===== From skipt1@aol.com: The models rendered quite well and are a compliment to the artistic qualities of this image. The light beams seam a little harsh but the colors of the upper half of the image are effective. The water could use the most work. Perhaps having it reflect the sky with a little more noticeable perturb? ===== From povray@doublezero.uklinux.net: This is a very good image - very Jason and the Argonauts. The sunlight breaking through the clouds is quite effective and rescues what was in danger of being an unbalanced composition. The Colossus has nice ribs, but I suppose Poser gets the credit for that. I imagine they are accurate as they are, but the triremes look as if they should have figureheads. The water could have been a bit better, but it's barely noticeable in the picture. Well done! ===== From shevlin@uic.edu: The lighting is off in this scene. Although sunlight is streaming through the clouds, most of the light appears to be coming from some source behind the viewer. The ships are modeled well, although the oars need a bit of randomness. Also, the water seems a little still and there should probably be a bit of land showing in the harbor. It's probably also unrealistic to have clouds going completely down to the waterline without some sort of horizon, too. ===== From hildurka@simnet.is: I love the concept. The statue looks great so do the ships. But the water is not very convincing and the sky looks like it doesn_t belong there. A reflective texture on the water, mirroring the sky, might solve this. ===== From renebui@aol.com: Nice work. Water could be better. ===== From sshelby@shelbyvision.com: Really fits the topic. Well done. ===== From file: Notable for lighting, originality, modelling ===== From file: Colossus is stunning, well-placed in the picture, dominant and, to coin a phrase, of "epic proportions". The flame is impressively realistic. And I love the sunshine bursting through the clouds. The amount of coding that went into the ships must be definitely "non-trivial". So I ask myself, "Why doesn't this image work 100%?" Careful analysis leads me to the following suggestions, which are intended to be constructive (as I know how much work goes into something like this!). I wonder if the realism could be improved by (a) lighting the scene from the same direction as the "sunshine through the coluds" - you'd get dark objects with a bright outline on the right - possibly deep shadows - but the current image's effect would only look right to a person who lived in a world with two suns... (b) weathering the wood texture a bit on the boats to make them look as if they had been wet for more than a few seconds (c) some hint of turbulent reflection in the water could be amazing - the Colossus, the ships, the harbour walls... (d) the final one is something I don't know how to do, but I'll include the comment anyway - ships would normally cause some disturbance in the water - ripples, waves, wash. Without it, they look like little models placed on a piece of blue cloth. But how to do it? In closing, I'd like to point out that I only comment on images I like, so please take these suggestions as an indication that I thought this image was worth spending time on! Notable for lighting, originality ===== From file: Colossus is stunning, well-placed in the picture, dominant and, to coin a phrase, of "epic proportions". The flame is impressively realistic. And I love the sunshine bursting through the clouds. The amount of coding that went into the ships must be definitely "non-trivial". So I ask myself, "Why doesn't this image work 100%?" Careful analysis leads me to the following suggestions, which are intended to be constructive (as I know how much work goes into something like this!). I wonder if the realism could be improved by (a) lighting the scene from the same direction as the "sunshine through the coluds" - you'd get dark objects with a bright outline on the right - possibly deep shadows - but the current image's effect would only look right to a person who lived in a world with two suns... (b) weathering the wood texture a bit on the boats to make them look as if they had been wet for more than a few seconds (c) some hint of turbulent reflection in the water could be amazing - the Colossus, the ships, the harbour walls... (d) the final one is something I don't know how to do, but I'll include the comment anyway - ships would normally cause some disturbance in the water - ripples, waves, wash. Without it, they look like little models placed on a piece of blue cloth. But how to do it? In closing, I'd like to point out that I only comment on images I like, so please take these suggestions as an indication that I thought this image was worth spending time on! Notable for lighting, originality ===== From file: Colossus is stunning, well-placed in the picture, dominant and, to coin a phrase, of "epic proportions". The flame is impressively realistic. And I love the sunshine bursting through the clouds. The amount of coding that went into the ships must be definitely "non-trivial". So I ask myself, "Why doesn't this image work 100%?" Careful analysis leads me to the following suggestions, which are intended to be constructive (as I know how much work goes into something like this!). I wonder if the realism could be improved by (a) lighting the scene from the same direction as the "sunshine through the coluds" - you'd get dark objects with a bright outline on the right - possibly deep shadows - but the current image's effect would only look right to a person who lived in a world with two suns... (b) weathering the wood texture a bit on the boats to make them look as if they had been wet for more than a few seconds (c) some hint of turbulent reflection in the water could be amazing - the Colossus, the ships, the harbour walls... (d) the final one is something I don't know how to do, but I'll include the comment anyway - ships would normally cause some disturbance in the water - ripples, waves, wash. Without it, they look like little models placed on a piece of blue cloth. But how to do it? In closing, I'd like to point out that I only comment on images I like, so please take these suggestions as an indication that I thought this image was worth spending time on! Notable for lighting, originality