On 14-4-2012 0:45, Alain wrote:
> I may put my guess here: On the oposite shore, the ground may be
> somewhat unstable, to rocky, sandy, acidic, alcaline,... and thus have
> discouraged peoples from establishing themself in that area.
> In such cases, it's probably used mainly as pasture ground with very
> sparse to no constructions.
> It's also possible that there is no easy access to fresh water.
>
I think you are right indeed. The opposite shore of the river shows 
indeed more relief than where the city was built which is the only 
relatively flat area. Water may thus also be an issue especially 
considering the North African latitude of the site. In my view, the 
desert is not far off with only a belt of vegetation (much like the 
Nile) on both sides of the river.

Thomas

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On 14/04/2012 2:03 AM, Becraft, Robert wrote:
> Actually, the walls in Britannia were used to keep the "barbarians" from the
> north out of the Roman occupied south.

There is history and there is history. The Romans, who were barbarians 
to the Greeks, actually built the walls to limit trade and smuggling 
between the free people of the north and those of the empire down south. 
As you know, taxation was applied at borders not at the point of 
manufacture. So a costly enterprise such as keeping the legions in 
Britain was funded partly by local taxation. This was very unpopular, 
hence the walls. (The Brits learned from this and applied the lesson in 
India with the Great Hedge of India.) Numerous local legends live on. 
Possibly the best known is the band of smugglers lead by McNamara.

> The walls were continuously manned in a
> very specific fashion.  The man-power required for this effort is actually quite
> impressive.  Along with the wall, there are forts every so often along the
> entire length of the wall.

Yes I used to live a few miles from the Antonine Wall.

> Men manning the wall were housed in these forts
> along with units that could move out to intercept any invading forces spotted
> along the length of the wall.

It worked wonders in the dark. ;-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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Stephen <mcavoys_at@aoldotcom> wrote:
> On 14/04/2012 2:03 AM, Becraft, Robert wrote:
> > Actually, the walls in Britannia were used to keep the "barbarians" from the
> > north out of the Roman occupied south.
>
> There is history and there is history. The Romans, who were barbarians
> to the Greeks, actually built the walls to limit trade and smuggling
> between the free people of the north and those of the empire down south.
> As you know, taxation was applied at borders not at the point of
> manufacture. So a costly enterprise such as keeping the legions in
> Britain was funded partly by local taxation. This was very unpopular,
> hence the walls. (The Brits learned from this and applied the lesson in
> India with the Great Hedge of India.) Numerous local legends live on.
> Possibly the best known is the band of smugglers lead by McNamara.
>
> > The walls were continuously manned in a
> > very specific fashion.  The man-power required for this effort is actually quite
> > impressive.  Along with the wall, there are forts every so often along the
> > entire length of the wall.
>
> Yes I used to live a few miles from the Antonine Wall.
>
> > Men manning the wall were housed in these forts
> > along with units that could move out to intercept any invading forces spotted
> > along the length of the wall.
>
> It worked wonders in the dark. ;-)
>
> --
> Regards
>      Stephen

So you're one of those... hmmmm...

I understand through research that part of my branch of humanity originated in
the Bolton Abbey, Appletrewick, Leeds area.  It was probably those nocturnal
activities keeping them awake that drove them over to this side of the pond.

;-)
Robert

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On 17/04/2012 10:29 PM, Becraft, Robert wrote:
> So you're one of those... hmmmm...
>
> I understand through research that part of my branch of humanity originated in
> the Bolton Abbey, Appletrewick, Leeds area.  It was probably those nocturnal
> activities keeping them awake that drove them over to this side of the pond.
>
> ;-)
> Robert

Naw! That would have been the Border Reivers who were as often English 
as Scots. :-P

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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Hi(gh)!

Am 14.04.2012 08:48, schrieb Thomas de Groot:

> I think you are right indeed. The opposite shore of the river shows
> indeed more relief than where the city was built which is the only
> relatively flat area. Water may thus also be an issue especially
> considering the North African latitude of the site. In my view, the
> desert is not far off with only a belt of vegetation (much like the
> Nile) on both sides of the river.

A truly intriguing alternate history world (though I somewhat miss the 
Persians... is there no expansive Sassanid empire with Yazdegird IV. and 
V. conquering most of the Mediterranean, advancing into the Alps and 
actively propagating Zoroastrianism throughout Europe?), especially when 
it comes to religion...

