On 6/11/2013 at 9:49 PM, SpaceMan Nathan said:

I have just started to render my MOCs in POV-Ray from LDraw...and I don't know a whole lot (or any) special tricks. But the issue I am having as I render my Ice Planet MOCs is that Trans_Neon_Oragne is showing up like a bad pee yellow. Is there an easy adjustment to make the trans neon oragne show up more true?

I made a quick render of one of your models. As you can see the colour is correct. Are you using the alternate colour includes? I believe C3POwen refers to them on the first page of this topic.

  On 6/3/2013 at 8:04 PM, Palathadric said:

How about this one:

[iMAGE]

I have to go offline now, so I can't wait for the other pages to load, but this one is really good.

Also, do I need to install Mega POV in order to render with radiosity? Somehow I got that impression.

You don't need MegaPOV to use radiosity, just normal POV-Ray (and I recommend using 3.7).

The floor is a very simple reflection, which is applied to the "finish" in the "// Floor" section of the POV-Ray file:

finish { ambient 0 diffuse 0.2 reflection { 0.7 exponent 1 falloff 0.9 } }

The 0.2 "diffuse" and 0.7 "reflection" values can be played around with to get the desired effect.

The rest of the effect is a mix of radiosity (as you mentioned) and HDR. This would take a little explaining, so will do so in another post later this week.

  On 6/11/2013 at 9:49 PM, SpaceMan Nathan said:

I have just started to render my MOCs in POV-Ray from LDraw...and I don't know a whole lot (or any) special tricks. But the issue I am having as I render my Ice Planet MOCs is that Trans_Neon_Oragne is showing up like a bad pee yellow. Is there an easy adjustment to make the trans neon oragne show up more true?

  On 6/12/2013 at 7:41 PM, lego2lego said:

I made a quick render of one of your models. As you can see the colour is correct. Are you using the alternate colour includes? I believe C3POwen refers to them on the first page of this topic.

My custom "lg_color.inc" file has more definitions than the original version, and I put some effort into getting the trans neon colours to look better than they did before (although they're still not 100% perfect - perhaps a little too "bright").

@lego2lego's render is what I would expect to see from using my file. Try downloading my LGEO Parts Update file and following the included instructions to get it installed.

I'll be updating the LGEO Parts Pack soon, but I'm currently working on updating it to use POV-Ray 3.7's default gamma of 1.0 (unlike POV-Ray 3.6, which uses a gamma of 2.2).

Thanks. I was doing a render and was using the "Rust" colour, which in SR 3D Builder is something of a dark red, but when I rendered it, it came out like this:

That is, the circle 2 x 2 tiles of the roof. Is that the colour it is supposed to be?

thanks lego2lego and c3powen...I will get those files and give it a try

  On 6/15/2013 at 2:27 PM, Palathadric said:

Thanks. I was doing a render and was using the "Rust" colour, which in SR 3D Builder is something of a dark red, but when I rendered it, it came out like this:

That is, the circle 2 x 2 tiles of the roof. Is that the colour it is supposed to be?

The LGEO definition for the Rust colour is not identical to how LDraw (and therefore SR 3D) shows it, as the LGEO definition is based on a list of official colour definitions supplied to Peeron by Lego. Rust is number 216, and you'll see it differs quite a lot from LDraw's definition. Considering that the LDraw team and Peeron are supposed to work closely together on ensuring part numbers are correct, etc., I really don't know why there is such a difference between these colour definitions.

Peeron also has another chart that combines the official Lego colours from Peeron and the LDraw colours, which allows you to compare them. Unfortunately, BrickLink only has two images of parts in Rust, and photographs are not always the best way to compare colours, as they might not have been taken using neutral lighting conditions.

I've also been putting together my own colour chart, which includes colour definitions from LDraw, LDD, Peeron and the LEGO Color Palette (2010, 2011), and this is how Rust is defined:

LDraw

LEGO Digital Designer

Peeron (definitions supplied by Lego)

LEGO Color Palette

You can see that there's quite a difference!

If you want to set Rust to render as it does in LDraw, all you need to do is edit your "lg_color.inc" file. Look for the following section:

#declare lg_rust = texture {
pigment { color rgb <143/255,76/255,42/255> }
finish { lg_solid_finish }
}

Alter the "pigment" line to this:

pigment { color rgb <179,16,4>/255 }

Ah, thanks! Perhaps I'll just go with red or dark red, though.

  On 6/12/2013 at 9:25 PM, C3POwen said:

My custom "lg_color.inc" file has more definitions than the original version, and I put some effort into getting the trans neon colours to look better than they did before (although they're still not 100% perfect - perhaps a little too "bright").

@lego2lego's render is what I would expect to see from using my file. Try downloading my LGEO Parts Update file and following the included instructions to get it installed.

