POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.binaries.images : Pebbles Server Time
8 Oct 2026 18:02:37 EDT (-0400)
  Pebbles (Message 1 to 16 of 16)  
From: Jonathan Hunt
Subject: Pebbles
Date: 16 Sep 2008 18:57:55
Message: <48d039f3@news.povray.org>
Hi folks,

Well it's been over 7 years since I last played with POV-Ray and made my
tulips image (http://xlcus.com/povray/tulips/tulips-0600x0800.jpg), but
I've had a renewed interest just recently and would like to present the
first image I've made since I've been back... (See attachment)

The image is pure SDL.  No scene placement tools, models or textures
were used.  Everything is procedurally generated and positioned using SDL.

The render time was pretty harsh.  The combination of radiosity and
focal blur really slowed things down and it took about 4.5 days to
render on my Athlon 5600+ with POV-Ray 3.6

Anyway, hope you like it.

Cheers,

-- 
Jonathan Hunt
jon### [at] xlcuscom


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Attachments:
Download 'pebbles-1600x1200.jpg' (679 KB)

Preview of image 'pebbles-1600x1200.jpg'
pebbles-1600x1200.jpg


 

From: Jonathan Hunt
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 16 Sep 2008 19:09:51
Message: <slrngd0f5u.7u2.jonathan@server.xlcus.intranet>
In article <48d037af$1@news.povray.org>, Jim Charter wrote:
> Not only is the image fantastic, it looks like you had great fun doing it!

Thanks! :-)

Yeah, it was a really interesting little project for me, and I really
enjoyed getting the automatic placement working in SDL.  I know it
would have been much easier to manually place then myself, but I loved the
challenge! :-)

The only frustrating bit was waiting for the final image to render! :-D

Cheers,

-- 
Jonathan Hunt
jon### [at] xlcuscom


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From: Jonathan Hunt
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 16 Sep 2008 19:13:19
Message: <slrngd0fcf.7u2.jonathan@server.xlcus.intranet>
In article <48d02cc2$1@news.povray.org>, LightBeam wrote:
> Wow ! Your photo is really impressive ;-)

I'm glad you like my *photo* :-)

-- 
Jonathan Hunt
jon### [at] xlcuscom


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From: Carlo C 
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 17 Sep 2008 03:35:00
Message: <web.48d0b28fa788d3fcd16b496d0@news.povray.org>
Jonathan Hunt <jon### [at] xlcuscom> wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> Well it's been over 7 years since I last played with POV-Ray and made my
> tulips image (http://xlcus.com/povray/tulips/tulips-0600x0800.jpg), but
> I've had a renewed interest just recently and would like to present the
> first image I've made since I've been back... (See attachment)
>
> The image is pure SDL.  No scene placement tools, models or textures
> were used.  Everything is procedurally generated and positioned using SDL.
>
> The render time was pretty harsh.  The combination of radiosity and
> focal blur really slowed things down and it took about 4.5 days to
> render on my Athlon 5600+ with POV-Ray 3.6
>
> Anyway, hope you like it.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --
> Jonathan Hunt
> jon### [at] xlcuscom

Amazing! Astonishing!

For curiosity, how many blur_samples you've taken?


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From: Bill Pragnell
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 17 Sep 2008 04:30:01
Message: <web.48d0bf14a788d3fcd5b77e4a0@news.povray.org>
Outstanding. This feels like a real 'classic' image - one for the hall of fame
in my opinion.

I've thought about placing objects in this way before, but my plans never came
to fruition... I really should revisit. Unless your code is particularly
convoluted, I think it highly unlikely that manual placement of the stones
would be easier. The very thought makes me wince, and puts me in mind of poor
Thor, in Douglas Adams' "The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul", made to count all
the stones in Wales... :-)

Bill


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From: Thomas de Groot
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 17 Sep 2008 04:34:24
Message: <48d0c110@news.povray.org>
That's an impressive piece of work indeed!! Congratulations!!!

Thomas


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From: St 
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 17 Sep 2008 04:59:37
Message: <48d0c6f9@news.povray.org>
"Bill Pragnell" <bil### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message 
news:web.48d0bf14a788d3fcd5b77e4a0@news.povray.org...


The very thought makes me wince, and puts me in mind of poor
> Thor, in Douglas Adams' "The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul", made to count 
> all
> the stones in Wales... :-)

     That *is* Wales!  ;)

      ~Steve~


>
> Bill
>


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From: Leef me
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 17 Sep 2008 12:30:00
Message: <web.48d13075a788d3fc2a7b15450@news.povray.org>
Jonathan Hunt <jon### [at] xlcuscom> wrote:
> In article <48d02cc2$1@news.povray.org>, LightBeam wrote:
> > Wow ! Your photo is really impressive ;-)
>
> I'm glad you like my *photo* :-)
>
> --
> Jonathan Hunt
> jon### [at] xlcuscom

I thought you were not allowed to post photos in the group and claim them as
Povray? ;)

Seriously, your work is both an inspiration and a frustration.
Both Tulips and Pebbles would seem to be photo quality.

