Obviously a wip (see broken trees); some six weeks to grow vegetation 
but mainly to streamline the growing mass of code linking the various 
scenes, includes, and macros that form the complex world of Gancaloon. 
Especially the (partly automated) switchboard between camera viewpoints 
is becoming a challenge. Still, much to do on this particular scene. 
Making good trees with POV-Tree is not an easy task, neither with Arbaro 
I must say. Except for the palm trees, I am not happy with the others. 
So, it will keep raining for a little while I am afraid ;-)

Thomas

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Attachments:
Download 'gancaloon_two4joy_07.jpg' (226 KB)

Preview of image 'gancaloon_two4joy_07.jpg'

On 10/12/2013 15:00, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> Obviously a wip (see broken trees); some six weeks to grow vegetation
> but mainly to streamline the growing mass of code linking the various
> scenes, includes, and macros that form the complex world of Gancaloon.
> Especially the (partly automated) switchboard between camera viewpoints
> is becoming a challenge. Still, much to do on this particular scene.
> Making good trees with POV-Tree is not an easy task, neither with Arbaro
> I must say. Except for the palm trees, I am not happy with the others.
> So, it will keep raining for a little while I am afraid ;-)
>
> Thomas

Only six weeks to grow those mature trees! The rain must be having a 
good effect. We expect a bumper harvest when the season comes around.

BTW Is there a vacancy for an umbrella concession in the market place?

John

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On Tue, 10 Dec 2013 17:00:16 +0200, Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg>  
wrote:

> Obviously a wip (see broken trees); some six weeks to grow vegetation
> but mainly to streamline the growing mass of code linking the various
> scenes, includes, and macros that form the complex world of Gancaloon.
> Especially the (partly automated) switchboard between camera viewpoints
> is becoming a challenge. Still, much to do on this particular scene.
> Making good trees with POV-Tree is not an easy task, neither with Arbaro
> I must say. Except for the palm trees, I am not happy with the others.
> So, it will keep raining for a little while I am afraid ;-)
>
> Thomas

This is getting along nicely.
-- 
-Nekar Xenos-

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> Obviously a wip (see broken trees); some six weeks to grow vegetation
> but mainly to streamline the growing mass of code linking the various
> scenes, includes, and macros that form the complex world of Gancaloon.
> Especially the (partly automated) switchboard between camera viewpoints
> is becoming a challenge. Still, much to do on this particular scene.
> Making good trees with POV-Tree is not an easy task, neither with Arbaro
> I must say. Except for the palm trees, I am not happy with the others.
> So, it will keep raining for a little while I am afraid ;-)
>
> Thomas

Great image, like a painting.

Post a reply to this message

Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> Obviously a wip (see broken trees); some six weeks to grow vegetation
> but mainly to streamline the growing mass of code linking the various
> scenes, includes, and macros that form the complex world of Gancaloon.
> Especially the (partly automated) switchboard between camera viewpoints
> is becoming a challenge. Still, much to do on this particular scene.
> Making good trees with POV-Tree is not an easy task, neither with Arbaro
> I must say. Except for the palm trees, I am not happy with the others.
> So, it will keep raining for a little while I am afraid ;-)
>
> Thomas

I think, you will repair the broken trees soon. Never seen this issue before.
The TomTree palms are the best I agree. Arbaro is not intended for the
foreground (50 m distance to the cam at least is stated within the docs). In
some places the city wall looks a little bit "warped" now in comparison to your
last wip. Or is this due to the added plantation?

I wonder about this brown structure at the road. May be my eye sight is to low.
It looks very blurred but the grass to the left seems to be blurred less. If it
is not only an earth texture, I would suggest to place a wet dog there (or a one
a little bit more on focus). Otherwise I didn't expected this development of
your image (from a more desert to a living valley). I like it, well done!

