Sabrina Kilian <ski### [at] vtedu> wrote:
> Randy wrote:
> > This image is of a Steam Loco I was working up for doing a small animation
> > to amuse my small child and grandchildren (yes, I had another one very late
> > in life).
>
> As someone who was once a small child fascinated with trains, I like the
> picture. And as another POV newbie, I like seeing other people's
> prototype works.
>
> >
> > So far I am putting it together piece by piece, just trying to get a
> > pleasing look  from a proportional standpoint. There are lots of details to
> > go, but I got to learn a bit about prisms, bezier splines, and am looking
> > forward to putting all sorts of neat tubing together on it with sphere
> > sweeps and all.
>
> I think the front of the train looks a little skinny, especially right
> above the front wheels. One cow or even a penny on the tracks and that
> might bring the boiler down into the ties. I like that you put the bolts
> on the bracing straps. The more I look at it, the more it looks like a
> toy I might have had.
>
> >
> > Please be gentle in your criticisms, many parts are just initially there as
> > a simple box or something for the sake of something being there, and not
> > just empty space.
> >
> > I've got to get more of a slightly reflective steel surface texture rather
> > than the silver I am using.  Anybody have any suggestions for the rails and
> > the wheels?
>
> You could either texture the tracks and wheels with something that would
> look like a hammered surface, or reduce the reflection and try upping
> the diffusion. One of my favorite metal textures uses very low
> reflection, 0.25 or so, .7 diffuse, and just enough ambient to make it
> sparkle. Then change the normal block to get get the right surface
> texture, either hammered or stressed, and phong highlights to make it
> look polished. If you'd like to see it, I can dig through some files to
> find it.
>
> I can't wait to see what direction the image takes next.

Thank you for your comments, Thomas and Sabrina.

I got to do a little work on it. It might not seem like much, but there were
major design changes to the boiler that required numerous other adjustments.
 Thank God I started out writing most of this scene based on parameters !
One of the things I love about POV is that you can write a scene so that
when you increase a length here, other objects that are dependant on that
length can automagically adjust.

Anyway, next things to work on are the domes, bell, whistle, guide and drive
trucks, cowcatcher, headlamp, fixes to the cab, pipes and tubes, signage and
whatnot.

This is fun!  (but my wife thinks I'm crazy!)

Randy

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'choochoo v001 cam6.png' (364 KB)

Preview of image 'choochoo v001 cam6.png'