EMAIL: an692@torfree.net NAME: Karl Sack TOPIC: Glass COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT. TITLE: Monitor Scanner COUNTRY: Canada (Bradford, Ontario) WEBPAGE: None RENDERER USED: POV-Ray 3.0 TOOLS USED: LView Pro 1.A/16-bit for Windows 3.1 (mmedia@world.std.com) RENDER TIME: 23h 42m 17s (3489 frame level objects and 1 infinite) HARDWARE USED: IBM 486; Pentium 133; Hewlett Packard ScanJet IIc IMAGE DESCRIPTION: MY LATEST PROJECT IS LYING ON THE WORKBENCH COMPLETED AND WORKING! FROM L TO R YOU SEE: A COMPUTER MONITOR DISPLAYING A SCENE; THE PHOTO- SENSITIVE MATRIX WHICH TRANSLATES THE SCENE ON THE MONITOR INTO AN ARRAY OF VOLTAGE LEVELS; THE MAIN RAYTRACER UNIT DECODING THE INPUT SIGNALS INTO COMMANDS FOR THE ROBOT ARMS; THE ARMATRON (TM) ASSEMBLING THE IMAGE ONTO THE LITE BRITE (TM) MONITOR. A HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTO SENSITVE MATRIX (NOT SHOWN) WAS USED IN THE SAME WAY TO CREATE THE ETCH-A-SKETCH PICTURE WHICH WAS DONE BY THE SAME RAYTRACER BUT ONLY IN 'VECTOR GRAPHICS MODE' INSTEAD OF 'RASTER GRAPHICS MODE'. FOR A FEW DAYS I WAS TRYING TO COME UP WITH A SCENE ABOUT GLASS (OR SOMETHING THAT IS SEMI-TRANSPARENT) AND THEN IT HIT ME! MY YOUNGER SON WAS PLAYING WITH HIS LITE BRITE TOY, GOT MAD, THREW THE PEGS UP IN THE AIR AND THAT'S WHEN IT HIT ME...RIGHT ON THE HEAD! MY OLDER SON WAS PLAYING WITH THE ARMATRON, THAT I HAD BOUGHT MANY MANY YEARS AGO, PICKING UP THE LITTLE LITE BRITE PEGS. I PUT THEM BOTH TOGETHER; ADDED THE ETCH-A-SKETCH, AS ANOTHER SOURCE OF RAYTRACING, THAT I USED TO PLAY WITH WHEN I WAS A KID...AND VOILA!! THERE WAS A PROJECT IN THE MAY 1985 ISSUE OF RADIO ELECTRONICS (R) THAT I HAD BUILT TO CONTROL THE ARMATRON AND THOUGHT IT WOULD BE NEAT TO HAVE THE ROBOT DO THE LITE BRITE PICTURE. THE LOW RESOLUTION IMAGE SCANNER TO 'READ IN' THE IMAGE FROM THE SCREEN CAN BE USED WITH ANY OTHER IMAGE SOURCE AS LONG AS THERE IS LIGHT COMING FROM THE IMAGE (EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY). DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: ALL OBJECTS WERE CREATED BY HAND USING CSG. THAT IS WHY THERE ARE NO COMPLICATED OBJECTS IN THE SCENE. I'M FAIRLY NEW TO POVRAY AND HAVE NOT MASTERED THE GREAT THINGS IT CAN DO (HALO; BEZIER PATCHES; ETC.). I WAS TRYING TO THINK OF A WAY TO COLOUR EACH PEG WITH THE CORRECT COLOUR WITHOUT ACTUALLY HAVING TO DEFINE EACH PEG SEPARATELY. WHAT I DID WAS TO TAKE A 640 BY 480 IMAGE AND RESIZE IT TO 32 BY 24 THEN RESIZE IT AGAIN BACK TO 640 BY 480. THIS GAVE ME A 'MOSAIC' IMAGE OF COLOURED SQUARES 20 PIXELS IN SIZE. THIS IMAGE WAS THEN MAPPED OVER THE 32 BY 24 ARRAY OF PEGS IN POVRAY. THERE ARE MORE 'PIXELS' IN THE ACTUAL LITE BRITE TOY BUT IT SLOWED DOWN THE RAYTRACING TIME AND USED UP A LOT MORE MEMORY (SOMETHING I DON'T HAVE A LOT OF...YET!). THE ETCH-A-SKETCH DRAWING WAS DONE BY TAKING THE SAME INPUT IMAGE TURNING IT INTO A B/W IMAGE AND APPLYING A FILTER TO DEFINE THE EDGES. THE FILE NAMES ARE PCIMAGE.TGA (FOR THE MONITOR IMAGE), LBIMAGE.TGA (FOR THE LIE BRITE IMAGE), ESIMAGE.TGA (FOR THE ETCH-A-SKETCH IMAGE). THE LOW-RESOLUTION SCANNER IS AN ARRAY (32 x 24) OF SHAPED MAGNIFYING GLASSES. EACH UNIT FOCUSES THE LIGHT FROM AN AREA OF PIXELS ON THE MONITOR (20 x 20) ONTO A PHOTO-ELECTRIC SENSOR WIRED IN A MATRIX FORM. THE TWO PARTS CABINETS ARE MADE OF PLASTIC WITH PLEXIGLASS DRAWERS.