I'll be updating the LGEO Parts Pack soon, but I'm currently working on updating it to use POV-Ray 3.7's default gamma of 1.0 (unlike POV-Ray 3.6, which uses a gamma of 2.2).

Hey C3POwen, thanks for the advice. I actually just reinstalled the All-in-one because I didn't have a LGEO file...anyway, the Trans neon orange looks just great now.

I ran into another problem though. I was re-rendering another MOC to see how the color changed of other neon colors. I got this error when I went to run it:

It says that the error is "Parse Error: Expected 'object', undeclared identifier 'lego_logo_text' found instead" This is for file 4624.inc. I repasted your file in to be sure and I still go the error.

}

object {

lego_logo_text

rotate <90, 0, 90>

scale <1, 0.7, 0.7>

translate <0.32, 0, 0>

}

  On 6/17/2013 at 3:49 AM, SpaceMan Nathan said:

It says that the error is "Parse Error: Expected 'object', undeclared identifier 'lego_logo_text' found instead" This is for file 4624.inc. I repasted your file in to be sure and I still go the error.

I've run a test render with part 4624 and don't get any errors at all, and instead get the wheel as shown below. I've included the POV-Ray file, if you can try rendering that and see what you get.

My only thought could be that something has not been installed properly as part of the LGEO setup, as the "lego_logo_text" definition is part of the Lutz Uhlmann's original LGEO librray, and should render correctly on all parts.

POV-Ray file

C3POwen, I downloaded the file and it said I needed 3.7. So I downloaded 3.7 and now whenever I try to render something I get this:

Parse Error: Cannot open include file lg_defs.inc

the line highlighted is: #include "lg_defs.inc"

Did you try editing the Master POVRay.ini file with these lines:

Library_Path="C:\Program Files\LDraw\LGEO"

Library_Path="C:\Program Files\LDraw\LGEO\ar"

Library_Path="C:\Program Files\LDraw\LGEO\lg"

They would, of course, have to be the location of where you installed LGEO.

For me it's:

"C:\LDraw\LGEO"

  On 6/22/2013 at 8:03 PM, gallaghersart said:

Recently posted an update, can be found here LDraw.xml file now at 4.32 with over 1,453+ working parts out of 2.813 from LDD

Made some progress on the minifig arms and hands.

Hope to have the next update in a week or so, many more working parts and hopefully "fixed" minifig parts.

Gallagher

C3POWen!

Does this effect things you've already changed or will you make an edit on this one still?

  On 6/23/2013 at 6:05 PM, Palathadric said:

C3POWen!

Does this effect things you've already changed or will you make an edit on this one still?

I don't understand your worries?

That LDraw.xml has nothing to do with rendering LDraw models. That LDraw.xml is used by LDD to correctly export LDD models to LDraw

  On 6/18/2013 at 5:47 PM, C3POwen said:

I've run a test render with part 4624 and don't get any errors at all, and instead get the wheel as shown below. I've included the POV-Ray file, if you can try rendering that and see what you get.

My only thought could be that something has not been installed properly as part of the LGEO setup, as the "lego_logo_text" definition is part of the Lutz Uhlmann's original LGEO librray, and should render correctly on all parts.

POV-Ray file

Okay, I got 3.7 downloaded and running correctly (thanks Duke, I missed those lines of code). And your file for 4624 rendered correclty.

Now what? Do I need to drop that file into the LGEO lg file? or do I need to replace a different file?

I'm not sure I understand the question.

Did you download C3POwen's LGEO Parts Update File and copy it to the LGEO\lg directory and the LGEO.xml file to the LDView directory? If so everything should work fine...I think.

  On 6/23/2013 at 8:17 PM, legolijntje said:

I don't understand your worries?

That LDraw.xml has nothing to do with rendering LDraw models. That LDraw.xml is used by LDD to correctly export LDD models to LDraw

For some reason I confused it with the LGEO.xml. Ignore that post.

  On 6/24/2013 at 9:21 AM, Palathadric said:

I'm not sure I understand the question.

Did you download C3POwen's LGEO Parts Update File and copy it to the LGEO\lg directory and the LGEO.xml file to the LDView directory? If so everything should work fine...I think.

yeah, I have done all the things 3CPOwen says to do on the first page and on this page. I am still getting these messages/issues:

"Parse Warning: Should have at least 2 objects in csg."

"'C:\Program Files (x86)\LDraw\LGEO\lg\lg_4624.inc' line 174: Parse Error: Expected 'object', undeclared indentifier 'lego_logo_text' found instead"

I also just realized that I don't have textured studs (word 'LEGO' on stud) in either LDView or POV-Ray. I activated the textured studs in LDView but got nothing. I am guessing that would be related to the other issue, but I am not sure.

