"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote:
> H.G. Wells's WAR OF THE WORLDS has always been a favorite of mine,

can it not be? :)

> Trying to copy comic book art in 3D is an exercise in compromise.  I found
> that the various depictions of the Machines changed--sometimes
> radically--from panel to panel in the comic.

that's why 2D is so much easier:  you don't have to carefully detail all the
greebles in gigantic spaceships, just suggest them with a fill crossed lines
here and there.  Attention to detail is essential for quality 3D renders
though...

> The explosion started out, long ago,  as ALL media...hundreds of individual
> media-filled spheres--which was taking forever-and-a-day to render. Had to
> switch to a different scheme (and to my faster PC!) Much less media now;
> lots of textured spheres instead, for the various smoke trails. And simple
> textured boxes for the little smoke "tendrils" under the flying embers.

one couldn't tell, really!  Very clever!

> No gravity effect yet... I *could* say that the explosion is
> at the "moment of detonation," before gravity and air resistance have had a
> chance to show themselves.  ;-)

it works that way.

> Any critiques and suggestions welcome.

I can't think of anything other perhaps that the warmachines metal textures
could have a bit less diffuse and more brilliance, as well as more metallic
reflection.  The explosion and city in flames are wonderful and the mood and
color is indeed very 50's comic book style!  Great work!

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Ken, slow down a bit... more?    ;)

  That looks so advanced for a PoV scene, I can't take it in.  ;)

  Well, I can, it's a *fantastic* scene, and as others have said, it's truly 
reminiscent of the 50's comics that were around, (from what I've seen 
anyway. Cool, I can actually say I'm 'too' young here!)  ;)

     In my view: Superb. Well done!

       ~Steve~

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Simply amazing Ken!  It seems to me that you have the code and physics
down... they work really well.  May I add some suggestions though?

As earlier stated, the lighting on the distant robot seems too blue.  With
all the explosions and burning buildings, one would expect there to be no
atmospheric bluing.

In light of the above stated fires, there isn't any smoke in the scene.
There should be lots of clouds of smoke around.  That shouldn't be too hard
to create since you already did the fire and explosion smoke.

There is not any debris on the ground.  Lots of stuff got blown up, but it
isn't on the ground.  Maybe add some of that to add a better quality to the
scene.

People would be nice, but they take some time to create... that would
reflect pop art and culture.

I also don't think that everything has been blown up... maybe add some
charred vehicles or crushed vehicles.

For the robots themselves... might I suggest chrome for the legs?  And maybe
a layer of dust from all the stuff they blew up.

Best,
Allen

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This is stunning.  This is really a tour de force.  Would love to see 
how it holds up at higher resolutions.

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Thanks for sharing this one.  I can't say I'm a very qualified critic but I
will say this is very nice indeed as others have said!  The explosion looks
very complex and the composition seems very ballanced.  The magenta really
does look erie if a little bright.  The one little thing I find somewhat
distracting is the metal texture on the tripods - there's something about
the shineyness and uniformity which makes them seem smaller-scale.  Still,
very nice. :)
Charles

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William Tracy <wtr### [at] calpolyedu> wrote:

> And it shows. Fantastic work. :-)
> It looks Hollywood worthy. The fires in the background are beautifully
> done, too.

Thank you thank you thank you!
>

> It looks fine as it is, but I'm sure it would look even better with
> parabolic trajectories.

Yeah, that seems to be the general consensus. I'll definitely be adding
*some,* just not sure how much yet.
>
> You are planning on posting some code when it's finished, right? ;-)

Yes indeed!  Thanks for asking. (Actually, the Machine and its ray are ready
now, but I need to clean up the file a bit first. Building it was kind of an
"organic" process, things added to other things. Not very clean or totally
efficient.)

> The lighting on the tops of the machines seems awkward--the background
> machine in particular feels slightly "pasted in". There's blue light
> shining down from the sky, but *in* the sky all I see is black clouds.
> It feels like the machines would "fit" better if that light source were
> toned down or eliminated.

I felt I needed some complementary(?) color in the image, different from
red/orange/yellow, something to set the Machines apart from the dark
background.  It's *supposed* to be a kind of skylight/moonlight/toplight
effect, but I guess it's not coming across that way. More an artistic touch
than totally realistic. But I'll reconsider its use. BTW, I think the sky
clouds are too dark as-is--I kept changing them from lighter to darker and
back again, over and over; but they're still too dark. They're actually a
bumpy procedural heightfield, with a partially transparent cloud texture,
to let some of the blue skysphere show through--THAT's too dark too!  But
the overall idea was to get some light to rake over the bumps, to give them
a bit of actual volume. Doesn't yet look like it, though.
>

> > Some objects on
> > the ground are much-needed, but I don't want them to hide the
> > background--which presents a conundrum.
>
> I didn't notice a problem until you brought it up. :-) The image does
> "work" as it is, especially if you're going for an oh-so-slightly campy
> feel. Otherwise, maybe some low-lying rubble would work?

