Just got back. I'll find out about the interview by the end of the week. As for the lights. I'm back to the transmaps. I forgot you could parent the lights to the object- and when they're inside, the lights automatically adjust in size to fit. It's just a matter of getting enough of them inside to work. still working on the pic. will post as soon as it's done.

Hmmm ... maybe someone forgot to pay the 'lectric bill, nay? Just a thought. ;=]

Colin Gerbode at E-Frontier suggested trying to adjust the ambiant light and color, so I'm playing with that now. There's some improvement. I'll post another pic when I get it done.

Post #90 ?

I'm not sure what you're suggesting. I have lights inside the station shining out through the viewports- or they're supposed to be. Are you saying that 100% transparent is too transparent? Why would they show up in the raw work window and not in the final render? That's what I don't understand. Switching to infite light won't work either, I don't think. The lights wouldn't stay in the station- They'll go back "into orbit"- even though they're parented to the station.

UVDan- Any word from Tech support?

... just do ......... (dare I say it) .............. postwork! (runs and hides)

I considered postwork- still am. Which tut is the magic box?

THIS ONE.

Never mind- found it. This might work for the straight viwports in the main disk. But what about the one's in the rounded sections?

Fear the sphere ... chop it up to make a rounded window. ;=]

Okay...'night.

I tried the probelight and it seemed to work pretty good here is the render and the tree

Message edited on: 09/28/2005 00:42

thixen- just read your post. I will give it a try.

the nice thing is that I also did this with out a texture plugged into the diffuse node so you can use procedural shaders to do that for a faster render (not a good idea on this project because of the logo details, but nice to know)

Lookin' GOOD !!! ;=]

Any Time, I'll be lookin for that crusier.

Drat! I wish I'd caught this part of the thread earlier... @mdbruffy For your window lights: - make a copy of your existing UV map. Call it something relevant (SpaceStationWindows or whatever). - clear everything EXCEPT the windows to black, and make the windows white (just like for a transmap). In fact if you'vfe already made a transmap, use that.. Now plug that into the ambient node's value, and set the colour to whatever you want. (If the result is too bright take the ambient coulour down a bit in grey-scale). No lights needed, and should render somewhat faster...:-) Cheers, Diolma

Looking good, Dan. Sorry to be a worry wart. I'm ready to post my one hundreth render at Renderosity and I'd like it to be the crusier's unveiling. Sorry it's ended up taking so much of your time.

Hang in there a little longer.

Thanks to Dr.Geep and Thixen for their help with the lighting. Special thanks to UVDan who went way above and beyond the call by refining the crusier model- and bringing it closer to my design- and doing the UV mapping needed for the textures. It's an understatement to say neither the crusier nor the Outpost would ever have been finished without your help. Thank you very much.

;=]

You're welcome.

Coolness, It makes me want to do a criuser model now. Perhaps I'll do an 'enemy' one ;)

thixen, check out the final posted render in my gallery. You'll see that I managed to clean up the viewports- they're alot sharper and clearer now.