[Guide] Rendering LDraw models using POV-Ray

[legolijntje]

Would you be able to supply a copy of the Messages pane from POV-Ray from after you've finished a render?

Do you mean like this?

I also discovered I have the same problem on some other renders I made last days, but a lot less obvious and a lot smaller.

[C3POwen]

Do you mean like this?

If you can instead go to "Edit > Copy Pane" within POV-Ray and then paste the results into a plain text document, it will mean I can see all of the render data.

[legolijntje]

If you can instead go to "Edit > Copy Pane" within POV-Ray and then paste the results into a plain text document, it will mean I can see all of the render data.

I can't find the "Copy Pane" in the edit menu? I can't find it anywhere...

[DLuders]

@ legolijntje: I used the POV-Ray "Help" button to look up "Copy Pane", and found this information:

"The Edit Menu contains commands relating to altering, cutting, copying, and pasting text. Note that there are actually two edit menus, though you only ever see one at a time. These are the edit menu that is displayed when the message window is selected, and the edit menu that is displayed when any of the editor windows are selected. The contents are different since the windows have different functions."

"1.5.2.1 Copy Pane

This command lets you copy all the text currently displayed in the POV-Ray window to the clipboard. From there you can paste it into any text file for modification with a text editor or word processor. This can be particularly useful for bug reporting. Note: This command only appears if the currently selected window is the Messages window."

[byte512]

Hi everybody.

I have been creating and rendering Lego(Technic) Models with MLCad and POV-Ray for a while now.

Thank you so much for continuing work on LGEO, C3POwen.

I recently recreated some pneumatic Lego parts in POV-Ray. It would be cool, if you could integrate them in your next update.

However, those parts will definitely need a lot of refinement, before being integrated into LGEO.

As they were created using measurements from real Lego parts, their proportions are slightly different to the proportions of the corresponding LDraw parts.

You can download a text-file containing the parts here.

Preview

(The cap has changed a little bit since that rendering)

Unfortunately, as i already said, those parts will need some work, before beeing released, which i am not able to do, since i don't understand how LGEO is put together.

I hope that this helps you C3POwen.

regards, byte

Edited January 15, 2013 by byte512

[legolijntje]

Thanks DLuders. I didn't had time this morning, because I had to go and when I cam back to make a better search for the Copy Panel, you already did

So, you can see my "Panel Text" (what's the name actually ) here.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

[C3POwen]

I can't find the "Copy Pane" in the edit menu? I can't find it anywhere...

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Like DLuders said, you need to select the Messages tab first.

I recently recreated some pneumatic Lego parts in POV-Ray. It would be cool, if you could integrate them in your next update. However, those parts will definitely need a lot of refinement, before being integrated into LGEO.

[...]

Unfortunately, as i already said, those parts will need some work, before beeing released, which i am not able to do, since i don't understand how LGEO is put together.

I hope that this helps you C3POwen.

regards, byte

They look great! When I get a chance (I'm currently mid-render) I'll have a look at them within POV-Ray.

Parts in the LGEO library lean towards having rounded edges where each visible plane or cylinder intersects (i.e. not usually on the underside of a part), which I suspect your parts don't have by looking at your POV-Ray code. They're usually made from cylinders and tori that are scaled to a fairly small size (for example, a 1x1 brick will be 0.96 units tall, whereas the actual edge is created at a size 60 times smaller).

Of course, I'm more than happy to have a look at recreating them if I can using the LGEO methodology, as the parts you have created should be relatively easy to adapt.

So, you can see my "Panel Text" (what's the name actually ) here.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

It looks like it's missing some information. It should at least have the model information at the beginning (click here for an example).

It should also contain a line about the radiosity setting you're using, such as "Radiosity_Final in use", just above the Parser Statistics heading.

Edit: I've noticed that you only get what you see when you copy the Messages pane after a render, so you may need to scroll to the top of the pane first, and then use "Copy Pane", as I'd like to see the full render report, which should look something like this.

Edited January 8, 2013 by C3POwen

[C3POwen]

@@legolijntje: Do you think you'd be able to post a link to the original POV-Ray file that generated your Empire State Building render?

