I FINALLY got around to finishing a CGSphere entry.
There were two main inspirations that guided the development of the piece:


actually do something interesting with it rather than just have my
submission look like it was sitting on a roll of checkered paper towel for
no particular good reason.

2.  I wanted to work with the idea of depicting the orientation of a sphere
in space.


just for the fun of it.  The effect on the grid plane (which, by the way. IS
the original unaltered grid plane as required by the rules) was achieved by
using a negative transmission value.

Regards,

Mike C.

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'alientac.jpg' (251 KB)

Preview of image 'alientac.jpg'

"Mike the Elder" <zer### [at] wyanorg> schreef in bericht 
news:web.4692c0412be3635c6d4565230@news.povray.org...
>I FINALLY got around to finishing a CGSphere entry.
> There were two main inspirations that guided the development of the piece:
>
> 1.  I REALLY didn't like the mandatory grid plane and was determined to
> actually do something interesting with it rather than just have my
> submission look like it was sitting on a roll of checkered paper towel for
> no particular good reason.
>
> 2.  I wanted to work with the idea of depicting the orientation of a 
> sphere
> in space.
>
> I ended up with: "Alien Tactical Display".  As always, it's all CSG and 
> done
> just for the fun of it.  The effect on the grid plane (which, by the way. 
> IS
> the original unaltered grid plane as required by the rules) was achieved 
> by
> using a negative transmission value.
>

Oh! This is something really interesting and subtle! Well done, Mike.
I have a few suggestions maybe. The orientation of the sphere for instance, 
as the "guides" for the spacecraft (back and front to us) are almost 
coincident with the background grid. I would rotate it a tiny bit.
I am not entirely sure about the colorful rectangle at the base. Its 
function is not clear enough perhaps and it distracts the viewer a bit too 
much... Just my 2cts really.

I like the whole composition, the script and the background grid in 
particular.

Thomas

Post a reply to this message

"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet> wrote:

> The orientation of the sphere for instance,
> as the "guides" for the spacecraft (back and front to us) are almost
> coincident with the background grid. I would rotate it a tiny bit.

> I am not entirely sure about the colorful rectangle at the base. Its
> function is not clear enough perhaps and it distracts the viewer a bit too
> much... Just my 2cts really.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.  I was actually thinking about both
of those issues.  Since the ships and display take their orientation from
the same variables, it's easy enough to try out various rotations.  I don't
see HOW the meaning of the multicolor rectangle in the foreground could be
unclear since it's OBVIOUSLY a Dance-Dance-Dance-Dance-Dance-Revolution
control pad for a race of sentient centipedes ;-)

Seriously, that part does need some work.  One of the things I like best
about the CGSphere project is the opportunity to update a posted image.  I
had been dragging my feet with regard to getting something up there and
didn't want this to become one of the many projects that never gets past my
own hard drive.  I'll probably spend a couple of days tweaking it so that
version #2 will be at least close to final.

Regards,
Mike C.

Post a reply to this message

Thomas de Groot nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/07/10 03:29:
> "Mike the Elder" <zer### [at] wyanorg> schreef in bericht 
> news:web.4692c0412be3635c6d4565230@news.povray.org...
>> I FINALLY got around to finishing a CGSphere entry.
>> There were two main inspirations that guided the development of the piece:
>>
>> 1.  I REALLY didn't like the mandatory grid plane and was determined to
>> actually do something interesting with it rather than just have my
>> submission look like it was sitting on a roll of checkered paper towel for
>> no particular good reason.
>>
>> 2.  I wanted to work with the idea of depicting the orientation of a 
>> sphere
>> in space.
>>
>> I ended up with: "Alien Tactical Display".  As always, it's all CSG and 
>> done
>> just for the fun of it.  The effect on the grid plane (which, by the way. 
>> IS
>> the original unaltered grid plane as required by the rules) was achieved 
>> by
>> using a negative transmission value.
>>
> 
> Oh! This is something really interesting and subtle! Well done, Mike.
> I have a few suggestions maybe. The orientation of the sphere for instance, 
> as the "guides" for the spacecraft (back and front to us) are almost 
> coincident with the background grid. I would rotate it a tiny bit.
> I am not entirely sure about the colorful rectangle at the base. Its 
> function is not clear enough perhaps and it distracts the viewer a bit too 
> much... Just my 2cts really.
> 
> I like the whole composition, the script and the background grid in 
> particular.
> 
> Thomas
> 
> 
That colourfull rectangle is actualy a control pad, ...or a keyboard, if you 
prefer. By looking carefuly, you'll see that no two tile are identical.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
'hAS ANYONE SEEN MY cAPSLOCK KEY?'