Best regards,
Michael

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On 10-12-2013 17:01, Doctor John wrote:
> Only six weeks to grow those mature trees! The rain must be having a
> good effect. We expect a bumper harvest when the season comes around.

Lol. It had been dry too long I am told.

>
> BTW Is there a vacancy for an umbrella concession in the market place?

Oh yes! Umbrellas went out of fashion but demand is on the rise now. Be 
quick about it however, a full shipload is on its way.

Thomas

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On 10-12-2013 18:30, Nekar Xenos wrote:

> This is getting along nicely.

Yes, thanks indeed.

Thomas

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On 10-12-2013 18:55, Fractracer wrote:
> Great image, like a painting.
>

Thanks indeed. It seems my images often take a painting look. I am not 
sure why though...

Thomas

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On 10-12-2013 20:14, MichaelJF wrote:
> I think, you will repair the broken trees soon. Never seen this issue before.

Oh, that is easy: stop render > change tree > restart render with +c  ;-)

> The TomTree palms are the best I agree. Arbaro is not intended for the
> foreground (50 m distance to the cam at least is stated within the docs). In
> some places the city wall looks a little bit "warped" now in comparison to your
> last wip. Or is this due to the added plantation?

Good to know about Arbaro, I had not read that. Still, it can make good 
trees but I am painfully struggling with it. Most probably because I do 
not always really know what I am doing :-)

>
> I wonder about this brown structure at the road. May be my eye sight is to low.
> It looks very blurred but the grass to the left seems to be blurred less. If it
> is not only an earth texture, I would suggest to place a wet dog there (or a one
> a little bit more on focus). Otherwise I didn't expected this development of
> your image (from a more desert to a living valley). I like it, well done!

The brown structure /is/ a dog. It is well-focussed too as everything is 
in focus here. Using dof makes the render way too slow even with a very 
small aperture, so I left that out momentarily.

Concerning the environment: this is not really a truly desertic region. 
It looks a bit like the Djurdjura Region in Algeria (I have lived there 
for a short time). The proximity of the Mediterranean and the presence 
of the River Yann here combine. The desert is not far away however. 
Think of the Nile for an analogy.

Thomas

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>Thomas de Groot  on date 10/12/2013 16.00 wrote:
> Obviously a wip (see broken trees); some six weeks to grow vegetation
> but mainly to streamline the growing mass of code linking the various
> scenes, includes, and macros that form the complex world of Gancaloon.
> Especially the (partly automated) switchboard between camera viewpoints
> is becoming a challenge. Still, much to do on this particular scene.
> Making good trees with POV-Tree is not an easy task, neither with Arbaro
> I must say. Except for the palm trees, I am not happy with the others.
> So, it will keep raining for a little while I am afraid ;-)
>
> Thomas
This scene begins to become epic!
I like especially the contrast of the grass.
;-)
Paolo

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On 11-12-2013 10:13, Paolo Gibellini wrote:
> This scene begins to become epic!
> I like especially the contrast of the grass.
> ;-)

Thank you indeed. It slowly goes where I want it to go. For the grass I 
used Bill Pragnell's macro, with some modifications. Trying to find a 
balance between fast parsing and believable texture variations when 
using huge amounts of grass instances.

Thomas

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> Obviously a wip (see broken trees); some six weeks to grow vegetation
> but mainly to streamline the growing mass of code linking the various
> scenes, includes, and macros that form the complex world of Gancaloon.
> Especially the (partly automated) switchboard between camera viewpoints
> is becoming a challenge. Still, much to do on this particular scene.
> Making good trees with POV-Tree is not an easy task, neither with Arbaro
> I must say. Except for the palm trees, I am not happy with the others.
> So, it will keep raining for a little while I am afraid ;-)
>
> Thomas

That must be some serious wind to shear the trees like that, this is looking
great, the trunks on the trees on the left look a bit flat but you already say
you are not happy with them so hopefully will find a way to improve it (if you
do let me know as I have suffered this problem before with arbaro).

