# Round 24: guide for the next photorealism pass Execution update (2026-09-06): the [v49 detail pass](../round24-build/review.html) now implements this guide, and [THE $TORM ARCHIVE](../../index.html) connects the model to the supplied story, music and evidence records. Its independent technical evaluation passes 31 checks. Full photorealism remains a separate visual development goal. Original planning baseline: [v48](). The reference indexing task below preceded the model update. Found 31 images under the requested folder: six adjacent 1672 x 941 PNGs and a packet with 25 JPGs. The ZIP contains the same packet and adds no images. [Browse all references](review.html) | [Priority board](priority-board.jpg) | [Inventory and hashes](inventory.json) ## Recommended first slice Finish one existing waterfront block from facade to occupied room to quay and ferry access. Use R24-06, R24-27, R24-25, R24-23 and R24-20. Add depth, material response and functional transitions before propagating the kit around the city. Preserve the command tower, market, shipyards, dining barge, crane-yard ferry, flood gate, drone and geographic spacing. The original city is linked from v43. Future edits should use a separate candidate with local replacements or suitable overrides, preserving the v43 source and the v48 baseline. ## Ordered work ### P1 / Finish one connected waterfront block References: [R24-06](sources/originals/ChatGPT Image Jul 31, 2026, 10_20_17 PM (6).png), [R24-27](sources/04_architecture/waterfront_retrofit_06.jpg), [R24-25](sources/04_architecture/podium_adaptation_01.jpg), [R24-23](sources/04_architecture/facade_window_rhythm_02.jpg), [R24-22](sources/04_architecture/elevated_walkway_05.jpg). Target objects/collections/materials: V43_DISTINCT_WATERFRONT_ARCHITECTURE, V42_WATERFRONT_PUBLIC_REALM, HD_CRANEYARD_011, WW_GATE_MAINTENANCE_BERTH. - Deep window reveals, mullions, frames, seals, entrance thresholds and facade joints. - Occupied ground-floor rooms with floors, walls, ceilings and furniture behind glass. - Connect terraces, stairs, walkways, railings and doors to existing quays. Keep the placed scenes and their access routes. Proposed validation: Off-axis camera translation must reveal real interior depth and no light leaks. Pedestrian access and flight clearances remain open. Compare marked facade and podium crops at the same output resolution and current lighting. ### P2 / Make ferry berths read as working places References: [R24-20](sources/03_waterfront/ferry_dock_system_04.jpg), [R24-19](sources/03_waterfront/canal_junction_03.jpg), [R24-09](sources/01_bridge/bridge_canal_span_03.jpg), [R24-11](sources/01_bridge/bridge_deck_clearance_04.jpg), [R24-02](sources/originals/ChatGPT Image Jul 31, 2026, 10_20_17 PM (2).png). Target objects/collections/materials: WORLD_LOCATION_004_FERRY_SOUTHEAST, HD_CRANEYARD_011, HD_FERRY_011, WW_GATE_MAINTENANCE_BERTH, HD_DINING_BARGE_007. - Add covered boarding areas, articulated boarding ramps, pile guides, fender assemblies, cleats, deck drains and mooring lines at existing berths. - Refine ferry window framing, gasket depth, doors, handrails and interior readability. - Use secondary-bridge references for bridge undersides, landing geometry and railings, while preserving vessel and camera clearance. Proposed validation: Check ramp endpoints, boarding access, rope attachment, fender clearance and navigable water width. Confirm both vessel drafts and motion-dependent wake direction. Inspect ferry glazing with the interior present, from front and oblique views. ### P3 / Replace uniform surface response References: [R24-31](sources/05_atmosphere/wet_reflections_04.jpg), [R24-06](sources/originals/ChatGPT Image Jul 31, 2026, 10_20_17 PM (6).png), [R24-27](sources/04_architecture/waterfront_retrofit_06.jpg), [R24-23](sources/04_architecture/facade_window_rhythm_02.jpg). Target objects/collections/materials: V42_Tidal_Water, WORLD_P70_Wet_Concrete, WW_Salt_worn_quay_concrete, HD_Salt_worn_quay_concrete, HD_Reclaimed_oak, HD_Ferry_glazing. - Separate puddles, damp stone, dry coping, glass, coated steel and timber through plausible roughness and normal scale. - Add tide staining and algae near the water datum; corrosion at fasteners, seams and runoff paths. - Introduce coherent water ripples, contact disturbance and broken reflections at vessels and quay walls. Retain current sky, exposure and light placement. Proposed validation: Use material crops under unchanged dusk lighting; inspect stretched coordinates and implausible highlights. Check waterline consistency and contact details in neighboring