  On 6/25/2013 at 10:57 PM, SpaceMan Nathan said:

"Parse Warning: Should have at least 2 objects in csg."

This is quite common throughout the LGEO library, so this can be ignored -- it won't cause any rendering problems.

  On 6/25/2013 at 11:55 PM, SpaceMan Nathan said:

I also just realized that I don't have textured studs (word 'LEGO' on stud) in either LDView or POV-Ray. I activated the textured studs in LDView but got nothing. I am guessing that would be related to the other issue, but I am not sure.

When you export a model from LDView to POV-Ray, on the export window click "Options..." and then make sure that "Include stud logos" shows under Quality. Then try rendering another model.

Incidentally, does anyone else get this same issue when they render my updated version of wheel 4624 with the Lego logo?

In other news, I've been playing about with light sources in the attempt to create a light brick that actually glows. Because it's against the LDraw agreement to use existing part code outside of LDraw, I've recreated the LED part in POV-Ray and got the below result. This way it converts the LDraw code when exporting from LDView, but uses a POV-Ray LED.

The example is based on how the light bricks are positioned in 7347 Highway Pickup, with clear plates and slopes next to the light. The result is not perfect -- but not terrible!

  On 6/25/2013 at 10:57 PM, SpaceMan Nathan said:

I am still getting these messages/issues:

"'C:\Program Files (x86)\LDraw\LGEO\lg\lg_4624.inc' line 174: Parse Error: Expected 'object', undeclared indentifier 'lego_logo_text' found instead"

I've attached a modified version of lg_4624 to this post which might allow it to render to properly, as the Lego logo now won't render if the quality level is set to not show the logo elsewhere. I honestly hadn't thought about this before, but it might be what is causing the issue.

It needs to go in your LDraw\LGEO\lg folder, along with the other LGEO files.

This updated version will be added to the next LGEO update I do, and should make it to the LDraw All-in-One Installer too...

lg_4624.zipUnavailable

GUIDE UPDATE: I have updated the LGEO-Update.zip file in the Downloads section with 8 new parts, 1 updated part and 3 fixed parts.

The FIXED, UPDATED and NEW LGEO parts from the 2013-06-28 update

Another small update to the LGEO library, and with a few parts I was surprised were not already part of the original library.

The light that you can see by the Bar 6L with Thick Stop is an "experimental" part, which is the LED from the Electric 2 x 3 x 1.333 Light Brick. When rendering a model with the Light Brick, it should automatically glow, based on the light emitted from the LED. As I said, it's more experimental than anything, so if you find it's not to your liking then you can simply remove the entry for 62503.dat from the LGEO.xml file (a plain text editor will allow you to edit this file).

NOTE: I have made some changes to the colour file, which may be reliant on having POV-Ray 3.7 installed. Further information is included in the PDF that comes with the new/updated parts.

EDIT: I have made a small update to the LGEO Update Pack, where the LED is now OFF by default. To turn it on when rendering, simply add the following line to your POV-Ray file: #declare LG_LIGHT_SWITCH = 1;

Edited June 29, 201311 yr by C3POwen

  On 6/27/2013 at 10:18 PM, C3POwen said:

I've attached a modified version of lg_4624 to this post which might allow it to render to properly, as the Lego logo now won't render if the quality level is set to not show the logo elsewhere. I honestly hadn't thought about this before, but it might be what is causing the issue.

It needs to go in your LDraw\LGEO\lg folder, along with the other LGEO files.

This updated version will be added to the next LGEO update I do, and should make it to the LDraw All-in-One Installer too...

This must be exactly the problem. Because once I set LDview to export the textured studs I had no problem rendering anything.

And by the way, your upgrade on the neon colors (my original issue) is great!

GUIDE UPDATE: I have updated the LGEO-Update.zip file in the Downloads section with 10 new parts.

The NEW LGEO parts from the 2013-07-27 update

Another small update to the LGEO library, this time consisting of only new parts, some of which have only recently been certified on the LDraw Parts Tracker. For instance, the round 2x2 tile is in fact a new part that was first shown here.

Awesome, that Bracket. Thanks, CSPOwen.

And finally the Crystal Ball for all the Bat sets. The 2 x 2 round tile is great for the project I'm currently working on too!

  On 7/28/2013 at 5:57 PM, Palathadric said:

Awesome, that Bracket. Thanks, C3POwen.

Thanks!

  On 7/28/2013 at 5:57 PM, Palathadric said:

And finally the Crystal Ball for all the Bat sets.

Well, because of the way it's built in LDraw it really doesn't convert well via LDView, and an LGEO version was straightforward enough to put together. The geometry is based on the LDraw part, for which I suspect the inner height is not 100% accurate.

Have to re-render Witches Fireplace and see how it looks now.