I had the idea to make a scene of a spaceship, landed on some alien 
planet, with machinery around performing mining operations. First I made 
a ship model, remotely inspired by a maggot or caterpillar shape, to 
have some association with the "live to eat", since mining is like 
eating a planet ... first attachment shows the ship on some starport.

After the ship I started to work on some machinery and made a bucket 
excavator type of machine model. (Second attachment)

But ... would a race that can build spaceships resort to such machines? 
I am worried I'll have technological clash there.

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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"Hj. Malthaner" <han### [at] nospamgmxde> wrote:

> But ... would a race that can build spaceships resort to such machines?
> I am worried I'll have technological clash there.

I suppose it depends on what level of technology they have, how far along in
their exploration history they are, who's in charge of the mission and the
money, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6FX-Y6fIXw

There are lots of discussions of mining operations in Sci Fi - both on Earth and
in space from "Victor Appleton II's" _Tom Swift's and his Atomic Earth Blaster_,
and Arthur C. Clarke's _2061: Odyssey Three_,  to Frederick Pohl's _Mining the
Oort_.

We have every level of technology, and still have people who dig with shovels.
Other people use 3D printers to make trinkets.  So I don't see a "conflict".

Envision your story and make it your own.  :)

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On 5/9/19 11:25 PM, Bald Eagle wrote:

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6FX-Y6fIXw
> 
> There are lots of discussions of mining operations in Sci Fi - both on Earth and
> in space from "Victor Appleton II's" _Tom Swift's and his Atomic Earth Blaster_,
> and Arthur C. Clarke's _2061: Odyssey Three_,  to Frederick Pohl's _Mining the
> Oort_.
> 
> We have every level of technology, and still have people who dig with shovels.
> Other people use 3D printers to make trinkets.  So I don't see a "conflict".
> 
> Envision your story and make it your own.  :)

I hope. Today I finished a first version. Still needs some work, there 
should be something going between the mining ship and the excavator. But 
it's late, local time, and I need some sleep. More work coming soon.

I also need a better heightfield generator some day but for this scene 
the image that I have must do.

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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Le 19-05-09 à 22:09, Hj. Malthaner a écrit :
> On 5/9/19 11:25 PM, Bald Eagle wrote:
> 
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6FX-Y6fIXw
>>
>> There are lots of discussions of mining operations in Sci Fi - both on 
>> Earth and
>> in space from "Victor Appleton II's" _Tom Swift's and his Atomic Earth 
>> Blaster_,
>> and Arthur C. Clarke's _2061: Odyssey Three_,  to Frederick Pohl's 
>> _Mining the
>> Oort_.
>>
>> We have every level of technology, and still have people who dig with 
>> shovels.
>> Other people use 3D printers to make trinkets.  So I don't see a 
>> "conflict".
>>
>> Envision your story and make it your own.  :)
> 
> I hope. Today I finished a first version. Still needs some work, there 
> should be something going between the mining ship and the excavator. But 
> it's late, local time, and I need some sleep. More work coming soon.
> 
> I also need a better heightfield generator some day but for this scene 
> the image that I have must do.
> 

Those excavators seems to small. Even if the ship is HUGE, the 
excavators should also be huge. If not, it would take for ever to dig 
out enough minerals to justify such a big ship.

On another note : Why are those canon turrets ever present on an ore 
transporter/processing ship ?

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On 10-5-2019 4:09, Hj. Malthaner wrote:
> I hope. Today I finished a first version. Still needs some work, there 
> should be something going between the mining ship and the excavator. But 
> it's late, local time, and I need some sleep. More work coming soon.
> 

He He! Those excavators remind me of the German browncoal pits where I 
did research work in a dim and distant past... :-)

Like Alain, I think they should be a tad larger. For scale, it would 
help if some human(?) operators were seen nearby.

> I also need a better heightfield generator some day but for this scene 
> the image that I have must do.
> 

https://www.world-creator.com/
http://www.daylongraphics.com/
http://planetgenesis.sourceforge.net/
http://www.cyberfunks.de/page/terrabrush/index.htm
http://www.fracterra.com/wilbur.html
http://www.world-machine.com/index.php

-- 
Thomas

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On 5/10/19 4:20 AM, Alain wrote:
> Le 19-05-09 à 22:09, Hj. Malthaner a écrit :
> 
> Those excavators seems to small. Even if the ship is HUGE, the 
> excavators should also be huge. If not, it would take for ever to dig 
> out enough minerals to justify such a big ship.

