Abandoned Sky Circus

[Don Whitaker]

First time I've rendered such a long sequence in MandelBulb 3D - 12500 frames at about 3 1/2 minutes per frame for about 730 hours of rendering time. Next time I will do more test renders before committing to final version.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/is-dFvEZDlA&rel=1&fs=1&hd=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/is-dFvEZDlA&rel=1&fs=1&hd=1</a>

Music created by my friend Richard Sharpless. He sometimes records his keyboard meanderings and hands me a disc full of 'Possible Soundtracks'. This one fit the bill perfectly.

The flashing dot artifacts are a bit distracting, especially in the first few minutes. I suppose those would have been greatly reduced with oversampling. I'm also not sure why there seems to be some whole screen flashing in sections, similar to what I've seen with exposure changes in RL timelapse photography. Or maybe it is a sort of optic, moire-patterny effect? Any Mandelbulb 3D users know how to avoid this?

I'll attach the .m3a animation file for anyone who sees something that they want to explore further.

[Power 8]

Wow what a strange and beautiful place! And it does look like a circus or an alien fairground of sorts. Great job and very good use of M3D. Bravo Don,thanks for the ride

[Jesse]

Outstanding work, Don!
Nice flightpath, lovely shapes 

What program version did you use?  It seems that there were some discontinuities in the rotation interpolation, that i solved in the
newer versions.
But my computers have problems with displaying HD movies so i am not shure in this point.  Could not see the exposure effect either.
The flashing dots aliasing may be reduceable by giving the "smooth normals" value a 1 or 2, if it was zero before.

But still one of the best movies made with M3D i have seen, if not the best...  but then i will be knocked from others maybe. 

Thanks!

[Don Whitaker]

Thanks Power 8 and Jesse.

I guess I used version v1.53. I figured I had done something weird to the keyframes while I was goofing around that caused those hiccups. It was a big mess in there for a while.    Thanks for the tip about the Smooth Normals, I'll give that a try.

The screen flashing I mentioned, I have decided it is something caused by my monitor. I don't see the effect when I watch on my TV, so it maybe it's a combo of cheap monitor and complex detail.

[Jesse]

I am afraid that these issues were in that older version, problems with the rotation interpolation and
also a kind of lightness changing... so i have to apologize for that 

So please upgrade to the newest version, as long at it works on your computer.

[Don Whitaker]

I've upgraded and the new version is working well, thank you. The new lighting/color controls and depth of field or great additions.

A quick question while we are 'here'. I do still struggle a bit with keeping my colors 'steady'. Maybe I am missing something simple.  Is there a way to 'lock' the colors in place so that specific areas of geometry maintain the same specific colors throughout an animation?

My monochrome setups look nice and steady.  whenever I try to add multiple colors I end up with shifting, morphing colors - especially as I fly closer to objects. I like the effect, but it'd be nice to be able to lock em down to provide that extra solid feel. I don't really understand how the coloring works, so I'm sure that's a big part of it. 

[Jesse]

Yep, the coloring is a bit problematic because it varies with the distance to the set, and the distance varies
with the zoom and distance to the viewer.
There are two coloring methods: on orbit trap (if this option is marked) or else on smooth iteration counts.
The orbit trap method varies not as much, but gives often poor results.

I can only try to reduce the color shifting, though there are some difficulties.

[bib]

I agree this video is really a very good piece of work despite the little glitches, there is some Mandelbulber/Buddhi's feeling in it

[The Rev]

Gorgeous work.  I love the natural yet alien feel of the environment.  Just fantastic!

The Rev

[Don Whitaker]

Thanks Bib and The Rev.

Cool, jesse. At least now I can stop worrying if I was missing some sooper sekret color setting. hehe

[Jesse]

Nope, no secrets in the color setting by now 

Unfortunately, i have made a bug in the new version when "smooth normals" is bigger than 0, what is very strange...
but it should be fixed in the 1.641 upgrade.
So please upgrade before you start a new marathon 

[jehovajah]

This is a masterpiece Dan. As a human being i can appreciate that, even if i am not as artistic as some of your well wishers.

These forms populate my dreams and so i have a deep connection to them. Some of them are how i imagine the wind would look like if we could see the pressure gradients and the complex swirls and eddies and vortices.

The recognisable spherical and ellipsoidal frameworks are just a few of the delightful conic section curves in these shapes. I therefore get a strong sense of gravity around these objects and the beautiful pearl and diamond moons complete the picture.

As i said.. a masterpiece.