EMAIL:hildurka@simnet.is
NAME:Hildur Kolbrun Andresdottir
TOPIC:Old Technology
COPYRIGHT:I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
TITLE:The Highwheeler
COUNTRY:Iceland
WEBPAGE:n/a
RENDERER USED:PovRay 3.5
TOOLS USED:Moray 3.3, Photoshop 7
RENDER TIME:4h 11m 21s
HARDWARE USED:Amd Athlon 1200 mHz, 256 mb RAM
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Well, my guess is that the proud owner of this brand new Highwheeler has deliberately left it there in plain sight, right across from the town square, probably just to seek some attention, while having a trim at the barber shop on the corner. Besides, back then in the 1870īs, nobody would dare to steal it anyway.

I wanted to make something which was really old but the technology still useful. I came to think about bicycles and decided to look into their history. 
I discovered the Highwheeler, also known as the  Penny Farthing. I though the form was fascinating so I decided to try to build a 3D model as close to the original as possible. I donīt have an actual Highwheeler lying around, so I used photos to determine the form and some imagination to guess what was not visible on the photos. I think Iīve got it almost right, given or taken some minor details.

Short history of the highwheeler:
The highwheeler was the first all metal machine (earlier bicyles were made of wood as well). It appeared in 1870 (or 1871?) when metallurgy became advanced enough to provide metal which was strong enough to make small, light parts out of. It is said to be first invented by Englishman James Starley.
The pedals were attached directly to the front wheel, but with no freewheeling mecanism. Solid rubber tires and the front wheel became larger and larger as makers realized that the larger the wheel, the farther you could travel with one rotation of the pedals.(The longer your legs, the faster you could ride).This machine was the first to be called bicycle (two wheel). The seat was mounted onto springs to make it more comfortable and it had a so called spoon brake on top of the big wheel.
The bike required lots of skill and practice to ride. It was actually pretty dangerous, the rider wearing a hat instead of helmet, which is the reason that a new bike, (more stable, chain driven, with two equally sized wheels), called the Safety bike, soon (10-15 years later) became the most popular.
The original design of the Highwheeler is still clearly discernible in the modern bike, but itīs beauty is lost, in favor of more safety, speed and comfort.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: The construction of the bike was somewhat complex, especially where the photos didnīt reveal all details, and not all brands were made exactly the same way. This one is probably a mixture of 3-4 different types (seen from different angels on the photos). 
The backbone, seat, and the forks are bezier patches, the rest are CSGīs and primitives.
I read that some of the richer ovners had theyīs brass plated instead of painted, which explains the color I chose on the bike. It took me about 3 weeks to get everything right and assembled.
I made the walls and pavements using the wall plugin (thanks to Philippe Gibone and André de Leiradella). Lot of time went on texturing the environment and getting the scene right. All textures are procedural except for the poster in the alley. 
Originally I intended to make a much bigger scene, but later I realized that the Highwheeler would be lost in everything. I dropped lot of things and made a more narrow view, focusing on the bike.
I couldnīt get rid of the streaky patterns appearing on the shiny parts of the bike (like the the back springs), if anyone knows how to eliminate them, please let me know. I tried higher anti-aliasing settings but all the same.

I do not include the full scene in the source files in this submission, the scene is big and requires plugins (Lua Full Moon). However I include the source files to the Highwheeler model only in plain surroundings in case of anyone interested in using the model for their scenes.
Enjoy.