>>Well it's been over 7 years since I last played with POV-Ray ..

Welcome back !!!!


Leef_me


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From: Jonathan Hunt
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 17 Sep 2008 14:43:19
Message: <48d14fc7$1@news.povray.org>
Carlo C. wrote:
> For curiosity, how many blur_samples you've taken?

Here are the relevant parts from my camera block...

     aperture 0.25
     blur_samples 256
     confidence 0.95
     variance 1/256


-- 
Jonathan Hunt
jon### [at] xlcuscom


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From: Jonathan Hunt
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 17 Sep 2008 14:54:00
Message: <48d15248$1@news.povray.org>
Bill Pragnell wrote:
> Unless your code is particularly convoluted, I think it highly
> unlikely that manual placement of the stones would be easier.

Well, easier in the sense of trying to get them placed "Just right" from 
an artistic point of view.  I think I tried over 200 values for the 
starting value of the random seed before I settled on the placement you 
see in the final image! :-)

-- 
Jonathan Hunt
jon### [at] xlcuscom


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From: Jonathan Hunt
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 17 Sep 2008 14:58:34
Message: <48d1535a$1@news.povray.org>
Leef_me wrote:
> Seriously, your work is both an inspiration and a frustration.
> Both Tulips and Pebbles would seem to be photo quality.

Thanks :-)  Well, I shall be posting the source code to the newsgroups 
shortly, so you'll be able to see all of my dirty secrets! :-D

> > Well it's been over 7 years since I last played with POV-Ray ..
> 
> Welcome back !!!!

Hopefully it won't be another 7 years until the next one! ;-)


-- 
Jonathan Hunt
jon### [at] xlcuscom


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From: Jonathan Hunt
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 17 Sep 2008 15:27:31
Message: <48d15a23$1@news.povray.org>
I've posted the source code here...
http://news.povray.org/povray.text.scene-files/thread/%3C48d158e3%241%40news.povray.org%3E/
...and here...
http://xlcus.com/povray/pebbles/pebbles.pov


Cheers,

-- 
Jonathan Hunt
jon### [at] xlcuscom


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From: Bill Pragnell
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 18 Sep 2008 11:55:01
Message: <web.48d27979a788d3fcd5b77e4a0@news.povray.org>
Jonathan Hunt <jon### [at] xlcuscom> wrote:
> Bill Pragnell wrote:
> > Unless your code is particularly convoluted, I think it highly
> > unlikely that manual placement of the stones would be easier.
>
> Well, easier in the sense of trying to get them placed "Just right" from
> an artistic point of view.  I think I tried over 200 values for the
> starting value of the random seed before I settled on the placement you
> see in the final image! :-)

'Nuff said, I've been there! What the SDL needs is an eval_aesthetics() function
so you can automate seed hunting ;-)


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From: Alain
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 18 Sep 2008 22:32:10
Message: <48d30f2a$1@news.povray.org>
Bill Pragnell nous illumina en ce 2008-09-18 11:53 -->

> 'Nuff said, I've been there! What the SDL needs is an eval_aesthetics() function
> so you can automate seed hunting ;-)
> 
OK! But, the problem is that aesthetic don't have the same meaning from one 
person to the next... An even for a gives person, it can change acording on a 
multitude of factors, like your age, the weather, how was the day at 
work/school, your last meal, the weather,...

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
Expert, n.: Someone who comes from out of town and shows slides.


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From: Bill Pragnell
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 19 Sep 2008 04:30:01
Message: <web.48d362c3a788d3fcd5b77e4a0@news.povray.org>
Alain <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> Bill Pragnell nous illumina en ce 2008-09-18 11:53 -->
>
> > 'Nuff said, I've been there! What the SDL needs is an eval_aesthetics() function
> > so you can automate seed hunting ;-)
> >
> OK! But, the problem is that aesthetic don't have the same meaning from one
> person to the next... An even for a gives person, it can change acording on a
> multitude of factors, like your age, the weather, how was the day at
> work/school, your last meal, the weather,...

Agreed! I was just being facetious. :P


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From: Jonathan Hunt
Subject: Re: Pebbles
Date: 22 Sep 2008 18:38:10
Message: <48d81e52@news.povray.org>
I've added some comments to the source code to hopefully make it easier 
to understand! :-)

http://news.povray.org/48d81ce2%40news.povray.org
http://xlcus.com/povray/pebbles/pebbles.pov

-- 
Jonathan Hunt
jon### [at] xlcuscom


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