Hey Brent, I've had the dots before on both animations and stills but it's 'fixable'. If I remember, Antoine Clappier, from the egroups list mentioned a workaround for this know bug. You just add a little more haze and fog to the scene. (really minor amounts so it doesn't interfere with the forground) Also, a light amount of 'depth of field' also eliminates the issue. I've had no problems since then. Should you have to do that....well, no. But at least it's still workable. I've also had dropped polys when the camera got real close (physically) to a low fidelity spline object. Was yours a spline or a vertex? Renders with a zoom-in haven't had that problem. I also keep the spline resolution up above 500 just cuz now. Mark

Hmmmmmmmmmm, I find that waving a dead chicken over my monitor while dancing in a counterclockwise circle always cures that kind of problem on my system. :) (unless the moon is full that is)

Hi again MDC, Ok, I'm slow on the take tonight. You can't post messages with attachements to the e-groups list. However, you can place the image on the site by going to the "file's" portion of the list (it will be in the left hand margin) you can ad to a folder or create a new one. Then in the body of your e-groups message you can reference that file. BTW, beautiful work man! Mark

Hi Grimpup, This version is much improved over the last. I'm drawn to the lower portion of the pipe but then back up to explore. The forum had a discussion on brick bumps earlier. I think that those files are still up so a search for that may help. Ok, Ok, I'll admit it. I'm a spline junkie. What I like about the spline modeler though is that you can more accuratly control procedural textures (or any other texture for that matter) more concisely. The issue that you are having on the pipes (vertex I assume) is that the facets are elongated. Consequently, the textures stretch to fit. While the above image isn't the look that you are going for it is a display of the difference in mapping the corrosion shader from the free stuff section. Mark

I believe that can happen. I'll mess around with it in the next couple of days and see if I can offer any help. Mark

It can't come soon enough! :) Mark

Does your boss know that you're doing this? :) When making smooth objects with the spline modeler, the fewer points the better. If you can confine the bezier tool to 0 and 90 degree extensions on your shape it makes it loads easier. The surface fidelity can be increased to 1200 which is good for those extra smooth shapes. Also, the fewer cross sections you make the better. The image of the body above has only one circular cross section in the exhaust end. Mark

That one came from the eGroups Carrara list. http://www.egroups.com/group/Carrara Mark

Thanks Gents! Mark

Hi again Brent, I've put stuff on the inside of meshes before. I can't guarantee that it will work but it may be as simple as having a positive value in the 'left' locater. Pardons in advance if I'm telling you something that you already know but make sure you use the dolly camera within the preview window to spin the shader model around and find it. (hold the 'D' down and click and spin the object) BTW, do you really have monitors that fight each other or is that 'dual' monitors? :) Mark

Been following your posts on the eGroups list. Man, I need to learn more about that stuff! Is there a basic tutorial on formula fundementals somewhere? Does the Carrara bible have anything like that? Mark

I supsect that there is a break in the mesh and that the window is on the inside of the object based on the mapping numbers. Mark

I'd like to know Rhino/spline export helps out. According to Antoine on the List, no two modeling programs will interpret and import a given format the same way. He even offered that 3D Studio can export to a '3ds' format (not the native creation/modeling format) and will have quirks when it imports the 'saved as' version of a 3ds format right back into the program. I haven't used it so I don't know. I try to stay in the native modeling program when possible so almost all of my work is created in Carrara now. (Except for precision shapes and paths which I create in Adobe Illustrator and import) Mark

Hi DB, Im suspecting that the ink bottle is a vertex/facet object. For transparent glass type of objects I've had the best luck with spline/freeform objects. The reflections and refractions are cleaner. The other thing that I try to do is have a bigradient as the background (not the backdrop) to give the glass something to reflect. I do have a bump in the glass above just to give it some imperfections. If it would help, I can post the scene above if it would make things clearer. Mark

Just thought I'd show some possiblilities to get the wheels a'turnin. Mark