EMAIL:preacher@iftech.net NAME:David Chandler Spake TOPIC:Glass COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT. TITLE:The Crystal Planet COUNTRY:USA WEBPAGE:http://www.spake.org/david RENDERER USED:Topas 5.11 TOOLS USED:Topas 5.11 RENDER TIME: 8 Minutes 10 seconds HARDWARE USED:PPro 180 w/64megs ram and 110meg scratch disk (lengthy text file begins here) IMAGE DESCRIPTION: If you are familiar with the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon sieres then this image is quickly conceivable. Calvin tearing around the house wreaking havock... except in his little mind. The idea for the image came all at once... I had missed the last few competion cycles. I started to make a space scene, but couldn't. Tried to make a flight scene, but ran out of time before I had even one model done. However I did have the "space man spiff" craft partially done, and thought, "hey I can make up for my last two entries and cover this one in one fell swoop"... so here it is... The inset shows Calvin's (rarely accurate) perception, and the main frame shows the reality of his emminent destruction of the crystal vase. I have included for your enjoyment the 2 magazine covers on the coffee table in the accompaning zip file, however I didn't inclued the models as it is in excess of 3megs in size. Image stats: model size 3,029,756 38480 polygons 127 objects 6 lights 41.76 megs used in the rendering process. (the spiff inset took 1min 16 seconds to render). HOW THE IMAGE WAS CREATED INSET IMAGE I had the partially finished space ship, so I finished that off.. modled an fullbody of Calvin... saw that it didnt fit so just put the necessary parts in side the ship. I had many many refrence books handy (laughing inbetween modeling) For the "Crystal Planet"I made a faceted sphere by using a spline lathed object rather than a standard sphere. (Make a spline poly line and use a lathe tool to spin it giving x# of sides) and fideled with the complexity until it showed what I was after. Extruded some objects and bent them until they showed the aspect of "streaking through space" and placed the text. I rendered this scene fully... and placed (image mapped) it on a 2D rectangle that was outside of the reflective areas of the scene ... so i didn't cheat by compositing the pictures in photoshop incase you are concerned. MAIN ROOM IMAGE I started with the couch. I had a model supplied on a CD I had, but in the spirit of this decided to not use it, but rather looked at how they made thier couch and didn't have to punish myself with more then 7 or 8 tries....(mainly for texturing and getting the cushions just right) The coffee table was natural and easy. The next phase was.. hmmm what should I put on the table? Magazines made sense... so i created my two editions of "The Rendering Times" (included in zip file) one issue being mapped with my entry for the "time" competition. And the other with an image I did to test different IOR settings on different weights of glass objects. I really like it alone.... but then rendred glass is one of my favorite things. (coffee table continued) I then thought hmm we need a paper weight here, and this is what I like best on this image, The crystal ball on a stand on the table. I have spent lots of time just looking at it. It worked beyond my wildest dreams. The stand is a circle cut from a circle (torus but I didn't have a tool..) that I then extruded on both sides.. and made a tri-pod type stand. The small table under the modern art picture with a glass inset top and the "crystal" flower vase that Calvin is about to destroy. The picture is actually something I made in photoshop just for this purpose, and image mapped. I love the reflection of the vase in the table top. The marbles finish the scene.. in the corner.. right where I imagine a little boy would dump them. There is an (unseen but modeled) hallway opposite the end of the coffetable that is outside of the scene but contributing light, as well as a window cut behind the couch with a 'sun' light shining though. Also have room lighting from the ceiling. Thank you for taking the time to read through this ghastly long text file, and above all I hope you enjoy looking at my image. David