Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now. 
Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR and I 
think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm also 
considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the render 
time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it shouldn't 
be too bad ;-)

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On 21/11/2012 6:56 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
> Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now.
> Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR and I
> think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm also
> considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the render
> time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it shouldn't
> be too bad ;-)

I like it, especially the glass.
I wish I had the time to join in. It looks like fun.

Interestingly, Regan and I were, only tonight, talking about the 
fascination Americans have for Mac and Cheese.
In the UK our macaroni is straighter if it is curved at all. And the 
dish is called macaroni cheese, as it should be. ;-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 11/21/2012 04:30 PM, Stephen wrote:
> On 21/11/2012 6:56 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>> Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now.
>> Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR and I
>> think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm also
>> considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the render
>> time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it shouldn't
>> be too bad ;-)
>
> I like it, especially the glass.
> I wish I had the time to join in. It looks like fun.
>
> Interestingly, Regan and I were, only tonight, talking about the
> fascination Americans have for Mac and Cheese.
> In the UK our macaroni is straighter if it is curved at all. And the
> dish is called macaroni cheese, as it should be. ;-)

LOL ... yea it's a fairly popular dish, but I rarely eat the boxed 
version. I use my grandma's recipe. A nice mild white cheese sauce with 
the noodles in the bottom, and a /really/ sharp cheddar and bread crumb 
crust ... it's even good as left-overs ;-)

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El 21/11/12 19:56, James Holsenback escribió:
> Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now.
>  Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR
> and I think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm
> also considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the
> render time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it
> shouldn't be too bad ;-)

   Hey, macaroni was also on my list! But I'm really anticipating making
spaghetti with soft bodies, if we can implement these some day into the
playground.

   Very nice... you could make a scene with the other ingredients
surrounding the canister. Don't forget some garlic!

--
Jaime

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El 21/11/12 19:56, James Holsenback escribió:
> I have a kitchen HDR [...]

   Is that the one from Paul Debevec? If so, I've a setup of two lights
which fits close enough the default spherical mapping of this HDR into a
sphere, so the lighting and highlights seem to come effectively from the
HDR. It's what I used for the fruits bowl scene... it took me a while,
with lots of trial& error until I found the positions. Just ask for it...

--
Jaime

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Am 22.11.2012 09:16, schrieb Jaime Vives Piqueres:
> El 21/11/12 19:56, James Holsenback escribió:
>> I have a kitchen HDR [...]
>
>    Is that the one from Paul Debevec? If so, I've a setup of two lights
> which fits close enough the default spherical mapping of this HDR into a
> sphere, so the lighting and highlights seem to come effectively from the
> HDR. It's what I used for the fruits bowl scene... it took me a while,
> with lots of trial& error until I found the positions. Just ask for it...
>
> --
> Jaime
>

There are tools around that do extract the approximate position of one, 
two, three or even 20 or 100  light sources from any given HDR by using 
a median cut algorithm. Have a look e.g. here:

http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/MedianCut/

and I think even PoseRay can do it.

-Ive

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On 11/22/2012 03:16 AM, Jaime Vives Piqueres wrote:
> El 21/11/12 19:56, James Holsenback escribió:
>> I have a kitchen HDR [...]
>
>    Is that the one from Paul Debevec? If so, I've a setup of two lights
> which fits close enough the default spherical mapping of this HDR into a
> sphere, so the lighting and highlights seem to come effectively from the
> HDR. It's what I used for the fruits bowl scene... it took me a while,
> with lots of trial& error until I found the positions. Just ask for it...
>
> --
> Jaime
>

Well when I tried to increase the number of noodles I got too many 
escapees ... So I reworked BOTH the noodles and the canister. I don't 
know if it's blender, or me (LOL ... willing to call it me for now) but 
until I cleaned up the canister mesh (adequate number of verities for 
collision testing) and redid the normals before I got it with NO 
escapees ... noodle count up to 428 now.

As it stands the simulation took over an hour ... and hammered my poor 
ole 32-bit dual core machine. I'm wondering if there's a way to decouple 
the script editor ... maybe wishful thinking, but I've got a gut feeling 
it's a significant resource hog.

