When Mike posted his fence3 in Free Stuff, I saw that it would be a perfect compliment to a rocking chair I'd just picked up the day before. As I was thinking about the fence and rocker, I started remembering a bunch of other freebie models I've collected along the way but haven't yet used. I kept imagining the scene, adding more models, and finally, it was ready to begin construction. This was the initial setup, after I'd built the porch and began putting models in place.

And here it is, a little further along. I've filled out the background (4 trees and a terrain), and I've started experimenting with material alignments. Just thought someone might be interested in seeing the development stages. Or, you can just blame Mike! LOL! :) Varian

Don't overdevelop , to me the top version looks actually better than the 2nd one , but that's my idea. I usually try to stay as far from reality as possible :) Hein

Well, alright! Looks good Varian, and I'm glad you like the fence section...you made it look pretty good here. Believe it or not, I haven't even yet used it, LOL! I'm not too thrilled with the Key Lime green, though---it looks like astro-turf, LOL. No offense, of course, but I think if you made a wood plank material for that porch...

Hein, thanks for the tip, but in this case, I'm aiming to be as realistic as I can be. Instead of a "secene" as such, I'm going for the "still life" type of thing. :) LOL Beck, you silly! :) Hey Mike, don't get attached to that beautiful lime or the blue or the red or the white -- none of the porch or its objects actually have any applied material as yet. Kind of a trick I picked up from Martin Murphy; when you're developing your scene, use flat color materials. Your previews render quicker, you can set up your lighting and shadows more conveniently, and it's easier to see if anything's out of whack. The only stuff actually textured so far is the vegetation (including the flower in the pot on the porch), but nothing else. I had earlier thought the cat was textured, but later this afternoon, I worked up a better one for him, so he'll look different in the next "snapshot" of the work in progress. And yeppers, that porch will be planked wood! I know what you mean about making something, giving it away and not having really used it yourself. I can't count how often I've done that, but it can be a gift in disguise. One example: Verdie posted a beautiful image (in the Vue gallery) using my InteriorPool scene file. I started building that scene over a year ago. I had plans for it, but never got around to working on them. Finally after all this time, gave it away, and boom, someone's making beautiful art with it! Which is really cool! :) There are a couple more models I need to find for this one. I think I already have both of 'em, but it's just a matter of remembering where I put 'em. With luck, I'll have another progress "snapshot" to share tomorrow. :)

a porch like that would be quite nice for a quiet life too :) Re: models , are there any good sources online for models that aren't Poser-stuff ?, after looking online for a while all I seem to find are ways to dress or undress the Barby of the WWW aka Zygote's Vicky.

It's coming along. Replaced the plant pot with a new model and a new plant, and moved in a couple new models. Hein, lets start a new thread for model links. Believe it or not there *are* things out there other than Poser dresses! :)

A few *more* models...Vue is slowing down considerably at this point. LOL! I've also begun fiddling with the lighting a little; at this stage, I just turned up the ambiance more to be able to see into the shadows.

I'm skipping #5 because the differences between #5 and #6 are very slight. In #6, you can see that a few things have had their positions altered, the sunlight was tinted for evening light, and I've begun fiddling with the wood textures. Once I've got the appearance I want (of painted wood), I need to adjust the scale on each object to make it look right for each kind of thing. With luck, there will be more snapshots to come. :)

Cool Varian-- looking good, and it's interesting to see the whole process as it develops. Ya know, that's a real good idea-- using solid colors at first to improve preview render times-- I'll have to try that!

There have been a number of changes made, including repositioning and resizing several of the objects. Plus the textures are being worked on a lot.

Speaking of working on textures, I thought I'd just show this little trick. I have 6 layers in this image. Layers are a *huge* assist for a complex image. When I needed to make several adjustments to the wood texture on the floor and the window shutters, I rendered only that layer to check the adjustments. This saved me a lot of time since I needed to do several renderings in the process, and it helped me see the items more clearly, without them being blocked by other objects. :)

When I had the wood texturing set up the way I wanted it, I "painted" it to suit the laid-back mood I want. This will be the last snapshot. I've got some very subtle tweaks to do, and then the image will be complete! As soon as I've had a chance to render the final, I'll post it in the Vue gallery. :)

This is very cool, Varian--- again, I find this all to be pretty interesting-- seeing the process, that is. And of course, all those tips and tricks.... :) Looking forward to seeing the final!