Nathan G B O'Brien
33/392 Jones Street Ultimo 2007 Australia
email no13@ozemail.com.au
28.10.95

File description for #arch.jpg
Entry for the raytracing competition for October 1995
Subject : ARCHITECTURE

Files uploaded :
#arch.jpg       640x480 JPG format image of rendered scene
#arch.txt       This file
#arch.zip       This archive contains
                        #arch.pov Povray scene decription file
                        tile1.gif  bump map for the lantern object
                        tile2.gif  bump map for the lantern object
                        flower.gif bump map for the lantern object

First, a bit about myself....

I am a 25 year architect living in Sydney (Australia). I graduated from the
University of New South Wales in 1993. My final year dissertation was on
Three Dimensional Computer Modelling and Building Preservation. As part of the
dissertation I modelled the church Il Redentore, in Venice, by Palladio. I
used the raytracer 'Rayshade' to do this. At the time I was working mainly on
Unix machines. The images I created were posted to several Internet news goups
and are still held on some FTP sites. I have also been told, but have not
confirmed this, that some of the images are actually on the new POVRAY CD ROM.

This is the first time I've entered the raytracing competition. I have been
thinking of entering in the past but when the monthly subject chosen was
architecture I could not resist.

The scene created was inspired by three main sources. The first being the
Mosque at Cordoba (Spain), the Cathedral at Pisa (Italy) and the works of
Renaissance artist Piranessi. I wanted to create and architectural space of
infinite volume. To achieve this end I devised a series of repeating bays.
The total volume was achieved using the atmosphere function, a carfully placed
mirror and the use of a water plane. Detail was later added after the
architectural modelling had been completed.

The entire seen was created without the use of a modelling program. Small
sections of the scene were drawn in AutoCAD, but only 2 dimensionaly. All
spatial and compositional elements were entered directly into the text editor.
I made extensive use of the textures and colors contained within the standard
INCLUDE files that come with the official POVRAY release. There is no point
in recreating the wheel. The decision to make use of the standard INCLUDE
files provided that little bit of extra time to concentrate on the form of
the model.

Special attention was paid to the use of light sources. There are two primary
light sources within the scene. These were placed to provide the primary
illumination and surface definition to the scene. The remaining light sources
were bound to the lamp object. These light sources were given a low intensity
with an emphasis on red/green spectrum. The resulting soft, warm lighting gave
character to the surfaces and enhanced the spatial relationships between the
repeating bays.

I could go on for ever................... but your probably bored by now.

If you would like to hear more, or get some information on some of my other
raytracing projects just send me a note by email.


no13@ozemail.com.au
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If life was realy like a box of chocolates then it would last only 5 minutes
before it ceased to exist. (at least if I had anything to do with it)