Two more things ... I couldn't locate my kitchen hdr, so Jamie if you 
don't mind, I'd like to try the one you mentioned. Oh and hey the 
perfect noodle pigment is eluding me ... found some image's to sample 
but not joy yet, so if anyone else can offer that magic pigment, I'd 
sure appreciate the nudge.

Cheers

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On 11/23/2012 02:29 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
> On 11/22/2012 03:16 AM, Jaime Vives Piqueres wrote:
>> El 21/11/12 19:56, James Holsenback escribió:
>>> I have a kitchen HDR [...]
>>
>>    Is that the one from Paul Debevec? If so, I've a setup of two lights
>> which fits close enough the default spherical mapping of this HDR into a
>> sphere, so the lighting and highlights seem to come effectively from the
>> HDR. It's what I used for the fruits bowl scene... it took me a while,
>> with lots of trial& error until I found the positions. Just ask for it...
>>
>> --
>> Jaime
>>
>

> perfect noodle pigment is eluding me ... found some image's to sample
> but not joy yet, so if anyone else can offer that magic pigment, I'd
> sure appreciate the nudge.

LOL ... google led me here:
http://www.color-swatches.com/columbia-paint/egg-noodle/0867/swatch.html

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On 23/11/2012 7:29 PM, James Holsenback wrote:

> Two more things ... I couldn't locate my kitchen hdr, so Jamie if you
> don't mind, I'd like to try the one you mentioned. Oh and hey the
> perfect noodle pigment is eluding me ... found some image's to sample
> but not joy yet, so if anyone else can offer that magic pigment, I'd
> sure appreciate the nudge.
>
> Cheers

You can get the kitchen probe here:
http://www.pauldebevec.com/Probes/

Aren't you suppose to map it to a large sphere?

What are your macaroni, texture settings? They could definitely be a bit 
more yellow or is your glass absorbing the colour?
What does the pasta look like out of the jar?

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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James Holsenback <nom### [at] nonecom> wrote:
> Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now.
> Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR and I
> think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm also
> considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the render
> time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it shouldn't
> be too bad ;-)

It needs for sure some colouring, now it looks like a cannister of maggots

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El 23/11/12 20:29, James Holsenback escribió:
> As it stands the simulation took over an hour ... and hammered my
> poor ole 32-bit dual core machine. I'm wondering if there's a way to
> decouple the script editor ... maybe wishful thinking, but I've got a
> gut feeling it's a significant resource hog.

   Me too... I didn't talk with Koppi yet about it, but I think it would
be a good idea to test if removing the editor improves speed. If so, an
option to disable, or at least "freeze", the editor during simulation
would be very helpful for complex scripts.

> Two more things ... I couldn't locate my kitchen hdr, so Jamie if you
>  don't mind, I'd like to try the one you mentioned.

   You have it into your mailbox already... and as Ive pointed out,
Poseray can extract lights from an HDRI. I never tried it for that, and
should do some day.

--
Jaime

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Le 2012-11-23 14:29, James Holsenback a écrit :
> On 11/22/2012 03:16 AM, Jaime Vives Piqueres wrote:
>> El 21/11/12 19:56, James Holsenback escribió:
>>> I have a kitchen HDR [...]
>>
>>    Is that the one from Paul Debevec? If so, I've a setup of two lights
>> which fits close enough the default spherical mapping of this HDR into a
>> sphere, so the lighting and highlights seem to come effectively from the
>> HDR. It's what I used for the fruits bowl scene... it took me a while,
>> with lots of trial& error until I found the positions. Just ask for it...
>>
>> --
>> Jaime
>>
>
> Well when I tried to increase the number of noodles I got too many
> escapees ... So I reworked BOTH the noodles and the canister. I don't
> know if it's blender, or me (LOL ... willing to call it me for now) but
> until I cleaned up the canister mesh (adequate number of verities for
> collision testing) and redid the normals before I got it with NO
> escapees ... noodle count up to 428 now.
>
> As it stands the simulation took over an hour ... and hammered my poor
> ole 32-bit dual core machine. I'm wondering if there's a way to decouple
> the script editor ... maybe wishful thinking, but I've got a gut feeling
> it's a significant resource hog.
>
> Two more things ... I couldn't locate my kitchen hdr, so Jamie if you
> don't mind, I'd like to try the one you mentioned. Oh and hey the
> perfect noodle pigment is eluding me ... found some image's to sample
> but not joy yet, so if anyone else can offer that magic pigment, I'd
> sure appreciate the nudge.
>
> Cheers

I have a problem with the kitchen probe: no mather what projection I 
use, or what convertion I do, there is always an ugly glitch that cause 
extreme stretching along the seam.
I convert from the spherical image to the longitude-latitude format in 
HDRShop and apply to a sphere or sky_sphere using a spherical mapping.
Same thing if I use the cross format as a source.