They must somehow fit into the ship. But I'll check the sizes to make 
sure they actually do. I had to redo the ship because these excavators 
needs some means to leave and enter the ship again once done.

> On another note : Why are those canon turrets ever present on an ore 
> transporter/processing ship ?

Pirates or just in general, outlaws. In the world that I assumed as 
background, police forces are only present near well established 
systems. This is actually the first mining ship of mine which has 
cannons because in the story of the former ship there actually were 
pirate problems and I figured I better give this ship some self-defense.

I shrunk the cannons today though, they were almost the size of such an 
excavator and that seemed all wrong.

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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On 5/10/19 8:45 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> On 10-5-2019 4:09, Hj. Malthaner wrote:
>>  More work coming soon.
> 
> He He! Those excavators remind me of the German browncoal pits where I 
> did research work in a dim and distant past... :-)

Many years ago I had a chance to do a sort of sightseeing tour there, 
with some explanations. I could see such a beast in action. Huge is 
still to weak of a word to describe them.

> Like Alain, I think they should be a tad larger. For scale, it would 
> help if some human(?) operators were seen nearby.

Yep. Once the scene gets more details the eye should have an easier time 
to compare. This was just to lay out the scenery. A person might only be 
2 pixels tall there, maybe 3 ... must see.

>> I also need a better heightfield generator some day but for this scene 
>> the image that I have must do.
> 
> https://www.world-creator.com/
> http://www.daylongraphics.com/
> http://planetgenesis.sourceforge.net/
> http://www.cyberfunks.de/page/terrabrush/index.htm
> http://www.fracterra.com/wilbur.html
> http://www.world-machine.com/index.php

Whoo, thanks! Now I'll have some research to do :)

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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On 5/10/19 4:09 AM, Hj. Malthaner wrote:
> On 5/9/19 11:25 PM, Bald Eagle wrote:

>> Envision your story and make it your own.  :)
> 
> I hope. Today I finished a first version. Still needs some work, there 
> should be something going between the mining ship and the excavator. But 
> it's late, local time, and I need some sleep. More work coming soon.

The former version had a serious problem. How to get those excavators 
out of the ship and back into it?

For daughter ships, shuttles and such it is no issue if the hangar bay 
is quite a bit above the ground, but these are tracked vehicles ...

I tried a ramp. It didn't look good and it begged the question where in 
the ships body the ramp is stored itself.

I was considering a crane or an elevator, but that didn't convince me 
either.

I eventually made the side of the ship flat so part of the ships wall 
can serve as ramp if lowered. It breaks the otherwise round ship design 
though. This clearly needs more work, but at least technically it should 
work and also help all other wheeled or tracked vehicles to leave and 
enter the ship.

I think the concept needs a second (or more ships) which act as 
transporters while this one houses the machinery and processing 
facilities. Must see ...

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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"Hj. Malthaner" <han### [at] nospamgmxde> wrote:

> I eventually made the side of the ship flat so part of the ships wall
> can serve as ramp if lowered. It breaks the otherwise round ship design
> though. This clearly needs more work, but at least technically it should
> work and also help all other wheeled or tracked vehicles to leave and
> enter the ship.

A simple solution there is to have the curved part open first, upwards, as an
overhang, and then the ramp comes down like you have it now.

Or, since it's round[ed] you could it rotate open with a vertical axis, like a
darkroom door, or a hidden passage.

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On 5/11/19 12:31 AM, Hj. Malthaner wrote:
> On 5/10/19 4:09 AM, Hj. Malthaner wrote:

Not in the shape to discuss detail today. Just trying to show what is 
happening. I adjusted the light, put some excavator in the ship to show 
where they are coming from, and gave the upper hill parts a normal map 
to add some details which are not really there. There is a lot missing 
still, but it is just a matter of time to add all the details.

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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Le 19-05-10 à 18:15, Hj. Malthaner a écrit :
> On 5/10/19 4:20 AM, Alain wrote:
>> Le 19-05-09 à 22:09, Hj. Malthaner a écrit :
>>
>> Those excavators seems to small. Even if the ship is HUGE, the 
>> excavators should also be huge. If not, it would take for ever to dig 
>> out enough minerals to justify such a big ship.
> 
> They must somehow fit into the ship. But I'll check the sizes to make 
> sure they actually do. I had to redo the ship because these excavators 
> needs some means to leave and enter the ship again once done.

Then, they should be collapsable or somewhat articulated so that they 
take a little space as possible while in transit.

