"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> "Mike Miller" <mil### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
>
> > I'm currently working on a few ideas to help speed my POV scene building and
> > have started a new web site to post and archive my current work and code. I'm
> > working in a 'project tree' directory structure that allows me to jump around to
> > various render-able asset libraries (materials, images, color_maps, objects,
> > etc.).
> > There are also a few utilities I've coded to help the process that I've also
> > posted.
>
> Hi Mike, and welcome back!
>
> I like the new site, and the visuals are stunning as usual.  :)
>
> I'm sure that you have a vast amount of knowledge about what makes things "look
> good" - from the fundamental geometric aspects of structure and "smoothness", to
> scene composition, lighting, and of course textures, normals, and finishes.
>
> It would be really nice, and educational, if you could just post things here and
> there about what was going through your head at the outset, and the key things
> that you ensured were present to get the desired effects in the render.
>
> "I _could_ have done it this way, but that would take too long, so I ...."
> "I wanted to make this look [wet][powdery][translucent][hard & shiny][soft &
> leathery] ... and so a texture like that requires at the minimum ...."
> "The tentacle needs to look smooth and flowing, without any kinks, so I used a
> [type] spline ..."
> "Since I'm doing this in POV-Ray, I needed to take the structure of the SDL and
> parsing into account.  [This] needed to be parameterized. [That] needed to
> precede [xyz]. And [Sumthin' else] needed to be stored in a [data structure] to
> really make it efficiently useable."
>
> I think that new users would be fascinated and learn a lot, and even long-time
> experienced users who don't have any graphic arts background would find such
> explanations a goldmine of information and inspiration.
>
> Just something to think about - it doesn't need to be formal.  Every little
> tidbit, trick, rule, strategy, and optimization really helps.
>
> Thanks for all that you have done and continue to do!
> I like the new website, and the images are fantastic as always.
> I'm sure the animations are going to be mesmerizing (and creepy ;) ).
>
> - BE

Thanks BE.
I'll be happy to post my 'thought process' as I work though some new renderings.
I finally put 'pencils down' on my 'Nest project'. I have sketches of this from
30 years ago. haha. I'm rendering a 2000 frame drift animation through the
scene...which is taking some time @8 min per fame.

I've just started a new POV scene based on an old 'world' I designed in
Unity and exported for final renderings in Lumion 9. A software I own but is
'almost' impossible to export data out of. The renderings and animations focused
on an old flywheel driven 'pump-house' buried in ruin and over-grown vegetation.
I'll post some sketches of my idea along with some preliminary rendering I did
years ago. My goal on this will be to rebuild the Lumion scene in POV
without using smooth triangles - I miss CSG modeling and like a good challenge.
I do have my original CAD drawings that I'll use as underlays for building the
architectural structures.

BE, did you mean post stuff in this .general thread, or somewhere else?
Thanks!

miller

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