing is 'alien' with them. They have much 
to learn... the hard way :-)

>
> I just looked at the link you provided to those retro sci-fi artists - its 
> very
> inspiring! Thanks.
Yes, that is an interesting list of artists, some average imo, but also a 
few outstanding works.

>
> I have checked out Apollo and he does look amazing, and like you said, 
> many
> morphs for that boy. I read the post about your new method of belt 
> tightening -
> so i hope you post more about that when the time is right.
Apollo is a great contribution to the Poser community indeed. It has a 
couple of weaknesses that I hope will be ironed out in the future, but there 
is hardly an equivalent for real character building.
I found (I think) a better way for belts and such in Poser, which is 
simply - when importing the belt object and setting its parent - to check 
the "inherit bends of parent" at the bottom. Then you can proceed with 
tightening it around the waist in - say - the first 10 frames of the 
simulation, and only afterwards change the pose of the figure. You may have 
to adjust the position of the belt during that phase however, as it may tend 
to drift a bit uncontrollably. So, it remains a careful business to perform.


Thomas

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"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet> wrote:
> Being on the brink of moving houses this week, this seems appropriate:-)
>
>
Hai Thomas
If I had legs like that I don’t think I would wear a short tunic :)
Talking about SF this reminds be of Nicholas Van Rijn, from Paul Anderson’s
Space Merchants. And I know that the Dutch have been involved in trade since
Methuselah was a boy.
Good luck with the flitting (I hope that it is not a moonlight one :) )
And
Lang may yer lum reek.
PS My last day at Philips and in the Nedderlands (for the moment)

Stephen

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"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet> wrote:
> Apollo is a great contribution to the Poser community indeed. It has a
> couple of weaknesses that I hope will be ironed out in the future, but there
> is hardly an equivalent for real character building.
> I found (I think) a better way for belts and such in Poser, which is
> simply - when importing the belt object and setting its parent - to check
> the "inherit bends of parent" at the bottom. Then you can proceed with
> tightening it around the waist in - say - the first 10 frames of the
> simulation, and only afterwards change the pose of the figure. You may have
> to adjust the position of the belt during that phase however, as it may tend
> to drift a bit uncontrollably. So, it remains a careful business to perform.
>
>
> Thomas

Thanks for the info Thomas. I should try it out. I recently made a morphing belt
for Poser http://www.sharecg.com/v/19861/poser/Morphing-Belt-for-Poser-Figures
It was a really fun project. So now I'm all jazzed about creating more stuff
and I was looking at PhilC's Clothing Designer. You have it, right? Do you
like it? It looks like it would be great.

Thanks, Janet

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"Janet" <par### [at] attnet> schreef in bericht 
news:web.47577dbb2440ca8db322507d0@news.povray.org...
>
> Thanks for the info Thomas. I should try it out. I recently made a 
> morphing belt
> for Poser 
> http://www.sharecg.com/v/19861/poser/Morphing-Belt-for-Poser-Figures
> It was a really fun project. So now I'm all jazzed about creating more 
> stuff
> and I was looking at PhilC's Clothing Designer. You have it, right? Do you
> like it? It looks like it would be great.
>

That belt looks very good, Janet! I shall have to try it, I'm afraid :-)

Yes I have PhilC's Clothing Designer but I still have to really make use of 
it. It is on my todo list. It should be perfect for conforming clothes.

Thomas

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"Stephen" <mcavoys_AT_aolDOT.com> schreef in bericht 
news:web.475678452440ca8d726bd13c0@news.povray.org...
> "Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet> wrote:
>> Being on the brink of moving houses this week, this seems appropriate:-)
>>
>>
> Hai Thomas
> If I had legs like that I don't think I would wear a short tunic :)

He is old. He is beyond shame... :-)

> Talking about SF this reminds be of Nicholas Van Rijn, from Paul 
> Anderson's
> Space Merchants. And I know that the Dutch have been involved in trade 
> since
> Methuselah was a boy.

I suppose Nicholas Van Rijn is a beter merchant than the present one.

> Good luck with the flitting (I hope that it is not a moonlight one :) )

Thank you!

> And
> Lang may yer lum reek.

Thank you! Instead of coal, I seem to have some nice wood in the shed to 
burn in the stove :-) So, my lum will reek indeed!

> PS My last day at Philips and in the Nedderlands (for the moment)

You leave with Saint Nicholas then! Hope you liked it, overall, in the low 
countries...
>

Thomas

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On Thu, 6 Dec 2007 08:59:52 +0100, "Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet>
wrote:

>
>> And
>> Lang may yer lum reek.
>
>Thank you! Instead of coal, I seem to have some nice wood in the shed to 
>burn in the stove :-) So, my lum will reek indeed!
>

Sorry for the delay in replying but RL etc.


Not politically correct, I fear but the heart is in the right place.

>> PS My last day at Philips and in the Nedderlands (for the moment)
>
>You leave with Saint Nicholas then! Hope you liked it, overall, in the low 
>countries...
>>

I did and I saw his helpers at Schipol. How does a steamboat get to an airport?
My you Nedderlanders are clever :)

Regards
	Stephen

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