Also, it's a single view point probe (you see the camera) while beter 
ones use a 2 view point setting.

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On 11/23/2012 04:36 PM, BertvdB wrote:
> James Holsenback <nom### [at] nonecom> wrote:
>> Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now.
>> Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR and I
>> think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm also
>> considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the render
>> time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it shouldn't
>> be too bad ;-)
>
> It needs for sure some colouring, now it looks like a cannister of maggots
>
>
LOL ... funny but not helpful ;-)

How's this ...

I think I've settled on this "kitchen counter" pose. I had to redo the 
noodle simulation, I noticed some intersections. I just gave the even 
numbered noodles a slightly less "mass" value. The utensils/rack are a 
model I found ... it needed some work, but wouldn't import into blender, 
but would in poseray. I'm going to keep the  utensils and make my own rack.

I think I'm close to over doing the angular look I have going on ... so 
to break that up, I'm working on a pepper-mill for the foreground (left) 
tipped on it's side (into the scene) with some peppercorns scattered on 
the counter.

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El 28/11/12 16:22, James Holsenback escribió:
> How's this ...

   Much better... the tiling work is very nice, BTW.

> I think I've settled on this "kitchen counter" pose. I had to redo
> the noodle simulation, I noticed some intersections. I just gave the
> even numbered noodles a slightly less "mass" value. The utensils/rack
> are a model I found ... it needed some work, but wouldn't import into
> blender, but would in poseray. I'm going to keep the  utensils and
> make my own rack.
>

   Curiously, I've been thinking on making a simulation of my cutlery set
falling vertically into a rack, to obtain a rack full of realistically
placed flatware.

> I think I'm close to over doing the angular look I have going on ...
> so to break that up, I'm working on a pepper-mill for the foreground
> (left) tipped on it's side (into the scene) with some peppercorns
> scattered on the counter.

   Nice touch... but don't forget to put a cheese piece somewhere. :)

--
Jaime

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On 28-11-2012 16:22, James Holsenback wrote:
> On 11/23/2012 04:36 PM, BertvdB wrote:
>> James Holsenback <nom### [at] nonecom> wrote:
>>> Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now.
>>> Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR and I
>>> think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm also
>>> considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the render
>>> time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it shouldn't
>>> be too bad ;-)
>>
>> It needs for sure some colouring, now it looks like a cannister of
>> maggots
>>
>>
> LOL ... funny but not helpful ;-)
>
> How's this ...
>

Going well. You might increase the yellow component of the noodles a 
bit. Just looked at some in my kitchen and that seems the main 
difference with your image.

Thomas

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On 11/29/2012 05:00 AM, Jaime Vives Piqueres wrote:
> El 28/11/12 16:22, James Holsenback escribió:
>> How's this ...
>
>    Much better... the tiling work is very nice, BTW.

used Sam's OddTilesObject include ... just define the corners and it 
does the rest.

>
>> I think I've settled on this "kitchen counter" pose. I had to redo
>> the noodle simulation, I noticed some intersections. I just gave the
>> even numbered noodles a slightly less "mass" value. The utensils/rack
>> are a model I found ... it needed some work, but wouldn't import into
>> blender, but would in poseray. I'm going to keep the  utensils and
>> make my own rack.
>>
>
>    Curiously, I've been thinking on making a simulation of my cutlery set
> falling vertically into a rack, to obtain a rack full of realistically
> placed flatware.