And also a copy of your "rad_def.inc" file from your POV-Ray include folder? (e.g. C:\Users\[uSERNAME]\Documents\POV-Ray\v3.7\include)

[byte512]

They look great! When I get a chance (I'm currently mid-render) I'll have a look at them within POV-Ray.

Parts in the LGEO library lean towards having rounded edges where each visible plane or cylinder intersects (i.e. not usually on the underside of a part), which I suspect your parts don't have by looking at your POV-Ray code. They're usually made from cylinders and tori that are scaled to a fairly small size (for example, a 1x1 brick will be 0.96 units tall, whereas the actual edge is created at a size 60 times smaller).

Of course, I'm more than happy to have a look at recreating them if I can using the LGEO methodology, as the parts you have created should be relatively easy to adapt.

Great to hear this. But if you decide to create those parts for LGEO please note, that the proportions of my parts are slightly different to the LDraw parts.

Especially the air inlets seem to be incorrectly positioned in my parts, as you can see here.(blue: my part, scaled by 2.5; yellow: LDraw part; both parts not moved).

Also, the piston-rod from LDraw is quite a lot shorter than the one used in the real Lego part.

Keep up your great work!

[C3POwen]

GUIDE UPDATE: I have updated the LGEO-Update.zip file in the Downloads section with 6 new parts and 2 updated parts.

The UPDATED and NEW LGEO parts from the 2013-01-13 update

Yet another small LGEO update, with some nice new parts.

The Technic pieces have been a good lesson in using repetitive rotation, meaning that only one "arm" of the part needs to be created, and it can simply be rotated a number of times, set at certain degrees per repetition.

And I still plan on doing a short visual explanation of how an LGEO part is put together, as @legolijntje asked here.

[Palathadric]

I don't like quoting pictures, but...I mean...wow!

[C3POwen]

I don't like quoting pictures, but...I mean...wow!

Thank you! It didn't turn out too bad, eh?

The water is just a bump map, stretched out a bit, with some reflection. The code was quite basic, and looks like this:

// Floor with ripples
object {
 plane { LDXFloorAxis, LDXFloorLoc hollow }
 texture {
   pigment { color rgb <0.8, 0.8, 0.9> }
   finish { ambient 0 diffuse 0.5 reflection 0.25 }
   normal { bumps 1 scale <100, 10, 10> turbulence 0.6 }
   rotate <0, -22.5, 0>
 }
}

Unfortunately, it only simulates ripples, and does not create them in actual 3D.

Also, if you don't want to cast shadows that are too strong, you can use an ambient sphere that encapsulates the model, and remove any lights from the POV-Ray file. For this render I used this:

// Ambient sky sphere
sphere {
 <0, 0, 0>, 100000
 hollow
 pigment { color rgb <1, 1, 1> }
 finish { ambient 1.25 }
}

[hrontos]

Nice and simple water.

I made several attempts with a water, but it was quite expensive to render:

Edited January 14, 2013 by hrontos

[Palathadric]

What do you mean, expensive?

And really, really awesome water Hrontos!

[hrontos]

What do you mean, expensive?

And really, really awesome water Hrontos!

Thank you. Expensive in the sense of the required time to render. The water took longer to render than the model itself. I will look for the POV code and share it. Here is a nice POV-Ray water tutorial I learned from.

[Palathadric]

Expensive in the sense of the required time to render.

I thought so.

Thanks for the link.

[byte512]

I just finished my latest rendering, which using LGEO and seeing the great effect this has onto the rendering, i just wanted to say thanks to you C3POwen for continuing the work on LGEO.

Edited January 15, 2013 by byte512
: Oversized Image converted in text link. Maximum size allowed is 800x600 px.

[C3POwen]

GUIDE UPDATE: I have updated the LGEO-Update.zip file in the Downloads section with 8 new parts.

The NEW LGEO parts from the 2013-01-16 update

More new parts! And the round plate 4x4 plate with the 2x2 hole isn't even available in LDraw yet!

