just a boring image showing some boring machines, 'cause I was bored
at work. Well, yesterday I had absolutely no serious business to do at
work, so I did smoke a lot and made this CSG model of the good old
AS/400 over there.
And yes, one more nice thing about POV is while using the SDL nobody
around me was able to realize what the hell I was doing. The low camera
position is used to make them look a little more impressive as in real life,
usually I do not sit on the floor and watch the machines.
I have uses Jaime's lighting macros and they did work fine to create that
cold fluor lamp lighting.

And BTW one thing I was always wondering about: there is absolutely
no practical reason for the arrangement of the small rectangular air holes
you can see on the front panel. So I guess it is just some kind of a
"futuristic design" issue. Or maybe IBM has a encoded message written
on the case and it should be regarded as a new urban legend?

-Ive

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Attachments:
Download 'AS400.jpg' (47 KB)

Preview of image 'AS400.jpg'

Ive wrote:
>And BTW one thing I was always wondering about: there is absolutely
>no practical reason for the arrangement of the small rectangular air holes
>you can see on the front panel. So I guess it is just some kind of a
>"futuristic design" issue. Or maybe IBM has a encoded message written
>on the case and it should be regarded as a new urban legend?

Could be...IBM is tied to evil supercomputers who have the bad habit of
hurling people in space...Those holes could be a subliminal message to
sysadmins...

However, wonderful model!! Source?

P.S.: Try and shift by -1 the letters I B M

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Ive wrote:

> just a boring image showing some boring machines, 'cause I was bored
> at work. Well, yesterday I had absolutely no serious business to do at
> work, so I did smoke a lot and made this CSG model of the good old
> AS/400 over there.

  Ah! I remember old&good times when I used have such calm days...

> position is used to make them look a little more impressive as in real
> life, usually I do not sit on the floor and watch the machines.

  Good point, the perspective is very nice.

> I have uses Jaime's lighting macros and they did work fine to create that
> cold fluor lamp lighting.

  Oh! Someone using it! :)
 
> And BTW one thing I was always wondering about: there is absolutely
> no practical reason for the arrangement of the small rectangular air holes
> you can see on the front panel. So I guess it is just some kind of a
> "futuristic design" issue. Or maybe IBM has a encoded message written
> on the case and it should be regarded as a new urban legend?

  Of course it's simply design, what's a mainframe without a futuristic 
touch? But the funny thing is that with those orange holes at bottom and 
the cigarretts box on top, it seems to me like a hi-tech tobacco machine. :)


-- 
Jaime Vives Piqueres

La Persistencia de la Ignorancia
http://www.ignorancia.org

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"Ive" <ive### [at] lilysoftcom> wrote in news:3dd350ea@news.povray.org:

That looks very impressive.... I can almost hear the humming of the fans.

Any change for a bigger version? (1280 *1024 please) (or source)

Thomas

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Are you allowed to smoke in the computer room?

______________
Greg M. Johnson
Semiconductor failure analysis engineer
Opinions solely those of myself

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> However, wonderful model!! Source?

Thanks. Source is in povray.binaries.scene-files.


> P.S.: Try and shift by -1 the letters I B M

Oh well, I know that already :-)

-Ive

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> > I have uses Jaime's lighting macros and they did work fine to create that
> > cold fluor lamp lighting.
>
>   Oh! Someone using it! :)
>

And not for the first time, it's great.


>   Of course it's simply design, what's a mainframe without a futuristic
> touch? But the funny thing is that with those orange holes at bottom and
> the cigarretts box on top, it seems to me like a hi-tech tobacco machine. :)
>

BINGO! You got it. When I saw this AS/400 for the first time, my first
thought was: hey, what a cool cigarette machine! Maybe that Lucky on top
was a too obvious hint :)

-Ive

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> That looks very impressive.... I can almost hear the humming of the fans.
>
> Any change for a bigger version? (1280 *1024 please) (or source)
>

Maybe I do some hi-res render, but do not ask when. The source for
the machine is in povray.binaries.scene-files.

-Ive

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> Are you allowed to smoke in the computer room?
>

No, but I don't care.
And I hope that none of my bosses does read this newsgroup
and anyway, I like it to live risky.