Sean

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> On 10-12-2013 18:55, Fractracer wrote:
> > Great image, like a painting.
> >
>
> Thanks indeed. It seems my images often take a painting look. I am not
> sure why though...
>


I think it is because of the amount of time and effort you put into it.
That and having a good eye with a little bit of skill. ;-)
Keep it up and we will have a new Old Dutch Master.

Stephen

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On 12-12-2013 8:33, Stephen wrote:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>> On 10-12-2013 18:55, Fractracer wrote:
>>> Great image, like a painting.
>>>
>>
>> Thanks indeed. It seems my images often take a painting look. I am not
>> sure why though...
>>
>
>
> I think it is because of the amount of time and effort you put into it.
> That and having a good eye with a little bit of skill. ;-)
> Keep it up and we will have a new Old Dutch Master.
>

<grin> I sometimes feel quiet stupid struggling endlessly with unruly 
elements of my scenes, or programs that do not yield what I want from 
them. POV-Tree and Arbaro are amongst those latter but I suspect partly 
because of my own inconsistent use of them. I am not always most patient 
with documentations.

That said, I suppose my use of colours contributes too. Anyway, as long 
as I keep the feeling that I have not yet reached the heel level of 
Gilles Tran, I shall not call myself a Master even while I am old and 
Dutch ;-)

Thomas

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On 11-12-2013 17:41, s.day wrote:
>
> That must be some serious wind to shear the trees like that, this is looking
> great, the trunks on the trees on the left look a bit flat but you already say
> you are not happy with them so hopefully will find a way to improve it (if you
> do let me know as I have suffered this problem before with arbaro).
>

Ha! It is one of those things I don't like in POV-Tree but which 
simulates strong winds in this case. I have difficulty in controlling 
the angles within the hierarchy of branches to twigs. Somehow, POV-Tree 
always does something different from what I expect, and then the leaf 
bunches do their own thing :-(

The flatness should be diminished with a proper use of normals. That 
should apply as well for Arbaro. As far as POV-Tree is concerned, I 
should delve a little more into uv_mapping...

Thomas

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> On 12-12-2013 8:33, Stephen wrote:
> > Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> >> On 10-12-2013 18:55, Fractracer wrote:
>
> <grin> I sometimes feel quiet stupid struggling endlessly with unruly
> elements of my scenes, or programs that do not yield what I want from
> them. POV-Tree and Arbaro are amongst those latter but I suspect partly
> because of my own inconsistent use of them. I am not always most patient
> with documentations.
>
> That said, I suppose my use of colours contributes too. Anyway, as long
> as I keep the feeling that I have not yet reached the heel level of
> Gilles Tran, I shall not call myself a Master even while I am old and
> Dutch ;-)
>
> Thomas

When we make images even if we are trying to reproduce an existing scene, we
often introduce some personnals parts. You say you have not the level of Gilles
Tran, I believe you have (and all of the users of Pov) a different level, not in
a technical scale value, but in sensibility. Everybody is different and we all
have a different approach of the artistic contruction.
I think in future times some works made in Pov (or other softwares) will remains
like human tributes to the world. And some works will have a high artistic
value. All under the Pov banner.

Post a reply to this message

On 12-12-2013 12:21, Fractracer wrote:
>
> When we make images even if we are trying to reproduce an existing scene, we
> often introduce some personnals parts. You say you have not the level of Gilles
> Tran, I believe you have (and all of the users of Pov) a different level, not in
> a technical scale value, but in sensibility. Everybody is different and we all
> have a different approach of the artistic contruction.

Thanks for your kind words indeed. It is true that we all have different 
sensibilities and that it shows in our work. As such, I fully agree that 
comparison with others is fallacious other wise we should all be 
undistinguishable from each other, all little Gilles Trans by ourselves ;-)

And yet, I cannot hide humility in front of the true masters and trying 
to learn from them :-)

> I think in future times some works made in Pov (or other softwares) will remains
> like human tributes to the world. And some works will have a high artistic
> value. All under the Pov banner.
>

Time will learn. I sometimes wonder how the electronic arts will be 
judged by future generations.

