TITLE: The Crystal Planet
NAME: David Chandler Spake
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: preacher@iftech.net
WEBPAGE: http://www.spake.org/david
TOPIC: Glass
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
JPGFILE: crystalp.jpg
ZIPFILE: crystalp.zip
RENDERER USED: 
TOOLS USED: 
RENDER TIME: 8 Minutes 10 seconds
HARDWARE USED: 
(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

