Hi,

Recently I got into my old ray-tracing hobby again, after a hiatus of ten years.
I started by re-rendering some of my old scenes at a higher resolution, in order
to get some nice prints for my wall. In doing so I couldn't resist further
fine-tuning the scenes. Here's the result of the first scene I improved. I hope
you like it, and welcome your comments.

I should stress that the scene is rendered in one go. The image has not been
post-processed to make the illusion work. I would have liked to have soft
shadows, but I think that's close to impossible. Unfortunately, it's not just a
matter of changing the spotlights into arealights....

Cheers,

Erwin

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"Eriban" <pov### [at] spamgourmetcom> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Recently I got into my old ray-tracing hobby again, after a hiatus of ten years.

W O W! Other times!

> I started by re-rendering some of my old scenes at a higher resolution, in order
> to get some nice prints for my wall. In doing so I couldn't resist further
> fine-tuning the scenes. Here's the result of the first scene I improved. I hope
> you like it, and welcome your comments.
>
> I should stress that the scene is rendered in one go. The image has not been
> post-processed to make the illusion work. I would have liked to have soft
> shadows, but I think that's close to impossible. Unfortunately, it's not just a
> matter of changing the spotlights into arealights....
>
> Cheers,
>
> Erwin

Scene modeled very well. Very nice!
;-)

--
Carlo

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> I should stress that the scene is rendered in one go. The image has not 
> been
> post-processed to make the illusion work. I would have liked to have soft
> shadows, but I think that's close to impossible. Unfortunately, it's not 
> just a
> matter of changing the spotlights into arealights....

Very nice scene... well executed.

I have an idea about soft shadows for you. I have attached an image using 
the technique below. Note that the scene uses just a single point light 
source.

1) add the no_shadow keyword to the actual object.
2) create another object that is the same shape and position as the real 
one, but is clear and hollow.
3) fill this new shape with an absorbing media

Example:
    union
    {
     sphere{0, 1 no_shadow}
     sphere
     {
      0, 1
      texture{pigment{rgbt<1, 1, 1, 1>}}
      hollow
      interior
      {
       media
       {
        absorption White*10
        density
        {
         spherical
        }
       }
      }
     }
    }
    plane{z, -1 pigment{checker White, Gray95 scale 1}}

You could use a scattering media instead, but it is slower and gives the 
same effect.

Rarius

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"Rarius" <rar### [at] rariuscouk> wrote:
> I have an idea about soft shadows for you. I have attached an image using
> the technique below. Note that the scene uses just a single point light
> source.
>
> 1) add the no_shadow keyword to the actual object.
> 2) create another object that is the same shape and position as the real
> one, but is clear and hollow.
> 3) fill this new shape with an absorbing media

Note that you need a proper density function for this approach to work.

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"Rarius" <rar### [at] rariuscouk> wrote:
> Very nice scene... well executed.

Thanks

> I have an idea about soft shadows for you. I have attached an image using
> the technique below. Note that the scene uses just a single point light
> source.
>
> 1) add the no_shadow keyword to the actual object.
> 2) create another object that is the same shape and position as the real
> one, but is clear and hollow.
> 3) fill this new shape with an absorbing media

That's an interesting idea. Unfortunately, it wouldn't work in this scene
(sorry, but I prefer to leave that without an explanation; knowing the secret
of magic illusions typically spoils the fun). Also, although I use tricks to
make the illusion work, I prefer to stick to the laws of physics. Using
"no_shadow" seems wrong in that respect.  Yeah, I know, it's all very silly. I
don't like to share the scene file, yet I artificially constrain myself to not
include any hacks in the scene :-).

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated.

Cheers,
Erwin

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Wow!
Very nice, especially the tiles of the board!
How have you realized them?
;-)
Paolo

 >Eriban  on date 06/03/2009 22:40 wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Recently I got into my old ray-tracing hobby again, after a hiatus of ten years.
> I started by re-rendering some of my old scenes at a higher resolution, in order
> to get some nice prints for my wall. In doing so I couldn't resist further
> fine-tuning the scenes. Here's the result of the first scene I improved. I hope
> you like it, and welcome your comments.
> 
> I should stress that the scene is rendered in one go. The image has not been
> post-processed to make the illusion work. I would have liked to have soft
> shadows, but I think that's close to impossible. Unfortunately, it's not just a
> matter of changing the spotlights into arealights....
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Erwin
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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Paolo Gibellini <p.g### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Wow!
> Very nice, especially the tiles of the board!
> How have you realized them?
> ;-)

Thanks for the kind words. If you mean the tiled covering on the desk, I don't
mind sharing the source for that. It's only the tricks that make up the
illusion that I prefer to keep to myself, in order not to spoil the mystery.
:-)

Erwin

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That is very nice indeed.

I did the following back in 2006 as a wip that did not go further. Your 
scene is more beautiful however.

Thomas

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"Eriban" <pov### [at] spamgourmetcom> wrote:
> Recently I got into my old ray-tracing hobby again, after a hiatus of ten years.
> I started by re-rendering some of my old scenes at a higher resolution, in order
> to get some nice prints for my wall. In doing so I couldn't resist further
> fine-tuning the scenes. Here's the result of the first scene I improved. I hope
> you like it, and welcome your comments.

Forgive the self-promotion, but this genre is always one of my favorites.  I
love the concept and the woodworking.  Here's one which probably uses a similar
technique that I finally semi-finished up after about a six-year hiatus.

http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.images/thread/<web.471c229010dde1088727a860%40news.povray.org>/?ttop=283593&toff
=500&mtop=250117

I think you could make the soft shadows work with some creative use (a la Mr. de
Groot) of the no_image and no_shadow keywords.  The basic trick is to use
no_shadow on the real part.  Then you add a part where you want the shadow to
*look* like it's coming from with the no_image keyword.  You can also move the
lighting to a convenient angle in order to hide some questionable spots.

Either way, I like the image though.

 - Ricky

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"triple_r" <nomail@nomail> schreef in bericht 
news:web.49b655d0b560dad863a1b7c30@news.povray.org...
>
> I think you could make the soft shadows work with some creative use (a la 
> Mr. de
> Groot) of the no_image and no_shadow keywords.  The basic trick is to use
> no_shadow on the real part.  Then you add a part where you want the shadow 
> to
> *look* like it's coming from with the no_image keyword.  You can also move 
> the
> lighting to a convenient angle in order to hide some questionable spots.
>

Ah ha! Giving away secrets, are you?  :-)

Thomas

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