January Entry: Thannergos azan kel-Telormar !

[Redrobes]

1. The tecture of the various materials look good, but the gemstones (particularly the dark gray stone) seem to float above the tablet vice being embedded in or placed on it. If there is a way to fix that, I think that it would be worth your time.

Very astute ! The whole thing was rendered in a 3D package except the gemstones which were from a collection of icons so I just nicked them and put them on top. You can also tell because the specular highlight is in different directions. So your are right they are floating ! I probably have the originals in the 3D format so I'll have to see whether I can stick them on top in the 3D app and rerender it. I was going to have a little movie of it tilting and sparkling like Robs avatars but because of the gems I could not so if I do this then I could try that.

2. To my eye, everything looks "real" as if I could reach out and touch it--with the exception of the marble itself around the edges. It looks less than real. Again, if there is a way to fix that, I think that it would be worth your time.

That might be the lighting. I'm using many lights with soft shadows for an outdoor look but it might work better with harder shadows. Perhaps it needs some bump mapping to bring out the texture of it. Because its perfectly flat the steps all render to exactly the same shades and then you cant see those steps so well. Maybe ill pick a different marble texture too. Something stronger with white and black seams running through it.

With both of those being said, even if you didn't make either change, it is a tremendous entry.

Thanks, I thought my last one was too dull so I brightened it up a bit this time.

One question: Does the text translate? I assume that it does, since it looks like you've used Norse runes. Care to translate for us, or do we need to do it ourselves?

Oh its just English done in runes. I reckon it would spoil the fun if I translated it too early !