LOL ... I've got idea's queued up too, just can't make the objects quick 
enough ;-)

>
>> I think I'm close to over doing the angular look I have going on ...
>> so to break that up, I'm working on a pepper-mill for the foreground
>> (left) tipped on it's side (into the scene) with some peppercorns
>> scattered on the counter.
>
>    Nice touch... but don't forget to put a cheese piece somewhere. :)

Yeah a simple shape ... that may be my fall back. I've been working on a 
garlic bulb with some of the cloves detached

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On 11/29/2012 07:37 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> On 28-11-2012 16:22, James Holsenback wrote:
>> On 11/23/2012 04:36 PM, BertvdB wrote:
>>> James Holsenback <nom### [at] nonecom> wrote:
>>>> Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now.
>>>> Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR
>>>> and I
>>>> think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm also
>>>> considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the render
>>>> time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it
>>>> shouldn't
>>>> be too bad ;-)
>>>
>>> It needs for sure some colouring, now it looks like a cannister of
>>> maggots
>>>
>>>
>> LOL ... funny but not helpful ;-)
>>
>> How's this ...
>>
>
> Going well. You might increase the yellow component of the noodles a
> bit. Just looked at some in my kitchen and that seems the main
> difference with your image.
>
> Thomas
>
>
I was thinking subsurface might bring it the rest of the way ... I've 
also had some interesting results with back-side diffuse ... the later 
with thin stuff, but think it's worth a try anyways :-)

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Le 2012-11-29 13:24, James Holsenback a écrit :
> On 11/29/2012 07:37 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>> On 28-11-2012 16:22, James Holsenback wrote:
>>> On 11/23/2012 04:36 PM, BertvdB wrote:
>>>> James Holsenback <nom### [at] nonecom> wrote:
>>>>> Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now.
>>>>> Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR
>>>>> and I
>>>>> think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm also
>>>>> considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the render
>>>>> time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it
>>>>> shouldn't
>>>>> be too bad ;-)
>>>>
>>>> It needs for sure some colouring, now it looks like a cannister of
>>>> maggots
>>>>
>>>>
>>> LOL ... funny but not helpful ;-)
>>>
>>> How's this ...
>>>
>>
>> Going well. You might increase the yellow component of the noodles a
>> bit. Just looked at some in my kitchen and that seems the main
>> difference with your image.
>>
>> Thomas
>>
>>
> I was thinking subsurface might bring it the rest of the way ... I've
> also had some interesting results with back-side diffuse ... the later
> with thin stuff, but think it's worth a try anyways :-)

Back-side diffuse works prety well with radiosity when your stuff is not 
thin, just need to increase recursion_limit by 1. In some cases, it may 
be used as a cheaper substitute to subsurface, just as fog can cheaply 
replace media and shadowless lights simulate radiosity.


Alain

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On 11/28/2012 10:22 AM, James Holsenback wrote:
> On 11/23/2012 04:36 PM, BertvdB wrote:
>> James Holsenback <nom### [at] nonecom> wrote:
>>> Here's the 1st test render, everything is fairly mono-chrome for now.
>>> Lot's more noodles to come ... only 250 here. I have a kitchen HDR and I
>>> think I can get this one to look like it's on the counter.I'm also
>>> considering sslt for the noodles, however I'm worried about the render
>>> time. If I texture one noodle and call it a bunch of times, it shouldn't
>>> be too bad ;-)
>>
>> It needs for sure some colouring, now it looks like a cannister of
>> maggots
>>
>>
> LOL ... funny but not helpful ;-)
>
> How's this ...
>
> I think I've settled on this "kitchen counter" pose. I had to redo the
> noodle simulation, I noticed some intersections. I just gave the even
> numbered noodles a slightly less "mass" value. The utensils/rack are a
> model I found ... it needed some work, but wouldn't import into blender,
> but would in poseray. I'm going to keep the  utensils and make my own rack.
>
> I think I'm close to over doing the angular look I have going on ... so
> to break that up, I'm working on a pepper-mill for the foreground (left)
> tipped on it's side (into the scene) with some peppercorns scattered on
> the counter.

Ah ... well the pepper-mill turned out so good, the canister just didn't 
measure up. It's out for now unless I get the ambition to rework that 
object. I also completely re-did the wire rack ... and LOL yes I 
reworked the chrome as well. I also repositioned the counter area to get 
more hdr image and less counter-top in the reflections.

For the physics simulation I used just the glass container and the shaft 
down the middle (resting on ground plane) ... I was able to get over 
2000 without much strain on resources, because I used the built-in 
sphere object instead of 3ds the version of peppercorns ... the program 
would only make it to something around 750 before it just quit loading.