> 
>> On another note : Why are those canon turrets ever present on an ore 
>> transporter/processing ship ?
> 
> Pirates or just in general, outlaws. In the world that I assumed as 
> background, police forces are only present near well established 
> systems. This is actually the first mining ship of mine which has 
> cannons because in the story of the former ship there actually were 
> pirate problems and I figured I better give this ship some self-defense.
> 
> I shrunk the cannons today though, they were almost the size of such an 
> excavator and that seemed all wrong.
> 

Ok, so, frontier area mining operation. Then, it makes sense.
So, some weapons as a dissuasion, strong hull and relatively low value 
to volume/mass ratio loot. It makes the prospect of attacking less 
interesting.

Alain

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"Hj. Malthaner" <han### [at] nospamgmxde> wrote:
> I had the idea to make a scene of a spaceship, landed on some alien
> planet, with machinery around performing mining operations. First I made
> a ship model, remotely inspired by a maggot or caterpillar shape, to
> have some association with the "live to eat", since mining is like
> eating a planet ... first attachment shows the ship on some starport.
>
> After the ship I started to work on some machinery and made a bucket
> excavator type of machine model. (Second attachment)

Cool! Space the final frontier :)

>
> But ... would a race that can build spaceships resort to such machines?
> I am worried I'll have technological clash there.
>

Don't worry be happy!


Great work. The only question I have can you animate this scene?
Have Fun!

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The ship designs show similarities to those 1960s spaceships from the 
Perry Rhodan universe.

But indeed, off-world mining is indeed a very interesting topic. For 
some time to come, mining equipment will still look similar to the one 
you depicted in your artwork, and what we have today.

Eventually, resource gathering will be different. The German X7 
Wendelstein fusion reactor might have opened the door to such new 
technology: out of resource material (gases in this particular case), 
through fusion the Wendelstein produces vast amounts of energy. The 
fusion of different materials can also lead to the production (fusion) 
of materials that otherwise are hard to come by. I believe, the fusion 
technology can be used for energy production, but with changed 
parameters also for creation of resources.

---
Diese E-Mail wurde von AVG auf Viren geprüft.
http://www.avg.com

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On 5/9/19 10:22 PM, Hj. Malthaner wrote:
> I had the idea to make a scene of a spaceship, landed on some alien 
> planet, with machinery around performing mining operations.

It's been a while. I felt stuck with the scene, worked on other things, 
but recently came back and tried to improve it. Many small steps, much 
trial and error, but I think this is good enough to be called the final 
version now.

https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/art/Azurite-Surface-Mining-864445059

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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Op 01/01/2021 om 21:49 schreef Hj. Malthaner:
> On 5/9/19 10:22 PM, Hj. Malthaner wrote:
>> I had the idea to make a scene of a spaceship, landed on some alien 
>> planet, with machinery around performing mining operations.
> 
> It's been a while. I felt stuck with the scene, worked on other things, 
> but recently came back and tried to improve it. Many small steps, much 
> trial and error, but I think this is good enough to be called the final 
> version now.
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/art/Azurite-Surface-Mining-864445059
> 

Yes, a nice one indeed. If I may give a comment: what I miss is a 
suggestion of atmosphere. There is the exhaust of the mother ship and 
there is a zeppelin, but the planet seems strangely bare of air. To 
remain simple, a bit of ground fog would already help a lot; if you feel 
ready for the challenge, a (thin) media would be great. It would give 
that atmospheric haze with dimmer horizons which would also give depth 
to the landscape.

Happy New Year!

-- 
Thomas

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On 1/2/21 8:30 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> Op 01/01/2021 om 21:49 schreef Hj. Malthaner:
>> On 5/9/19 10:22 PM, Hj. Malthaner wrote:
>>> I had the idea to make a scene of a spaceship, landed on some alien 
>>> planet, with machinery around performing mining operations.
>>
>> Many small 
>> steps, much trial and error, but I think this is good enough to be 
>> called the final version now.
>>
>> https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/art/Azurite-Surface-Mining-864445059
>>
> 
> Yes, a nice one indeed. If I may give a comment: what I miss is a 
> suggestion of atmosphere. There is the exhaust of the mother ship and 
> there is a zeppelin, but the planet seems strangely bare of air. To 
> remain simple, a bit of ground fog would already help a lot; if you feel 
> ready for the challenge, a (thin) media would be great. It would give 
> that atmospheric haze with dimmer horizons which would also give depth 
> to the landscape.
> 
> Happy New Year!

