3D Canvas Pro and POVRay

Thanks to Clem's sugestion, I've been experimenting with POVRay to generate an improved cabview for my "Refurbished 30000". POVRay is generating the effects I wanted -- shading, shadows, etc. Of course, I'm now having to re-think (and re-learn) how to set the material properties correctly, and how to place lights to get a realistic effect... plus setting the correct ambient and areas light levels.
For those of you who have blazed this trail, are there any recommended or de-facto settings that seems to give realistic effects? I seem to recall reading that Diffuse of 100 and Ambient of 20 is a good starting point. I'm messing with the specular setting on various materials and objects, based on what I envisage their material and reflective property to be (basically, is it dull or shiny ).The attached shots of the front and left views are my efforts to date. I'm using 2 areas light sources. One in front at about 45 deg elevation to represent sunlight. It's mostly greyscale with a hint of light blue. The second area light is behind the driver's position and has a touch of gold. This is intended to represent some ambient light reflecting off the cab interior walls and shows up best on the front window spars (shiny metal). I'm not done yet, but rather than keep guessing I thought I'd ask around at this stage and see if there's any "standard wisdom" been developed about how best to approach this. I would be most greatful for any comments and suggestions.The only other anomaly I can't figure out is the very distinctive bands of light on the desk, very noticeable in the left view. It appears to be a set of shadows caused by the left front window spar, but I don't understand how a single area light source is generating multiple bands of shadow. BTW, the brake gauge bezel being a different color than the others is just another experiment to see what works, and how.Thanks, JimiFRONT VIEW
<>LEFT VIEW
<>

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Hi Jimi,Don't forget to look under Raytracing Attributes in the Materials window. You can get all sorts of pre-defined materials and effects that POVray knows about, or cook up your own. Looks like you're on the right track!Cheers,

--
Clem

http://www.tillier.net/speedworks/index.html

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Thanks for the pointer, Clem. I finally got around to reading the HELP for 3DC Pro - lots more neat things I can do now. If this all works out good, I'm going to attempt a night-time version too.Here's a further update screengrab. I'm still fooling with the lighting - trying to get the shadows right and simulate the sunlight through the 30000's "greenhouse quantity" of cab glass. I also redesigned the panel and moved things around some. The animated parts (controls & switches) are still using the "old" ACE files. I won't re-shoot all the animation frames until I'm happy with the overall effect. That's going to take some time, with 10 POVRay renders needed to get all the animation frames. Fortunately I took detailed notes of the positions and sizes of the frames when I built the original. It should be cool to see animated controls with moving shadows. Shame I can't get the "moving water" effect in the coffee mug <>

Alert | IP

[ Home | MSTS Forum | MSTS FAQ | File Library ] Copyright © 2002 by Nels Anderson. All Rights Reserved.