Now I have a question .... because holy crap my first stab at photons in 
this scene took 28 hrs and it just didn't suit. I think some of the rays 
are getting through the gaps between the peppercorns. I've been reading 
(and re-reading) the docs on photons and I'm unclear about the setup I'm 
using. I'd like to trim some time off that process and here's what I have:

union {	
   object { PepperMill scale 1.01 #if (UsePhotons) split_union off #end }
   object { Peppercorns #if (UsePhotons) split_union off #end }
   translate <-120,0,12.5>
   rotate y*60
   #if (UsePhotons)
     photons { target reflection on refraction on collect off }
   #end
   }

The peppercorns are a union of all the peppercorns is why I did it like 
that, and just wanted a reality check so I don't waste another 28 hrs!

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Le 2012-12-12 12:55, James Holsenback a écrit :

> Now I have a question .... because holy crap my first stab at photons in
> this scene took 28 hrs and it just didn't suit. I think some of the rays
> are getting through the gaps between the peppercorns. I've been reading
> (and re-reading) the docs on photons and I'm unclear about the setup I'm
> using. I'd like to trim some time off that process and here's what I have:
>
> union {
>    object { PepperMill scale 1.01 #if (UsePhotons) split_union off #end }
>    object { Peppercorns #if (UsePhotons) split_union off #end }
>    translate <-120,0,12.5>
>    rotate y*60
>    #if (UsePhotons)
>      photons { target reflection on refraction on collect off }
>    #end
>    }
>
> The peppercorns are a union of all the peppercorns is why I did it like
> that, and just wanted a reality check so I don't waste another 28 hrs!

I'm not sure that turning split_union off help you. If the union is 
split, you stop checking if you hit any object of the union, but, if you 
don't split it, each ray must test against all of your 2000 peper corns, 
even those on the oposite side or in the middle that have no hope of 
ever interacting with your photons...
Anyway, do a test using only mockup spheres and one photons target 
object shining photons on the whole thing. Compare with and without 
split_union off.

Not splitting the union of the peper mill itself may help in some cases, 
but it also may not.
Do a test render with the empty peper mill and simple planes to collect 
the photons and compare the performances with and without split_union off.

You don't need to use the conditional expression for your photons block. 
In a non-photons scene, any photons block is just silently ignored.


Alain

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On 12/12/2012 04:55 PM, Alain wrote:
> Le 2012-12-12 12:55, James Holsenback a écrit :
>
>> Now I have a question .... because holy crap my first stab at photons in
>> this scene took 28 hrs and it just didn't suit. I think some of the rays
>> are getting through the gaps between the peppercorns. I've been reading
>> (and re-reading) the docs on photons and I'm unclear about the setup I'm
>> using. I'd like to trim some time off that process and here's what I
>> have:
>>
>> union {
>>    object { PepperMill scale 1.01 #if (UsePhotons) split_union off #end }
>>    object { Peppercorns #if (UsePhotons) split_union off #end }
>>    translate <-120,0,12.5>
>>    rotate y*60
>>    #if (UsePhotons)
>>      photons { target reflection on refraction on collect off }
>>    #end
>>    }
>>
>> The peppercorns are a union of all the peppercorns is why I did it like
>> that, and just wanted a reality check so I don't waste another 28 hrs!
>
> I'm not sure that turning split_union off help you. If the union is
> split, you stop checking if you hit any object of the union, but, if you
> don't split it, each ray must test against all of your 2000 peper corns,
> even those on the oposite side or in the middle that have no hope of
> ever interacting with your photons...
> Anyway, do a test using only mockup spheres and one photons target
> object shining photons on the whole thing. Compare with and without
> split_union off.
>
> Not splitting the union of the peper mill itself may help in some cases,
> but it also may not.
> Do a test render with the empty peper mill and simple planes to collect
> the photons and compare the performances with and without split_union off.
>
> You don't need to use the conditional expression for your photons block.
> In a non-photons scene, any photons block is just silently ignored.
>
>
> Alain

Thanks for the nudge ...