Thanks and happy new year as well!

I had been using the fog feature in the early versions, but it seemed to 
cause troubles with radiosity and light coming from the sky sphere, so I 
removed it. But you are right, a media should work fine. So far the time 
for tracing the scene is moderate, I could try and see how it works. The 
planet isn't supposed to have a lot of atmosphere but some dust and haze 
surely would help to give an impression of depth.

The zeppelin was kinda artistic freedom, wouldn't work well in a thin 
atmosphere I think. But NASA actually suggested evacuated zeppelins for 
Mars exploration.

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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On 7/18/19 4:06 PM, Sven Littkowski wrote:
> The ship designs show similarities to those 1960s spaceships from the 
> Perry Rhodan universe.

Perry Rhoday was likely my first contact with science fiction and very 
certainly defined my views on how science fiction should be. So, even 
that I didn't intend any references in this scene, it seems the 
influence is still there :)

> But indeed, off-world mining is indeed a very interesting topic. For 
> some time to come, mining equipment will still look similar to the one 
> you depicted in your artwork, and what we have today.

That's good to hear that I didn't stretch imagination too much here.

> I believe, the fusion 
> technology can be used for energy production, but with changed 
> parameters also for creation of resources.

Since we were talking about the Perry Rhodan universe already, I can 
confirm that fusion was used there as a means to produce all heavier 
elements from hydrogen and helium. Not one of the cheap or easy means, 
but some of the techno-crazy installations had such converters.

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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On 1/2/21 8:30 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:

> Yes, a nice one indeed. If I may give a comment: what I miss is a 
> suggestion of atmosphere. There is the exhaust of the mother ship and 
> there is a zeppelin, but the planet seems strangely bare of air. To 
> remain simple, a bit of ground fog would already help a lot; if you feel 
> ready for the challenge, a (thin) media would be great. It would give 
> that atmospheric haze with dimmer horizons which would also give depth 
> to the landscape.

That was a good suggestion, thank you! As mentioned, fog didn't work so 
well, but a spherical media did. I've only added a very little haze, but 
it seems to improve the balance of the scene a lot. Render times 
doubled, but I can live with that. Thanks again!

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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On 5/13/19 6:23 PM, Leroy wrote:
> "Hj. Malthaner" <han### [at] nospamgmxde> wrote:
>> I had the idea to make a scene of a spaceship, landed on some alien
>> planet, with machinery around performing mining operations.

> Great work. 

Thanks!

 > The only question I have can you animate this scene?

In theory yes. It'll be very complicated to deduce all motions from a 
single clock value by formulas. The game breaker are most likely the 
render times. So actually, no.

-- 
Some of my PovRay works:
https://www.deviantart.com/antarasol/gallery/42758766/3D

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Le 2021-01-02 à 15:52, Hj. Malthaner a écrit :
> On 1/2/21 8:30 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> 
>> Yes, a nice one indeed. If I may give a comment: what I miss is a 
>> suggestion of atmosphere. There is the exhaust of the mother ship and 
>> there is a zeppelin, but the planet seems strangely bare of air. To 
>> remain simple, a bit of ground fog would already help a lot; if you 
>> feel ready for the challenge, a (thin) media would be great. It would 
>> give that atmospheric haze with dimmer horizons which would also give 
>> depth to the landscape.
> 
> That was a good suggestion, thank you! As mentioned, fog didn't work so 
> well, but a spherical media did. I've only added a very little haze, but 
> it seems to improve the balance of the scene a lot. Render times 
> doubled, but I can live with that. Thanks again!
> 

Yes, better.
That dust cloud around the digger's wheel is a nice touch. It show that 
work is underway.

Alain

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Hj. Malthaner wrote on 02/01/2021 21:52:
> On 1/2/21 8:30 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> 
>> Yes, a nice one indeed. If I may give a comment: what I miss is a 
>> suggestion of atmosphere. There is the exhaust of the mother ship and 
>> there is a zeppelin, but the planet seems strangely bare of air. To 
>> remain simple, a bit of ground fog would already help a lot; if you 
>> feel ready for the challenge, a (thin) media would be great. It would 
>> give that atmospheric haze with dimmer horizons which would also give 
>> depth to the landscape.
> 
> That was a good suggestion, thank you! As mentioned, fog didn't work so 
> well, but a spherical media did. I've only added a very little haze, but 
> it seems to improve the balance of the scene a lot. Render times 
> doubled, but I can live with that. Thanks again!
> 

A nice scene even in the night version.
Paolo

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