frames. Use deliberately wrong roughness and missing contact-detail variants to calibrate visual evaluation. ### P4 / Build foreground and skyline depth without filling the canals References: [R24-26](sources/04_architecture/rooftop_density_03.jpg), [R24-24](sources/04_architecture/mixed_height_fabric_04.jpg), [R24-21](sources/03_waterfront/shoreline_transition_02.jpg), [R24-15](sources/02_skyline/east_density_02.jpg), [R24-13](sources/02_skyline/aerial_depth_layers_03.jpg). Target objects/collections/materials: V41_ARCHITECTURAL_DETAIL, V43_DISTINCT_WATERFRONT_ARCHITECTURE, WORLD_LOCATION_001_INDUSTRIAL_SOUTHWEST, SF_V17_EAST64_URBAN_DEPTH. - Vary roof levels, parapets, ducts, plant screens, service stairs, trees and maintained terrace zones. - Increase midrise continuity and setback variation in the eastern background using the existing footprints. - Retain the open-water wedge, connected canals, Portsmouth higher ground and separation between districts. Proposed validation: Check roof silhouettes, tree/building contact and absence of repeated identical facade patterns. Review aerial, low-angle and moving-camera views so density improvements survive parallax. Re-run the complete 120-second route against all added geometry. ### P5 / Protect landmark identity and reserve atmosphere changes References: [R24-08](sources/00_hero/hero_primary.jpg), [R24-07](sources/00_hero/hero_annotated.jpg), [R24-12](sources/01_bridge/bridge_wide_silhouette_01.jpg), [R24-14](sources/02_skyline/central_hierarchy_01.jpg), [R24-16](sources/02_skyline/lower_angle_landmarks_04.jpg), [R24-28](sources/05_atmosphere/fog_depth_03.jpg), [R24-29](sources/05_atmosphere/horizon_break_02.jpg), [R24-30](sources/05_atmosphere/storm_cloud_scale_01.jpg). Target objects/collections/materials: VS1_BAY_BRIDGE_*, IRH_BAY_BRIDGE_SUPERSTRUCTURE_*, VS1_TRANSAMERICA_PYRAMID, V41_ROUNDED_HERO_TOWER, DRONE_DUSK_WORLD. - Preserve Bay Bridge identity, open-water approach and separation between Transamerica and the rounded hero tower. - Use the annotated hero to guide proportion and attention, with actual geometry and navigation taking precedence over a single frame. - Keep storm color grading, cloud replacement and new fog lighting as deferred atmosphere references under the current lighting instruction. Proposed validation: Use explicit landmark/object masks and a camera family before assigning similarity scores. Do not reuse the packet historical v18-v25 scores as current v48 results. Do not count multiple crops from an unverified source lineage as independent held-out validation images. ## Provenance and limits The six adjacent PNGs and the packet are separate supplied sets. The packet declares six differently named source images; filename and visual inspection did not establish a mapping to the adjacent PNGs. In particular, the packet hero, podium and facade views contain signage/building compositions absent from the adjacent frames. Parent source files and crop coordinates are unavailable in this folder. The packet hero is labeled as a 4K upscale; supporting views are crops/resizes. These are useful style and composition references, not independent high-resolution photographs or PBR texture maps. All 33 packet-manifest entries match their recorded hashes/sizes; all 34 archive members match the extracted packet. Packet EVALUATION_HANDOFF discusses v18/v24/v25 and old scores. Its Blender 4.x/Cycles and 4K timing targets are historical, not verified capabilities of the current Blender 5.2/EEVEE environment. The packet declares the left landmark as Bay Bridge; the current city audit already contains VS1_BAY_BRIDGE and associated Bay Bridge superstructure objects. The latest instruction to preserve existing lighting remains in force. Use storm/cloud/haze images as deferred atmosphere references. Current v48 lighting and its 120-second route stay fixed for geometry/material comparison. No new character likeness, food close-up, drone close-up or scan-quality surface reference is supplied here. The earlier clip references remain the guides for those subjects; their remaining photorealism gaps are not solved by this batch. The proposed evaluations above have not run. Existing v48 technical checks establish preservation and clearance, not photorealistic acceptance. ## Retained context The full source packet, CSV, annotations, manifests and handoffs are copied under sources/. The existing worldbuilding prompts remain in the v48 and v47 embedded context and in [harbor scene metadata](../harbor-scenes/manifest.json) and [waterworks context](../waterworks/source-context.json).