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On 12/12/2012 04:55 PM, Alain wrote:
> Le 2012-12-12 12:55, James Holsenback a écrit :
>
>> Now I have a question .... because holy crap my first stab at photons in
>> this scene took 28 hrs and it just didn't suit. I think some of the rays
>> are getting through the gaps between the peppercorns. I've been reading
>> (and re-reading) the docs on photons and I'm unclear about the setup I'm
>> using. I'd like to trim some time off that process and here's what I
>> have:
>>
>> union {
>>    object { PepperMill scale 1.01 #if (UsePhotons) split_union off #end }
>>    object { Peppercorns #if (UsePhotons) split_union off #end }
>>    translate <-120,0,12.5>
>>    rotate y*60
>>    #if (UsePhotons)
>>      photons { target reflection on refraction on collect off }
>>    #end
>>    }
>>
>> The peppercorns are a union of all the peppercorns is why I did it like
>> that, and just wanted a reality check so I don't waste another 28 hrs!
>
> I'm not sure that turning split_union off help you. If the union is
> split, you stop checking if you hit any object of the union, but, if you
> don't split it, each ray must test against all of your 2000 peper corns,
> even those on the oposite side or in the middle that have no hope of
> ever interacting with your photons...
> Anyway, do a test using only mockup spheres and one photons target
> object shining photons on the whole thing. Compare with and without
> split_union off.
>
> Not splitting the union of the peper mill itself may help in some cases,
> but it also may not.
> Do a test render with the empty peper mill and simple planes to collect
> the photons and compare the performances with and without split_union off.
>
> You don't need to use the conditional expression for your photons block.
> In a non-photons scene, any photons block is just silently ignored.
>
>
> Alain

Well after running a few test cases it became painfully obvious that the 
peppercorns were the culprit ...

split_union off on the empty pepper-mill showed a gain in performance of 
a little more than 30% (photon time) ... on just the peppercorns about 
the same gain in photon time, but the render time increased by over 10x!!!

Using pass_through on the peppercorns just didn't seem to make any sense 
for this case, so I took the peppercorns out of the pepper-mill union 
and added them as a separate instance ... they appeared incorrectly 
shaded, so back into the pepper-mill union.

While going over the docs yet again, the "Using Photon Mapping in Your 
Scene" section in the reference gave me the idea to try (with what 
appears to be favorable results) the following :

union {	
   object { PepperMill scale 1.01 #if (UsePhotons) split_union off #end }
   object { Peppercorns
   #if (UsePhotons)
     photons { reflection off refraction off collect off }
   #end
   }
   translate <-120,0,12.5>
   rotate y*60
   #if (UsePhotons)
     photons { target reflection on refraction on collect off }
   #end
   }

The photon global settings previously used (that yielded 28 hrs render 
time) now comes in at 35 min photon time and 13 min render time! Now I 
hope I can decrease my spacing parameter (for better results) and save 
that photon map, then move on to working on the radiosity :-)

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Le 2012-12-13 10:25, James Holsenback a écrit :

> The photon global settings previously used (that yielded 28 hrs render
> time) now comes in at 35 min photon time and 13 min render time! Now I
> hope I can decrease my spacing parameter (for better results) and save
> that photon map, then move on to working on the radiosity :-)

You can fine tune the spacing on a per object basis using target.

target can be followed by a float. That value is a multiplicator to the 
spacing.
If you use target 0.5, the spacing for that object will be half the 
general spacing resulting in shooting 4 times as many photons to that 
object, and 8 times as many photons in a media.
Using target 2 will double the spacing and thus divide the photons 
density by 4 for that object.

It's good if you have about the right photons density in general but 
some object need more, or can do with less, photons.


Alain

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Am 13.12.2012 16:25, schrieb James Holsenback:

> The photon global settings previously used (that yielded 28 hrs render
> time) now comes in at 35 min photon time and 13 min render time! Now I
> hope I can decrease my spacing parameter (for better results) and save
> that photon map, then move on to working on the radiosity :-)


I'm sorry to say it, Jim, but to me the pepper mill looks more like some 
bubblegum vending machine...

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On 13/12/2012 3:25 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
> Well after running a few test cases...


It looks good but I can't help agreeing with Clipa. The scale of the 
pepper mill is too big, for the home. (Are you sure that you're not from 
Texas, where everything is bigger and better?) :-P

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 14-12-2012 13:48, Stephen wrote:
> On 13/12/2012 3:25 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>> Well after running a few test cases...
>
>
> It looks good but I can't help agreeing with Clipa. The scale of the
> pepper mill is too big, for the home. (Are you sure that you're not from
> Texas, where everything is bigger and better?) :-P
>

LOL. From the /Hall of the Mountain King/ perhaps.

