===== From spanky@wpi.edu: Good use of the galaxy.inc. You really need to concentrate more on the foreground of a scene like this. It's way to barren and textureless. The planet does not match colors with the rest of the scene. In a scene like this, you should probably lift the camera a little higher and move your look_at point a little lower, that way the horizon line is about 40% from the bottom. It's too high right now. Hmm. Just try to think what a dynamic landscape involves(i.e. how many flat textureless planes do you see in nature?) Good luck on improving, it's taken me two years to get where I am now(check out my entry "A Foreshadowing of Tomorrow") And trust me, it can be a pain to learn some of this stuff. ===== From denny1@home.com: I think the bottle would be better modeled as a surface of revolution, or as blobs, to get a smooth flowing of the glass from the neck to the body. The paper should be unfurled slightly. Probably the best way to make a curving, irregular shape like that is a bicubic_patch. Most people use Moray (or sPatch etc) to make organic shapes like that. ===== From gregj56590@aol.com: Image wouldn't be so bad if the sand or whatever that the bottle is submerged in were more interesting. ===== From Alain.Culos@bigfoot.com: Very good topic, and keep tracing, but indeed you need more time and trials before you want to compare on the technical ground of some of those masters (no, I'm not one, not yet anyway). ===== From shipbrk@gate.net: The texture of the ice is really good. ===== From ethelm@bigfoot.com: Good concept. Nice sky. Water a bit flat. You *will* get better with practice. ===== From arcana@sinbad.net: Good effort. Some comments.. The horizon "feels" too close. Not sure why.. maybe the nebula's, etc.. are too close. try reducing the ior and reflection, while increasing the transmittance on the bottle so that folks can see inside. You talked about if the sea were frozen, it would be flat. I live in Alaska and I can tell you that the ocean never freezes flat. The water freezes slowly, and is influences by temperature changes, wind, evaporation (even on the coldest day, there is some degree of evaporation if the sun is shining), and tidal forces. So, I would have opted for a heightfield..:{) ===== From gshaw@monotix.co.za: Some mountains in the background would break up the monoteny of the horizon. A normal added to the paper would probably have helped (maybe ripples) Personally I think a height field would have worked well for a fissure. The height field would just have to be carefully designed. difference plane {...} heightfield { .... scale <1,-1,1>} } nitpick - if the planet has no atmosphere (air, not pov atmosphere) the stars should be pinpoints not twinkles For a more real bottle, play with surface of revolution ===== From mar@physics.usyd.edu.au: Good concept and nicely composed image. You mentioned your modelling simplicity...just keep making images and it'll grow. It's obvious there are two light sources from the reflections in the bottle - need to keep it to one unless you are doing a twin sun planet! ===== From peter@table76.demon.co.uk: The paper might look better with a scaled-down copy of the ice texture on it (or a more papery texture, but repeating the same one would give a slightly alien paper look to it, I think). The neck of the bottle looks a little odd to me; if that isn't intentional to make it look alien, using a lathe object could improve the bottle shape. ===== From jull43@ij.net: One from download A and one from download B