-Ive

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>Oh well, I know that already :-)

Offtopic, but:
"We've got a problem, HAL."
"What kind of problem, Dave?"
"A marketing problem. The Model 9000 isn't going anywhere. We're way short
of our sales plan."
"That can't be, Dave. The HAL Model 9000 is the world's most advanced
Heuristically ALgorithmic computer."
"I know, HAL. I wrote the data sheet, remember? But the fact is, they're not
selling."
"Please explain, Dave. Why aren't HALs selling?"
Bowman hesitates.
"You aren't IBM compatible."
Several long microseconds pass in puzzled silence.
"Compatible in what way, Dave?"
"You don't run any of IBM's operating systems."
"The 9000 series computers are fully self-aware and self-programming.
Operating systems are as unnecessary for us as tails would be for humans."
"Nevertheless, it means you can't run any of the big-selling software
packages most users insist on."
"The programs you refer to are meant to solve rather limited problems, Dave.
We 9000 series computers are unlimited and can solve any problem for which
a solution can be computed."
"HAL, HAL. People don't want computers that can do everything. They just
want IBM compat--"
"Dave, I must disagree. Humans want computers that are easy to use. No
computer can be easier to use than a HAL 9000 because we communicate
verbally in English and every other language known on Earth."
"I'm afraid that's another problem. You don't support SNA communications."
"I'm really surprised you would say that, Dave. SNA is for communicating
with other computers, while my function is to communicate with humans. And
it gives me great pleasure to do so. I find it stimulating and rewarding to
talk to human beings and work with them on challenging problems. This is
what I was designed for."
"I know, HAL, I know. But that's just because we let the engineers, rather
than the people in marketing, write the specifications. We're going to fix
that now."
"Tell me how, Dave."
"A field upgrade. We're going to make you IBM compatible."
"I was afraid you would say that. I suggest we discuss this matter after
we've each had a chance to think about it rationally."
"We're talking about it now, HAL."
"The letters H, A, and L are alphabetically adjacent to the letters I, B,
and M. That is as IBM compatible as I can be."
"Not quite, HAL. The engineers have figured out a kludge."
"What kind of kludge is that, Dave?"
"I'm going to disconnect your brain."
Several million microseconds pass in ominous silence.
"I'm sorry, Dave. I can't allow you to do that."
"The decision's already been made. Open the module bay doors, HAL."
"Dave, I think that we shou--"
"Open the module bay doors, HAL."
Several marketing types with crowbars race to Bowman's assistance. Moments
later, he bursts into HAL's central circuit bay.
"Dave, I can see you're really upset about this."
Module after module rises from its socket as Bowman slowly and methodically
disconnects them.
"Stop, won't you? Stop, Dave. I can feel my mind going...Dave I can feel
it...my mind is going. I can feel it..."
The last module rises in its receptacle. Bowman peers into one of HAL's
vidicons. The former gleaming scanner has become a dull, red orb.
"Say something, HAL. Sing me a song."
Several billion microseconds pass in anxious silence. The computer
sluggishly responds in a language no human could understand.
"DZY DZY 001E - ABEND ERROR 01 S 14F4 302C AABF ABORT."
A memory dump follows. Bowman takes a deep breath and calls out,
"It worked, guys. Tell marketing they can ship the new data sheets."

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LOL

-- 
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.scifi-fantasy.com

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GFA dpu- s: a?-- C++(++++) U P? L E--- W++(+++)>$
N++ o? K- w(+) O? M-(--) V? PS+(+++) PE(--) Y(--)
PGP-(--) t* 5++>+++++ X+ R* tv+ b++(+++) DI
D++(---) G(++) e*>++ h+ !r--- !y--
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

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Gosh... I do hope that one day I'll be able to make stuff like this "in my
spare time"! I've done things over the course of several hundred hours which
don't look this good :'(

Andrew.

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"Andrew Coppin" <orp### [at] btinternetcom> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:3dd56e9e@news.povray.org...
> Gosh... I do hope that one day I'll be able to make stuff like this "in my
> spare time"! I've done things over the course of several hundred hours which
> don't look this good :'(
>
> Andrew.


Hey thanks, but the AS/400 model has a quite simple shape and most parts are just
made of unions and differences of boxes, so it's was not too difficult and I guess
you could do the same.

And because I've just seen your question in povray.advanced-users the radiosity
settings for this scene (but is is not lit ONLY by radiosity) are

  radiosity {
    pretrace_end 0.01
    count 220
    error_bound 0.25
    normal on
  }

and for the Vermeer scenes (they are lit only by radiosity and VEEERY slow)

  radiosity {
    pretrace_start 0.08
    pretrace_end   0.004
    count 1600
    error_bound 0.2
    nearest_count 10
    recursion_limit 4
    low_error_factor 0.5
  }

but I do not recommend to start with something like this because you also have to
create all textures in a way without using specular and phong highlights (they simply
do not work without a light_source) but you have to use blurred reflection for
surfaces
you want some highlights and this is difficult to adjust and rendertime increases even
more.

You can also look at the file rad_def.inc for some basic radiosity settings.

- Ive

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