Post a reply to this message

"Alain" <ele### [at] netscapenet> schreef in bericht 
news:46938d32$1@news.povray.org...
>>
>>
> That colourfull rectangle is actualy a control pad, ...or a keyboard, if 
> you prefer. By looking carefuly, you'll see that no two tile are 
> identical.
>

You have revealed yourself to be in contact with aliens!

Don't move from where you are now!

We will desintoxicate you within the next couple of nanoseconds...

....done.


Thomas

Post a reply to this message

that's a really well thought-out entry!

Post a reply to this message

Mike the Elder wrote:

> I FINALLY got around to finishing a CGSphere entry.
> There were two main inspirations that guided the development of the piece:

Pretty nice!

How'd you do the sphere? 

color Clear??

Regards,
-- 
Stefan

Post a reply to this message

Thomas de Groot nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/07/10 10:46:
> "Alain" <ele### [at] netscapenet> schreef in bericht 
> news:46938d32$1@news.povray.org...
>>>
>> That colourfull rectangle is actualy a control pad, ...or a keyboard, if 
>> you prefer. By looking carefuly, you'll see that no two tile are 
>> identical.
>>
> 
> You have revealed yourself to be in contact with aliens!
> 
> Don't move from where you are now!
> 
> We will desintoxicate you within the next couple of nanoseconds...
> 
> ....done.
> 
> 
> Thomas 
> 
> 
Sory! It did'nt work, my meta-quantum firewall blocked your attempt dead in it's 
track. It also eradicated the "sanitation" programm that you used and replaced 
it with a "do nothing" dummy. That dummy will succeed in evading any validation 
you may attempt.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
You know you've been raytracing too long when you look at waterfalls, dust, 
rain, snow, etc, and think: "If only I had a fractalized, vector based 
particle-system modeler with collision detection!"

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen <spa### [at] removethispolardcom> wrote:
here were two main inspirations that guided the development of the piece:
>
> Pretty nice!
 Thanks ! (Thanks to nemesis as well.)
> How'd you do the sphere?
>
> color Clear??

Each latitude "band" is a torus for which the major radius is based on the
sine of an angle stepping from 0 to pi/2 radians and the y-axis elevation
is based on the cosine.  The "bottom half" is simply the same tori with the
elevation flipped negative. Using basic CSG, each torus is divided into a
front half, rendered in a basic "rgbft" yellow material (TrYl) and a back
half rendered in a somewhat darker version(TrYlD).  The material
definitions appear below.

#declare TrYl = material{texture{pigment{color rgbft<.5,.5,.1,.1,.4>}
finish{ambient 1.5 diffuse .4 }} interior{ior 1.1} }

#declare TrYlD = material{texture{pigment{color rgbft<.30,.30,.05,.1,.4>}
finish{ambient 1.5 diffuse .4 }} interior{ior 1.1} }

Regards,
Mike C.

Post a reply to this message

"Alain" <ele### [at] netscapenet> schreef in bericht 
news:4693e2ae$1@news.povray.org...
>>
>>
> Sory! It did'nt work, my meta-quantum firewall blocked your attempt dead 
> in it's track. It also eradicated the "sanitation" programm that you used 
> and replaced it with a "do nothing" dummy. That dummy will succeed in 
> evading any validation you may attempt.
>

Aah... that explains the faint smell of ozone in the diode transmitter 
section...
Hmm... smoke coming now... I...

Thomas

Post a reply to this message