A slightly less-naked knot. The stairways and platforms are generated
algorithmically; stairs hook up to the platforms from below, with handrails
properly linked. I spent much of the weekend perfecting my wood texture and
bevelling all the carpentry (it makes a surprising difference, even from a
distance!). Render time: 6+ hours.

1600x1200 version:
http://www.infradead.org/~wmp/knotworld2_big.jpg

Still to do (easy):
 *Not completely happy with the bricks as viewed up close. Need to tweak
overlap and bevel.
 *Raise global lighting level slightly.
 *Tweak the stairway / platform generators and rand() seeds to get slightly
more on show.

Still to do (tricky):
 *Doorways / windows in brickwork. I'll try to do it by leaving gaps, but if
all else fails I can always difference them out of the finished product.
 *People. Need to find some free meshes I think. Failing that, its mannekin
time...
 *More knots in the background!!

Thoughts?

Bill

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Preview of image 'knotworld2.jpg'

Bill Pragnell wrote:

> A slightly less-naked knot. The stairways and platforms are generated
> algorithmically; stairs hook up to the platforms from below, with
> handrails properly linked. I spent much of the weekend perfecting my wood
> texture and bevelling all the carpentry (it makes a surprising difference,
> even from a distance!). Render time: 6+ hours.
> 
> 1600x1200 version:
> http://www.infradead.org/~wmp/knotworld2_big.jpg
> 
> Still to do (easy):
>  *Not completely happy with the bricks as viewed up close. Need to tweak
> overlap and bevel.
>  *Raise global lighting level slightly.
>  *Tweak the stairway / platform generators and rand() seeds to get
>  slightly
> more on show.
> 
> Still to do (tricky):
>  *Doorways / windows in brickwork. I'll try to do it by leaving gaps, but
>  if
> all else fails I can always difference them out of the finished product.
>  *People. Need to find some free meshes I think. Failing that, its
>  mannekin
> time...
>  *More knots in the background!!
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
Looks very good, and I specially like the vague knot in the distance


<thinking>
Create lookout extensions to the platforms.
Randomize the "quality" of the woodwork.
Leave the knot "as is" and create living quarters clinging to the knot and
have the stairs connect to them.
Create insane constructs that people use to haul loads for one level to the
next.
</thinking>

-- 
Ger

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The construction and texturing of the stairs is wonderful.

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Jim Charter wrote:
> 
> The construction and texturing of the stairs is wonderful.

I'll second that, truly superb

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You've got a good start here Bill. I can see this evolving into the 
future. Keep up the good work!

   ~Steve~

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"Skip Talbot" <Ski### [at] aolcom> schreef in bericht
news:43fb4be7@news.povray.org...
> Jim Charter wrote:
> >
> > The construction and texturing of the stairs is wonderful.
>
> I'll second that, truly superb

...Absolutely!!

Thomas

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I love the concept, and the execution so far is brilliant.

So here's my $0.02 worth...

The bricks are too grey.  You have some beautiful powerful colours in the
background, but the bricks look washed out by comparision.  They need some
texture variation, like maybe a small granite texture, overlayed with a
large scaled, slightly turbulent bozo to tint the colours a little
beige/brownish/reddish colour.  Also some greenish moss/mould could add
some more variety to the colouration.

More superfluous details!  Some lamps/torches could look good - not
necessarily turned on, but it also gives the option of a spooky
night-version of the scene.
Some flags or banners hanging from poles jutting out from the walls.
A hot air balloon or some wooden flying contraption like a DaVinci
helicopter or an Ewok hang-glider.
If you're going to have people walking about, what sort of stuff might they
have laying about?  Potplants, junk, posters?

The knot in the distance is HUGE by comparision to the foreground knot, and
far too indistinct - I can barely see it in the high-res version.