Thomas

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> On 12-12-2013 12:21, Fractracer wrote:
>
> And yet, I cannot hide humility in front of the true masters and trying
> to learn from them :-)
>
>
> Time will learn. I sometimes wonder how the electronic arts will be
> judged by future generations.
>
> Thomas

The technics of graphims evolve, electronic arts are one of the many evolutions.
In this actual century a lot of artistics technics are used that never been
before (cutting, collage, hyper-realistics painting - take a look at this page:
http://dailygeekshow.com/2013/09/12/16-artistes-talentueux-qui-vont-vous-faire-croire-que-leurs-oeuvres-sont-des-photog
raphies-mais-il-nen-est-rien/
some painting seems like ray-tracing images (use of reflected spheres).
I think technics used inspiration in other technics. And I believe the
electronics arts will be accepted like a whole art.
Actually how many artists (I means people who make creations), we live a time
with a incredible flow of creations. But in older times, for one master we know,
how many others painters? For one Van Gogh, how many painters unknown.

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On 12-12-2013 15:10, Fractracer wrote:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>> On 12-12-2013 12:21, Fractracer wrote:
>>
>> And yet, I cannot hide humility in front of the true masters and trying
>> to learn from them :-)
>>
>>
>> Time will learn. I sometimes wonder how the electronic arts will be
>> judged by future generations.
>>
>> Thomas
>
> The technics of graphims evolve, electronic arts are one of the many evolutions.
> In this actual century a lot of artistics technics are used that never been
> before (cutting, collage, hyper-realistics painting - take a look at this page:
>
http://dailygeekshow.com/2013/09/12/16-artistes-talentueux-qui-vont-vous-faire-croire-que-leurs-oeuvres-sont-des-photog
> raphies-mais-il-nen-est-rien/
> some painting seems like ray-tracing images (use of reflected spheres).

Yes, that is incredible stuff indeed, reminiscent of the 'Photorealism' 
artistic movement that started in the US in the 1970's. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photorealism

> I think technics used inspiration in other technics. And I believe the
> electronics arts will be accepted like a whole art.
> Actually how many artists (I means people who make creations), we live a time
> with a incredible flow of creations. But in older times, for one master we know,
> how many others painters? For one Van Gogh, how many painters unknown.
>

Absolutely.

Thomas

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On 11-12-2013 17:41, s.day wrote:

> That must be some serious wind to shear the trees like that, this is looking
> great, the trunks on the trees on the left look a bit flat but you already say
> you are not happy with them so hopefully will find a way to improve it (if you
> do let me know as I have suffered this problem before with arbaro).

In POV-Tree, the answer is in the combination of BARK_PROFILE (in the 
Bark section) which should be set to 1, and TRUNK_STRENGTH (in the Trunk 
section) which should be set to 1 or higher. Lower values for the latter 
result in rougher/deeper bark while higher values result in 
smoother/shallower bark. Note that this will only apply to the blob 
version of the tree (TomTree proper) and not to the mesh export of the 
tree. That one always remains smooth and should probably be treated with 
an adequate normal. Besides, uv_mapping is not working really well for 
the mesh export.

Btw, Tom Aust has a nice site showing some remarkable trees. Wish I 
could make them as perfect <sigh>. Practice! Practice!
http://www.aust-manufaktur.de/austv2x.html

I have not yet tackled the problem with Arbaro but will do that in due time.

Thomas

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I went back to the drawing board and took up TomTree more seriously with 
the Docs at hand. The result is here, in a fair weather view of the 
scene, and the stone pines as I intended them.