As per byte512's suggestion, I've made a small start on some pneumatic parts, mainly with the piston rods themselves. For the time being I'm keeping them to the LDraw dimensions, as it means I can easily make sure that the dimensions match by comparing LDraw and LGEO parts in POV-Ray.

I also thought I'd share an underside shot of the two round plates with tube snaps, as their underside studs took a little work to get right (and sometimes it's nice to show off!).

The tube snaps are not perfect, but are good enough for now.

I just finished my latest rendering, which using LGEO and seeing the great effect this has onto the rendering, i just wanted to say thanks to you C3POwen for continuing the work on LGEO.

Thank you! I probably spend more time creating LGEO parts than actual models, to be honest!

[byte512]

As per byte512's suggestion, I've made a small start on some pneumatic parts, mainly with the piston rods themselves. For the time being I'm keeping them to the LDraw dimensions, as it means I can easily make sure that the dimensions match by comparing LDraw and LGEO parts in POV-Ray.

Nice, glad to hear this! Thank you very much for working on this.

Hope you will change the length of those rods to the proportions of the real parts (as the LDraw parts are too short here) and add the rubber seals in the future. (only if it's easily possible).

I also thought I'd share an underside shot of the two round plates with tube snaps, as their underside studs took a little work to get right (and sometimes it's nice to show off!).

The tube snaps are not perfect, but are good enough for now.

Wow, they look really awesome and complicated!

What do you mean by "tube snaps", though?

Keep up the great work!

regards, byte

Edited January 16, 2013 by byte512

[superdreamkilla]

I'm having trouble with lighting. I'm using a MegaPOV build of POVRay 3.7 RC6, and I get the following result with your radiosity instructions:

Image

Gamma is set to 2.2 in the lg_color.inc file. Here's my POV file: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=iLzsCUzR

Any idea what's wrong? Thanks.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Calabar
Oversized image converted in text link. Maximum size allowed is 800x600 px.

[C3POwen]

I'm having trouble with lighting. I'm using a MegaPOV build of POVRay 3.7 RC6, and I get the following result with your radiosity instructions:

Gamma is set to 2.2 in the lg_color.inc file. Here's my POV file: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=iLzsCUzR

Any idea what's wrong? Thanks.

Looking at both the image and the file, I can see that your background colour seems to be set to black, and this is what is causing the issue.

Therefore, look through the file for these three lines:

#declare LDXBgR = 0; // Background Red
#declare LDXBgG = 0; // Background Green
#declare LDXBgB = 0; // Background Blue

If you change the "0" to "1", which will make the background white, you should see a difference.

[C3POwen]

GUIDE UPDATE: I have updated the LGEO-Update.zip file in the Downloads section with 5 new parts, 4 updated parts and 2 fixed parts.

The FIXED, UPDATED and NEW LGEO parts from the 2013-01-29 update

A parts update that should please those who build trains, as I've fixed the tip height of the roof part shown above.

Extra information is in the PDF file included within the update, which can also be viewed online here.

[Palathadric]

My first model. Created in sr 3d builder, rendered in Blender Cycles. I'm pretty noob in Blender, so the render and compositing need a lot improvement, but I'm trying.

Error: The dish 3960.dat hat connection problem, so the transparent stud is more inside.

Very nice, Juraj! I would like to see more Blender-rendered models.

[OtakuMode]

Nice! I'm sure this guide will help me a lot =)

[lego2lego]

Hi, i'm new to all this and i have been spending some time trying to figure out how to render Ldraw models.

I think I have the bare minimum mastered but one thing is bugging me, as you can see the helmet of the astronaut isn't smooth. I thought it was because the part wasn't part of the Lgeo library, but C3POwen just posted his latest render of a space set and he has a perfect smooth helmet. Can somebody help me with this?

Thanks

Edit:

I've been looking at this more closely and the following happens, when i am exporting the .LDR file through L3P launcher (for MAC) i am getting a couple "warnings" saying essentially that all the parts of the mini figure are not in LGEO. This is not true, as you may all well know as C3POwen just made some improvements on the LGEO files. Why is this happening, all the other bricks are replaced just fine. I am using bricksmith's minifig creator for my models.

Edited February 10, 2013 by lego2lego