Solaristics - WIP

[IMBJR]

Hand-coded and rendered in POV-Ray, utilising:

. Soft shadows for that more realistic look.

. Media for the glow of the star. Originally there was going to be a dias to the right of the scene holding up a little sci-fi-type object by means of a blue beam (more media), but it didn't look the part.

. Radiosity - the glow from the star is enhanced by use of this feature. This bugger-bob is going to be a biatch to render big because of this feature.

. Isosurfaces for the space rocks. That little sci-fi-dooberry mentioned above was also an isosurface - a set of 3 perpendicular tori that melted into one another; but again, it looked lame.

. Some pigment evaluation to determine position and size of them space rocks.

Eventually, those two "pegs" you see will become Poser figures. Or I might splay a Poser figure out on that red carpet. A previous image of mine, featuring a chase lounge, might provide inspiration in that department. Pity a recent PC crash means that I can't easily snatch out the figures from that scene and plant them in this one. However, the idea is there.

P.S. Just reminded myself. This will probably also have depth-of-field blur, but not the kind renderable by POV-Ray - that would take even longer to do. No, I've come up with a way of globally altering the scene so that it will render a nice depth mask a-la Bryce.

[Mikey]

This is interesting and thanks for showing it to us. I've read that POV-Ray is good kit - if you can do the coding. Can you tell me if it would give any advantage as a renderer over my Bryce 5? I like the idea of using Bryce to design imaginary buildings for painting. That is to give me a better idea of persepective and much more to the point lighting. Would the radiosity in POV-Ray give me an advantage in picking up reflected light from the surroundings? I only have a standard card on integrated the mother board.

Mikey

[IMBJR]

This is interesting and thanks for showing it to us. I've read that POV-Ray is good kit - if you can do the coding. Can you tell me if it would give any advantage as a renderer over my Bryce 5? I like the idea of using Bryce to design imaginary buildings for painting. That is to give me a better idea of persepective and much more to the point lighting. Would the radiosity in POV-Ray give me an advantage in picking up reflected light from the surroundings? I only have a standard card on integrated the mother board.

Mikey

Whilst Bryce can give very good results, the radiosity feature in POV-Ray really will bring out the best in an image. In mine, it enhanced the glow from the sun.

As for the card, it does not matter. What you really need is time, as this will take a lot of it to render. A lot of memory helps though too.

[Bevahlee]

Interesting image. What is Bryce and POVRay? I have photoshop and painter. Is that a software program, or is that a filter that you can add to Photoshop?

[Mikey]

Hi Bev,

Bryce is mostly a 3D software landscape generator. Hill, mountains, skys, sunsets, clouds, trees and terrains, plus buildings can all be created therein. The actual models are constructed with a 'wire frame' and then rendered with a surface and chosen lighting. So George Lucas, here we come.

POV-Ray is a 3D freebie, but usually has to be coded and that may not be too easy. It will often be used for rendering models built with other applications.

The final Bryce image can be imported into Photoshop as a bit map with Alpha Channels for post production work.

http://www.daz3d.com/shop.php?op=catmain&cat=46

http://www.daz3d.com/

There is a Bryce Gallery on the Daz site, links above.

Mikey

PS I forgot it has been used for excellent abstract work.

[Bevahlee]

Oh thanks. okay, nevah mine. :-)