My experience now shows that it is better to work first on a TomTree 
file, with a proof render to see how modelling progresses, and only 
after that read it into POV-Tree for a mesh export. Second, only use the 
mesh export for distant views and use the blob version for the foreground.

Thomas

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Attachments:
Download 'gancaloon_two4joy_09.jpg' (329 KB)

Preview of image 'gancaloon_two4joy_09.jpg'

Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> I went back to the drawing board and took up TomTree more seriously with
> the Docs at hand. The result is here, in a fair weather view of the
> scene, and the stone pines as I intended them.
>

Ah! so that is what the waves in the road were.
To me the original image looks as if the road is flooding.

> My experience now shows that it is better to work first on a TomTree
> file, with a proof render to see how modelling progresses, and only
> after that read it into POV-Tree for a mesh export. Second, only use the
> mesh export for distant views and use the blob version for the foreground.
>

I think that if you wrote a tutorial, it would be much appreciated.
In your own time of course. :-)

Stephen

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>Thomas de Groot  on date 17/12/2013 16.26 wrote:
> I went back to the drawing board and took up TomTree more seriously with
> the Docs at hand. The result is here, in a fair weather view of the
> scene, and the stone pines as I intended them.
>
> My experience now shows that it is better to work first on a TomTree
> file, with a proof render to see how modelling progresses, and only
> after that read it into POV-Tree for a mesh export. Second, only use the
> mesh export for distant views and use the blob version for the foreground.
>
> Thomas
"I don't see anymore the flag from here..." told the Satrap "...let's be 
cut the tops of the trees!"
;-)
Paolo

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>Thomas de Groot  on date 17/12/2013 16.26 wrote:
> I went back to the drawing board and took up TomTree more seriously with
> the Docs at hand. The result is here, in a fair weather view of the
> scene, and the stone pines as I intended them.
>
> My experience now shows that it is better to work first on a TomTree
> file, with a proof render to see how modelling progresses, and only
> after that read it into POV-Tree for a mesh export. Second, only use the
> mesh export for distant views and use the blob version for the foreground.
>
> Thomas
P.S. Magnificent!
Paolo

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On 17/12/13 15:26, Thomas de Groot wrote:
[...]
> My experience now shows that it is better to work first on a TomTree
> file, with a proof render to see how modelling progresses, and only
> after that read it into POV-Tree for a mesh export. Second, only use the
> mesh export for distant views and use the blob version for the foreground.

The brown dog on the brown road with the brown shadow of the tree on it
is a little unfortunate; it might be worth moving it into the sunlight
so it's more obvious... (The tree is also brown.)

How are you doing the clouds? That's what I'm struggling with at the
moment, and yours look good.

-- 
┌─── ｄｇ＠ｃｏｗｌａｒｋ．ｃｏｍ ─────
http://www.cowlark.com ─────
│ "There does not now, nor will there ever, exist a programming
│ language in which it is the least bit hard to write bad programs." ---
│ Flon's Axiom

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On 17-12-2013 17:09, Stephen wrote:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>> I went back to the drawing board and took up TomTree more seriously with
>> the Docs at hand. The result is here, in a fair weather view of the
>> scene, and the stone pines as I intended them.
>>
>
> Ah! so that is what the waves in the road were.
> To me the original image looks as if the road is flooding.

You are not wrong. When it rains, the tracks flood indeed with water 
puddles. :-)

>
>> My experience now shows that it is better to work first on a TomTree
>> file, with a proof render to see how modelling progresses, and only
>> after that read it into POV-Tree for a mesh export. Second, only use the
>> mesh export for distant views and use the blob version for the foreground.
>>
>
> I think that if you wrote a tutorial, it would be much appreciated.
> In your own time of course. :-)
>

Not a bad suggestion maybe. I guess there are many who do like me: just 
mess around without reading the available documentation properly ;-)

I think I could do some additional writing to the documentation written 
by Tom Aust, and some shell about it to link the tomtree macro more 
comprehensively to POV-Tree and in a more useful way.