Thomas

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On 12/14/2012 07:48 AM, Stephen wrote:
> On 13/12/2012 3:25 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>> Well after running a few test cases...
>
>
> It looks good but I can't help agreeing with Clipa. The scale of the
> pepper mill is too big, for the home. (Are you sure that you're not from
> Texas, where everything is bigger and better?) :-P
>

actually it's the rack and utensils that need scaling (all my attention 
has been on pepper-mill) ... in this scene the bottom of the accent 
stripe on the tile is 6 inches. i used a rl example for the mill design 
so i think the proportions and size are good for this scene, once i get 
the utensils the correct size i should be ok. as far as it looking like 
a gumball machine ... other than possibly the chrome material i don't see

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On 14/12/2012 2:22 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
> as far as it looking like a gumball machine ... other than possibly the
> chrome material i don't see

I think that it is the scale and the brightly coloured peppercorns. In 
the UK, we mostly see very dark brown, lighter dark brown or off white 
ones. They also are quite dried up and gnarly.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 12/14/2012 09:46 AM, Stephen wrote:
> On 14/12/2012 2:22 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>> as far as it looking like a gumball machine ... other than possibly the
>> chrome material i don't see
>
> I think that it is the scale and the brightly coloured peppercorns. In
> the UK, we mostly see very dark brown, lighter dark brown or off white
> ones. They also are quite dried up and gnarly.
>

lot's of diff colors here ....
http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/peppercorn.html

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On 14/12/2012 3:03 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>>
>> I think that it is the scale and the brightly coloured peppercorns. In
>> the UK, we mostly see very dark brown, lighter dark brown or off white
>> ones. They also are quite dried up and gnarly.
>>
>
> lot's of diff colors here ....
> http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/peppercorn.html

I know that they exist but "it's not for the likes of us" ;-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 12/14/2012 10:34 AM, Stephen wrote:
> On 14/12/2012 3:03 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>>>
>>> I think that it is the scale and the brightly coloured peppercorns. In
>>> the UK, we mostly see very dark brown, lighter dark brown or off white
>>> ones. They also are quite dried up and gnarly.
>>>
>>
>> lot's of diff colors here ....
>> http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/peppercorn.html
>
> I know that they exist but "it's not for the likes of us" ;-)
>
LOL ... then you've led a sheltered live

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On 14/12/2012 4:00 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
> On 12/14/2012 10:34 AM, Stephen wrote:

>>
>> I know that they exist but "it's not for the likes of us" ;-)
>>
> LOL ... then you've led a sheltered live


Not sheltered but deprived for a long time.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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Am 14.12.2012 16:03, schrieb James Holsenback:
> On 12/14/2012 09:46 AM, Stephen wrote:
>> On 14/12/2012 2:22 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>>> as far as it looking like a gumball machine ... other than possibly the
>>> chrome material i don't see
>>
>> I think that it is the scale and the brightly coloured peppercorns. In
>> the UK, we mostly see very dark brown, lighter dark brown or off white
>> ones. They also are quite dried up and gnarly.
>>
>
> lot's of diff colors here ....
> http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/peppercorn.html

None that would somehow match the greenish ones in your image though. 
And most of them share a good deal of "gnarliness".

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On 12/14/2012 09:22 AM, James Holsenback wrote:
> On 12/14/2012 07:48 AM, Stephen wrote:
>> On 13/12/2012 3:25 PM, James Holsenback wrote:
>>> Well after running a few test cases...
>>
>>
>> It looks good but I can't help agreeing with Clipa. The scale of the
>> pepper mill is too big, for the home. (Are you sure that you're not from
>> Texas, where everything is bigger and better?) :-P
>>
>
> actually it's the rack and utensils that need scaling (all my attention
> has been on pepper-mill) ... in this scene the bottom of the accent
> stripe on the tile is 6 inches. i used a rl example for the mill design
> so i think the proportions and size are good for this scene, once i get
> the utensils the correct size i should be ok. as far as it looking like
> a gumball machine ... other than possibly the chrome material i don't see

Thanks everyone for the comments ... here's the final

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