EMAIL:no13@no13.net
NAME:Nathan O'Brien
TOPIC:Imaginary Worlds
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
TITLE:Ode to Prianesi
COUNTRY:Australia
WEBPAGE:http://www.no13.net
RENDERER USED:Povray for Windows. 3.1
TOOLS USED: Paintshop Pro, Win3d, Crossroads, Terragen.
RENDER TIME:11 hours
HARDWARE USED:Pentium II with 128Mb ram, Nt4 OS
IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

I realy enjoyed this topic. It has allowed me to revisit one of my favourite artist, Piranesi. Piranesi was an eighteenth century artists who specialised in etchings of architecturaly based fantasy worlds. I chose an image that I felt I felt fitted best with the topic of "Imaginary Worlds". This image is known as "Parte di ampio magnifico Porto" and was first printed in 1750.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

The final image presented several challenges. The first was the level of architectural detail. I had already started on a set of macros to create the full range of classsical details required of the five classical orders. I'd completed the circular columns in the past and and had started on the swquare columns and entablatures late last year. The announcement of the current topic provided the motivation to expand the macro set to include square and circular temples, towers, doors, windows and a special box macro. These macros are included in the classical.zip file contained within the main zip file. All of the architectural detail was created using these macros.

The primary challenge was to recreate a two dimensional etching as a three dimensional model. The specific problem was with the perspective. The "look_at" point had to be towards the lower part of the image and not the centre as is the default with POV. I solved this problem by setting the model up in the upper part of the image frame and using the partial output option available in POV to crop the image during rendering. I then used paint shop pro to crop the black unrendered portion of the image, leaving the finished 800 x 600 product. To fully demonstrate how this was done without breaking the post processing rules I have included the pov INI files I used for the partial render. The first produces the 800 x 600 result, the second a 400 x 300 result I used for test renders.

Other smaller challenges in the creation are the inclusion of the Beethovan bust, first seen by POV users in an image by Dan Farmer. The model was downloaded from the avalon site in OBJ format. I used Crossroads to convert it into 3ds, and then 3dwin to convert it into POV. The many landscapes in the image were all created with an excellent landscape generation program called Terragen. You can find a link to Terragen in my landscape gallery on my web site.

The final challenge was the smoke/steam. This was done with a recursive blob generater macro that still needs a lot of work. I'm still not happy with the result.

Finally, I have included ALL source code so that you can render the image for yourself. However the image is still incomplete. I need at least another month to finish to my satisfaction.