This is not the image that came immediately to mind when I posted the challenge topic. But I found this rose and wanted to put it in a picture, so I went back and re-worked something I'd been fooling around with since pidjy made this building available... Trying to get decent light rays streaming through the ruins like pidjy did in an image he did of these ruins. I thought it would be a perfect place for the rose. Frankly, I thought that this interpretation might be a bit 'cliche', but I liked the way the render turned out, so I decided to go with it. I'll work on that first idea I had now, and post it later just for grins. Ruin model/texture by pidjy, in free-stuff here. Can't remember the name of the person who did the rose... no read-me with the file, but I remember that he is Japanese and had many highly detailed fish and a few plants on his site. If this rings a bell, let me know because I haven't been able to find this site again for some reason. Hope you like...

ugh... does the compression on that jpeg look horrible to anyone else? or is it just my monitor?

On my PC monitor, it looks okay to me. I like the image. Lin

I think it's probably my monitor... haven't been able to figure out why, but some jpegs just don't look right on my monitor here at home. On the cheap one I use at work, the same images look just fine. This is, hopefully, one of those times.

Looks good to me. I like the image, the way the lighting streams in from the top

Looks good to me too... And I like it

Looks good to me too, but this computer also has a cheap monitor. Maybe the JPG-artifacts are only visible with high contrast and brightness monitors?

Oh, Almost forgot :) Really nice image. I like the floor texture.

a very good image! maybe some morecontrast is needed, but... postwork is not allowed ;-) I love the raindrop on the leave

The image also looks fine on the imac at work. Must be your monitor. :) Lin

Same here looks good.

Great looking entry! The model of the rose is by Toucan. LynnDee

Where is Pidgy's building available?

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=920506

remind me never to rely on memory again.... turns out that this was a model that pidjy said he was planning on putting in the marketplace and sent out to some to test it. see linked thread. maybe if you ask him nicely, he might be feeling generous. :) sorry about the mix-up

Excellent image. Lighting and textures look great. Nice job, FW.

Looks ok to me, really like the light streaming in and the atmosphere, but...I...have...a...problemwiththerosebush, sorry, they just don't grow that way, but then again this could be metaphorial...

Lights look great through those rafters. Nice one.

Please, please, please... tell me how you did the streaming light rays!!! I've been trying and trying and just can't get it. I've used volumetric world, visible light, gels, you name it, I just can't get an image like yours (darned nice one, too!) Please teach me!

On my Pixie 17" it looks ok. Fan-friggin-tastic in fact. the rosebush should be crooked but, forgivable . . . maybe perhaps it should be in the light to show off the red color more(?)

Yes, the rose bush should be in the light (hotspot)to draw your eye to it...good call bikermouse!

zhann, don't know what to say to that, but wait a few months and I'll show a pic of a scraggly little rose plant that grows by the side of my house... looks very similar. We've got other roses growing that make a sort of thick hedge, and still more that grow up the side of the house like vines. Art as metaphor/metaphor as art.... interesting concept. I was actually hoping that I wouldn't be the only one who saw twin roses, rising beside the water, amid the ruins (after the storm?)... but with a ray of hope. six hour render on a 2.26Ghz P4, only 256Mb RAM (santa hates me ;). Two spots, one main and obvious one, and one short and wide one shining up onto the rose between it and the camera. May turn up the intensity a hair on that one and re-render. I've rendered this 5 or 6 times already. Seems like if I get the rose perfectly lit by the main spot then there are strange shadows that I don't like elsewhere. nukeboy, Volumetric world is on, quality 100, density 50, fog off, haze at maybe 5 at the most (don't remember and not at home), I think the intesity on the main light is at 10 and the secondary light is 2. the main thing, I think, is to have something interesting to break up the light and cast shadows. That's why I added the boards on the framework... I thought they helped to break up the light and make the rays a little more complex.

e-artistree, thank you for the name... you don't have the url to his site, do you?

Nukeboy, Although, so far my results have not been nearly as good as FWT, I did manage to achieve it once with sunlight using B3 and I think that the camera/light angles were critical, some haze required, volumetric world on, and something to break the light essential. B5 is more forgiving in that less haze is required and the quality of the effect is better, but it's still hard to get it to look this good. One of Peter Sharpes tutorials touches on the subject. - TJ

wow, TJ, thanks (and everyone else for the comments)... I forgot to mention that, if I remember correctly, neither spotlight has been checked to be visible (either surface or volume). main spot is infinite with no falloff, and secondary spot under the rose has linear falloff with cast shadows diabled.

just for the record... I got back home and realized I'd made a mistake... the main spot is definitely volume visible... sorry bout that... cerebral flatulation is a horrible affliction... ;}

Thanks for the info, FWT, but 'til I upgrade my box (366mHz, 194meg), I think I'll postpone volumetric lighting. I can't imagine how long that render would have taken on my machine... I could take that trip to Europe and find it still rendering... geesh!