That's a good idea. I need to figure out what *kind* of rubble,
though--perhaps a blasted treetrunk?  Or bits and pieces of old,
pre-20th-century military hardware, abandoned by the retreating troops?
Even some traced-on grass might help. It's definitely too bare as-is. At
the same time, I'm hoping not to make the scene too *busy*--it's pretty
busy already!

Ken W.

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"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet> wrote:
> Kenneth,
> It is an awesome picture, really, and you absolutely captured the 50's mood.

Thanks, Thomas! I still need to add *something* (other than the burning
buildings) to give the scene a 19th-century flavor--the time period of the
novel, I believe. With the buildings, I was hoping that they didn't look too
*modern*--no skyscrapers, etc.  But I'm curious as to how they come across.

> Yes, that 'gravity'thing seems a bit disturbing and unatural, but could be
> put under the head "artist's licence" :-)

Yeah, I think that some decelleration would give it more reality.  BTW,
there are a couple of films out there that have *excellent* explosions to
study. My favorite right now is A BRIDGE TOO FAR (a World War II story.)
They pulled out all the stops with the awesome pyrotechnics.

> I think that what is missing, are a pair of small figures running in the
> foreground. Preferably one male, one female of course, again in the mood of
> the 50's pulp.

You're definitely better at that than I am!  :-)  I wouldn't know where to
put 'em, or what kind of pose they should have.  Suggestions?

At one point, I actually thought of changing the entire "feeling" of the
scene--by putting a small figure of a man in a dinner jacket, with a pipe,
sitting in his evening chair, reading the novel! In his study, but with the
walls of the study fading out--so that the larger scene is entirely in his
imagination.  That would have been interesting (to say the least!)

Ken W.

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"scam" <sca### [at] mailusydeduau> wrote:
> Not that I've done an exhaustive survey... but that is hands down the best
> explosion I've seen done using POV-Ray.

<*blush*>  Thank you!! Though I'm honestly not sure if it's too *busy*--too
MANY smoke trails. The explosion is the one element I keep revisiting every
couple of days(!), fiddling with it, living with the image for a day or two,
then fiddling with it some more. ALL parts of it. Getting a completely
*organic* look is what I'm after--an elusive goal, it seems,  "just out of
reach." But I keep trying! If I can just nail down a look--and a
methodology--that I'm completely happy with--NIRVANA! :-)
>
> And definitely keep the magenta glass in the tripods. That with the green
> lasers adds a lot to the comic book style effect. You've done a great job
> harmonizing all the different elements, very impressive.

Much appreciated.

>The only constructive criticism I have is that the ground looks a
> little funny, kind of grainy and a bit too bright. Great job
> though, love it.

I kind of *forgot* about the ground texture. (That's what happens when you
look at the same thing constantly!) It's still the test texture I applied
so long ago--actually a brick wall image_map (!), completely distorted.
Thanks for bringing this up; I'll work up something different.

Ken W.

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William Tracy <wtr### [at] calpolyedu> wrote:

> It would also be nice if the shot landing in the foreground came from a
> machine that were on the screen. It wouldn't be a problem, but you
> really made it the focal point of the image.

Yeah, determining just what the focal point should be was kind of a
problem--Machines or explosion. (I have to admit that the scene STARTED as
just an explosion--it was only later that I started thinking about what to
add that would cause it.  Then H.G. Wells popped into mind! Which took the
scene into a new direction.) As it is, there do seem to be two competing
focal interests in the scene, though.

I conciously avoided putting THREE Machines in;  it would have been too
crowded. So the thought hit me that I could *suggest* the third Machine
with just its ray--which then gave me the idea of having all the rays at
different angles, to give the impression that all hell is breaking loose!

KW

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"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> schreef in bericht 
news:web.465809a0d8d381749dafebf60@news.povray.org...
>
> I conciously avoided putting THREE Machines in;  it would have been too
> crowded. So the thought hit me that I could *suggest* the third Machine
> with just its ray--which then gave me the idea of having all the rays at
> different angles, to give the impression that all hell is breaking loose!
>

...which is very much in the mood of Wells' book. I took it from my 
bookshelf this morning to browse through a couple of chapters. What you 
could play with (in probably another scene) is the weird locomotion manner 
of the Martian machines. Also, Wells tells us that the Death Ray comes from 
a tube held high above the machine (at the end of an extending arm?). The 
top (where the Martian sits) constantly swivels round as if observing the 
surroundings, and also, in my view, as a necessity during moving around.

Thomas

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