Doors/Windows:
Make some simple dummy objects that represent the shapes of your door/window
objects, and #declare an object that's a union of all the dummy objects
placed along your knot spline (call it 'Myholes' e.g.).  In your brick
placing macro, use an #if(inside(Myholes,<vector>)) to test if the centre
of each brick is inside the space taken up by a hole(?).  If the brick is
inside a hole, don't put one there.  You will need to oversive your dummy
objects a little, and make door/window objects that have a thick enough
border to hide the overhanging bricks.  Store the positions of the dummy
objects in an array, and use them to place the detailed door/window
objects.

Just try running a scene that differences out the portals to see what it
does to your render time...

I'd love to see some knots in the middle distance, partially washed out by
the atmosphere.  You could even try making a giant swingbridge to connect
the foreground knot to one of the others.

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"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlnet> wrote:
> "Skip Talbot" <Ski### [at] aolcom> schreef in bericht
> news:43fb4be7@news.povray.org...
> > Jim Charter wrote:
> > >
> > > The construction and texturing of the stairs is wonderful.
> >
> > I'll second that, truly superb
>
> ...Absolutely!!
>
> Thomas

Thanks guys :)

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"Mark Birch" <las### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> The bricks are too grey.  You have some beautiful powerful colours in the
> background, but the bricks look washed out by comparision.
Agreed. Am playing with the bricks at the moment.

> texture variation, like maybe a small granite texture, overlayed with a
> large scaled, slightly turbulent bozo to tint the colours a little
> beige/brownish/reddish colour.  Also some greenish moss/mould could add
> some more variety to the colouration.
Also agreed! I shall play in this direction!

> More superfluous details!  Some lamps/torches could look good - not
> necessarily turned on, but it also gives the option of a spooky
> night-version of the scene.
I was thinking of having lamps on posts on the vertices of the platform
handrails. I experimented briefly with lamps for the earlier trefoil
versions, and I found they were too close to the wall when mounted on wall
brackets - all they did was slow the render horribly and confuse the
picture.

> Some flags or banners hanging from poles jutting out from the walls.
Very good idea! I shall definitely try this.

> A hot air balloon or some wooden flying contraption like a DaVinci
> helicopter or an Ewok hang-glider.
I favour hang-gliders, but they'll be a final detail. (Thinks: launching
platforms?)

> If you're going to have people walking about, what sort of stuff might they
> have laying about?  Potplants, junk, posters?
Hmmm... this starts to sound a bit too recognisably 20th century. Potplants
have potential though.

> The knot in the distance is HUGE by comparision to the foreground knot, and
> far too indistinct - I can barely see it in the high-res version.
That's the way I wanted it. It's meant to be planet-sized, and possibly even
outside the atmosphere of wherever-we-are. If it's visible when you look at
the whole picture, but barely noticeable when scrolling around a zoomed
version, I think that's good!

> Doors/Windows:
Your method is almost what I had in mind, but I had completely forgotten
about the inside() function - this makes the job much easier! I don't want
to use differences if I don't have to - it will dent the render time
something rotten, whereas simply leaving bricks out and adding frames will
hardly slow it at all, except maybe at parse time.

> I'd love to see some knots in the middle distance, partially washed out by
> the atmosphere.  You could even try making a giant swingbridge to connect
> the foreground knot to one of the others.
There will be other knots; once I'm happy with the foreground I can
instantiate others trivially (although I need to make the brick detail
lower on distant knots for memory reasons - 90% of the objects are bricks).
A bridge sounds tempting but it doesn't really fit with my mental picture.
And it'd be a b*****d to connect up!

Interestingly, there is no atmosphere - the background is simply a suitably
pigmented sphere. But I'll probably use fog of some kind to achieve an
atmospheric effect on the other knots!

Thanks for the pointers, very useful.
Bill

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Ger <No.### [at] ThankYou> wrote:
> Leave the knot "as is" and create living quarters clinging to the knot and
> have the stairs connect to them.
This is tempting, but having thought about it, I'm not sure I can make it
look good without a disproportionate amount of work. Also, I don't want the
knot to look too busy. Thinks: if the knots are man(?)-made, wouldn't people
want to live inside them rather than be exposed?

> Create insane constructs that people use to haul loads for one level to the
> next.
This I shall give some thought!

Bill

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