stbenge <THI### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> stbenge wrote:
> > Kirk Andrews wrote:
> >> What kind of
> >> compositing are you doing?
> >
> > I use Rune's illusion.inc file which lets you place an image into a
> > scene based on the camera view. I do this with the beta version of POV,
> > because it supports the .hdr format. I will explain my method in more
> > detail later; I'm in a hurry!
>
> Kirk, here's the link leading to Rune's illusion.inc file:
>
> http://runevision.com/3d/include/
>
> This is one of the most versatile include files I've ever used. I have
> modified the code to work with HDR images, but I may need to contact
> Rune for permission to post it.
>
> The basic idea for compositing images in POV is to pre-render parts of
> the scene and paste them back onto the objects for another render pass.
> For instance, in this scene of the clay/stone guy I rendered the
> height_field without anything in front of it first. I simply added
> no_shadow to the stone character. Then I projected the HF render back
> onto the HF, and rendered the character along with it. At this point I
> had two renders, one of just the HF rocks, and another with the rocks
> and character. I applied the HF render to the HF, and the
> character+rocks render to the character. With both images applied their
> respective objects, I then rendered the scene with high-sample focal
> blur, which took a ridiculously *short* amount of time.
>
> It's better to use HDR images for all this, which is why you may want
> the modified illusion.inc code. It's also important to render the
> backdrop first, and render the front objects in steps, so that you do
> not end up with any strange outlines. You can get away with doing
> partial renders. If you use this technique for reflecting or refracting
> objects, be sure you are able to cope with possible inaccuracies. Also,
> using this method for focal blur+grass or similar objects may be
> exceedingly difficult. That is, unless you don't mind the horrible
> artifacts.
>
> I hope this helped. I *should* make a tutorial illustrating this method,
> though I need to contact Rune before I do so.
>
> Sam

Thanks, Sam.  If you ever do make a tutorial about it, I'd like to see it.

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An excellent job, relatively simple but effective.

I was thinking if you could put a media effect in left from the direction of the
light to enhance the effect of fog or dust around the figure, to simule a dusty
ambient, in the middle of a desert or old cave.

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stbenge wrote:
> I then rendered the scene with high-sample focal
> blur, which took a ridiculously *short* amount of time.

The things we wouldn't have to do if computers were faster. Worth the 
effort, though; The picture is beautiful. I think I'd crop it around the 
figure and call it done. The joy of an all-stone image is that the 
illusion is consistent throughout - you can get as creative with the 
look as you like without having to worry about hot a plastic beach ball 
might look in the universe you've created.

  -Shay

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