I'll have to see the boss about my own time... ;-)

Thomas

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On 17-12-2013 18:32, Paolo Gibellini wrote:
> "I don't see anymore the flag from here..." told the Satrap "...let's be
> cut the tops of the trees!"
> ;-)

...and that is how the satrap lost his head!  ;-)

Thomas

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On 17-12-2013 18:33, Paolo Gibellini wrote:
> P.S. Magnificent!

Thanks, Paolo.

Thomas

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On 17-12-2013 20:08, David Given wrote:
> The brown dog on the brown road with the brown shadow of the tree on it
> is a little unfortunate; it might be worth moving it into the sunlight
> so it's more obvious... (The tree is also brown.)

The dog is a kind of place holder for now, the foreground will be 
developed more in due time.

>
> How are you doing the clouds? That's what I'm struggling with at the
> moment, and yours look good.
>


The clouds are generated by the FastClouds macro by Zeger Knaepen. He 
has been promising us for years to release an update ;-) but the 
original version works quite well.

I think this is were it originally came from:
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.scene-files/message/%3C410eaffb%40news.povray.org%3E/#%3C410eaffb%40news.povray.org%3E

with the images
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.images/message/%3C410a892f%40news.povray.org%3E/#%3C410a892f%40news.povray.org%3E

Thomas

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> On 17-12-2013 17:09, Stephen wrote:
> > Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> >> I went back to the drawing board and took up TomTree more seriously with
> >> the Docs at hand. The result is here, in a fair weather view of the
> >> scene, and the stone pines as I intended them.
> >>
> >
> > Ah! so that is what the waves in the road were.
> > To me the original image looks as if the road is flooding.
>
> You are not wrong. When it rains, the tracks flood indeed with water
> puddles. :-)
>

The macro is forming waves in the high spots, though.
Would it be possible to run the macro with different settings dependent on the
slope of the ground?



> >
> > I think that if you wrote a tutorial, it would be much appreciated.
> > In your own time of course. :-)
> >
>
> Not a bad suggestion maybe. I guess there are many who do like me: just
> mess around without reading the available documentation properly ;-)
>

I just read enough to get these things to work.  :-)


> I think I could do some additional writing to the documentation written
> by Tom Aust, and some shell about it to link the tomtree macro more
> comprehensively to POV-Tree and in a more useful way.
>
> I'll have to see the boss about my own time... ;-)
>

Of course. ;-)

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On 18-12-2013 11:49, Stephen wrote:
> The macro is forming waves in the high spots, though.
> Would it be possible to run the macro with different settings dependent on the
> slope of the ground?

Sorry, there must be a misunderstanding here. There are no waves formed. 
The surface of the road with its tracks is a mesh; when the rain falls, 
a plane surface is added inside the tracks to simulate water puddles.

>>>
>>> I think that if you wrote a tutorial, it would be much appreciated.
>>> In your own time of course. :-)
>>>
>>
>> Not a bad suggestion maybe. I guess there are many who do like me: just
>> mess around without reading the available documentation properly ;-)
>>
>
> I just read enough to get these things to work.  :-)

Yes, I recognize that attitude ;-) but in the end some more serious 
study often becomes unavoidable.

I shall seriously think about a tutorial. There are a couple of things I 
still do not understand and some that do not really work as I would 
expect them to do, so there is still some work to do but in time I shall 
note everything down comprehensively (I hope).


Thomas

Post a reply to this message

Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> I went back to the drawing board and took up TomTree more seriously with
> the Docs at hand. The result is here, in a fair weather view of the
> scene, and the stone pines as I intended them.
>
> My experience now shows that it is better to work first on a TomTree
> file, with a proof render to see how modelling progresses, and only
> after that read it into POV-Tree for a mesh export. Second, only use the
> mesh export for distant views and use the blob version for the foreground.
>
> Thomas

Nice and luminous landscape, remind me some 1800's painting (can't remember
who).
Goog work. With the same backgound image you can compose two different
ambiences, one dark and sad, the other sunny and happy.