...but I have one technical question: did you place the city on a flat 
or on a spherical world? The latter is a concept with which I toy since 
many years, but I think it would be very difficult to switch between 
overall geographic and small-scale geodetic positioning...

There is also a whole fictitious world I dreamed up since when I was 


German... I hope that my cartographic skills improve in the future so 
that I would be able to make that world come alive in POV-Ray!

Currently, I'm occupied with a POV-Ray representation of the real Solar 
System (containing POVEarth which in turn contains Khyberspace and 
ElectriCologne), thus sidelining the Whatmough project for a while...

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

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> Hi(gh)!
> A truly intriguing alternate history world (though I somewhat miss the
> Persians... is there no expansive Sassanid empire with Yazdegird IV. and
> V. conquering most of the Mediterranean, advancing into the Alps and
> actively propagating Zoroastrianism throughout Europe?), especially when
> it comes to religion...
Well, no. In this alternate world where Alexander the Great lived on, 
Persia became an enduring Greek/Persian kingdom under the Seleucid 
dinasty (remember, Seleucos being one of Alexander's generals, like 
Ptolemaios in Egypt) and an important route for the Indian trade, as an 
alternative to the Silk Route. However, since the conquest of the Turcs, 
the Indian route has dwindled in favour of the Silk Route - which in 
turn will be hampered soon by the Mongols... :-) and that is another story.
Zoroastrians may be present in Gancaloon. I have not discovered them yet...

>
> ...but I have one technical question: did you place the city on a flat
> or on a spherical world? The latter is a concept with which I toy since
> many years, but I think it would be very difficult to switch between
> overall geographic and small-scale geodetic positioning...
The whole area around Gancaloon is flat as it makes no sense to provide 
for the rest of the world in this series of scenes. However, the ocean 
and its bottom *are* (large) spheres!

>
> There is also a whole fictitious world I dreamed up since when I was


> German... I hope that my cartographic skills improve in the future so
> that I would be able to make that world come alive in POV-Ray!
There are two "cost effective" ways to go about this I think. You can 
build the whole planet as an overview scene and for getting the feeling; 
and you can build individual scenes totally independently of the planet 
because you never see them both at the same time. But the planet gives 
you indications of where those scenes are situated. As for latitudes or 
longitudes, SunPos.inc helps you with that, as seen from a flat planet ;-)

>
> Currently, I'm occupied with a POV-Ray representation of the real Solar
> System (containing POVEarth which in turn contains Khyberspace and
> ElectriCologne), thus sidelining the Whatmough project for a while...
Always good to have different projects running abreast I guess.

Thomas

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On 13-4-2012 9:31, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> On 12-4-2012 21:14, Becraft, Robert wrote:
>> I love the landscape and your integration of your structures into the
>> model.
>> I've worked with POV for almost 15 years and still struggle with
>> landscapes. Do
>> you have a posting of the technique you used to lay out the roads and
>> place the
>> town buildings?
> Thanks Robert. I shall write down a couple of things explaining my
> technique (which is still evolving by the way). Coming soon.
>

Took a while but I spent a necessary time on writing down things I had 
almost forgotten. Never take your memory for granted ;-) So, I am glad 
to have done this exercise.

I shall put now an explanatory  pdf file in the p.b.tutorials newsgroup 
under the heading "Gancaloon Making Of". Any questions will be gladly 
answered.

Thomas

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On 20/04/2012 9:21 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>
> I shall put now an explanatory  pdf file in the p.b.tutorials newsgroup
> under the heading "Gancaloon Making Of". Any questions will be gladly
> answered.

I have a question, when?

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 20-4-2012 13:22, Stephen wrote:
> On 20/04/2012 9:21 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>>
>> I shall put now an explanatory pdf file in the p.b.tutorials newsgroup
>> under the heading "Gancaloon Making Of". Any questions will be gladly
>> answered.
>
> I have a question, when?
>

It is there (10:23 according to Thunderbird)  ;-)

Thomas

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On 20-4-2012 15:59, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> On 20-4-2012 13:22, Stephen wrote:

>> I have a question, when?
>>
>
> It is there (10:23 according to Thunderbird) ;-)
>
> Thomas

Hmmm... I may understand your question better. Look in 
povray.binaries.tutorials.

Maybe I should have uploaded to povray.text.tutorials?

Thomas

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