Post a reply to this message

Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> On 18-12-2013 11:49, Stephen wrote:
> > The macro is forming waves in the high spots, though.
> > Would it be possible to run the macro with different settings dependent on the
> > slope of the ground?
>
> Sorry, there must be a misunderstanding here. There are no waves formed.
> The surface of the road with its tracks is a mesh; when the rain falls,
> a plane surface is added inside the tracks to simulate water puddles.
>

In the wet image, it looks to me as if there are waves where the ruts in the
road are. Where the edge of the road is, a surge of water has formed, following
the mesh's surface.



> >
> > I just read enough to get these things to work.  :-)
>
> Yes, I recognize that attitude ;-) but in the end some more serious
> study often becomes unavoidable.
>

True, I just keep putting off the day.


> I shall seriously think about a tutorial. There are a couple of things I
> still do not understand and some that do not really work as I would
> expect them to do, so there is still some work to do but in time I shall
> note everything down comprehensively (I hope).
>

:-)

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On 18-12-2013 14:37, Stephen wrote:
> Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
>> On 18-12-2013 11:49, Stephen wrote:
>>> The macro is forming waves in the high spots, though.
>>> Would it be possible to run the macro with different settings dependent on the
>>> slope of the ground?
>>
>> Sorry, there must be a misunderstanding here. There are no waves formed.
>> The surface of the road with its tracks is a mesh; when the rain falls,
>> a plane surface is added inside the tracks to simulate water puddles.
>>
>
> In the wet image, it looks to me as if there are waves where the ruts in the
> road are. Where the edge of the road is, a surge of water has formed, following
> the mesh's surface.
>

Interesting. The power of illusion :-)

Thomas

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On 18-12-2013 14:13, Fractracer wrote:
> Nice and luminous landscape, remind me some 1800's painting (can't remember
> who).
> Goog work. With the same backgound image you can compose two different
> ambiences, one dark and sad, the other sunny and happy.
>

Yes, it is all a matter of switches. When it rains, extra water bodies 
are created and textures turn on their reflections.

Thomas

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:

> >
>
> Interesting. The power of illusion :-)
>

Indeed!

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> I went back to the drawing board and took up TomTree more seriously with
> the Docs at hand. The result is here, in a fair weather view of the
> scene, and the stone pines as I intended them.
>
> My experience now shows that it is better to work first on a TomTree
> file, with a proof render to see how modelling progresses, and only
> after that read it into POV-Tree for a mesh export. Second, only use the
> mesh export for distant views and use the blob version for the foreground.
>
> Thomas

I'm amazed at how complex Gancaloon has become, this is great! With it's
fantastic backstory you could produce your own high quality graphic novel based
in this place...

After seeing these trees I just downloaded tomtree so I can give it a try
myself, thanks for that.

-------------------------------------------------
www.McGregorFineArt.com

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On 24-12-2013 15:43, Robert McGregor wrote:
> I'm amazed at how complex Gancaloon has become, this is great! With it's
> fantastic backstory you could produce your own high quality graphic novel based
> in this place...
>
> After seeing these trees I just downloaded tomtree so I can give it a try
> myself, thanks for that.
>

Thanks indeed, Robert. Gancaloon is slowly taking body, yes, while the 
story behind it is partly in my head, partly noted down in sketchy bits 
of text, and a growing corpus of images of course.

Gently prompted by Stephen :-) I am working on an elaborate extension to 
the tomtree documentation. In due time it will appear here.

I have also been looking critically at the code. One of the things that 
does not work well as it should are the pseudo random rotations. I would 
like them improved but the code is extremely complex :-( and even if 
succeeding, there would be the matter of a new POV-Tree version to 
consider. Unfortunately Gena disappeared from the POV-Ray world...

Thomas

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