I have been tinkering with a new idea for getting payloads off the surface
of a planet and decided to try modeling and rendering it so I could better
convey the idea to others.  Here is a first shot at some of the components of
the render, but it will be more complex in the end.
    Thanks to various people in the group for ideas and code snippets over the
past year or so.  Any comments?

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip

light_source{0#macro k(_)sphere{13*z+i*_.5pigment{agate}finish{phong.3}}#end
1}#macro _(s,i,g)#if(s)k(1)k(-1)_(s-1i+g,g)#end#end _(3x+3*y<2,-2>)_(2x,y)_(
2x-y,x)_(4x*3,-y)_(4<3,1>x)_(2x*6,-y)

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'Liftplat.jpg' (74 KB)

Preview of image 'Liftplat.jpg'

Got inspired anew and added some more of the features.  Also I improved the
realism of the planet appearance by looking at some old NASA photos and picking
out a nice, fairly accurate coloration scheme.  I used a two layer approach to
the clouds to get the different scales and haze, and I used the emitting media
trick for the rocket exhaust and the planet's atmosphere.
    The idea is for a heavy lifting scheme that will drop an extremely long
Kevlar cable to the surface and haul multiple ton loads directly into space.
The power source is a large sunlight collector (not shown yet) and water is the
"fuel"- flash heated to plasma.
    I am doing a serious study of the solar thermal propulsion technique and
will have a paper or two posted on my website shortly detailing it and the
calculations for it.
    As always, any comments, criticisms, barbs or flowers accepted toward
bettering the results.

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip

light_source{0#macro k(_)sphere{13*z+i*_.5pigment{agate}finish{phong.3}}#end
1}#macro _(s,i,g)#if(s)k(1)k(-1)_(s-1i+g,g)#end#end _(3x+3*y<2,-2>)_(2x,y)_(
2x-y,x)_(4x*3,-y)_(4<3,1>x)_(2x*6,-y)

Post a reply to this message

Here is the image.

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip

light_source{0#macro k(_)sphere{13*z+i*_.5pigment{agate}finish{phong.3}}#end
1}#macro _(s,i,g)#if(s)k(1)k(-1)_(s-1i+g,g)#end#end _(3x+3*y<2,-2>)_(2x,y)_(
2x-y,x)_(4x*3,-y)_(4<3,1>x)_(2x*6,-y)

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'Liftplat.jpg' (75 KB)

Preview of image 'Liftplat.jpg'

Cool idea.  The planet looks believable.

Post a reply to this message

Thanks.  Making the scenery realistic is a prime mover in selling an idea
like this.  Even some wooden-headed congress critter might be impressed by those
odd stirrings of imagination that hits them and sign a few checks.
    In the modeling phase, I find that about 14 tons of Kevlar cable (tapered
and rolled on the drum) reaching 80 kilometers could hoist a 5 ton payload
capsule pretty nicely.
    With about a 15 minute turnaround time, the lift platform could haul 5 such
containers up to exo-atmospheric space in about an hour.  Then, to refuel its
reaction mass, it would drop a container into an ocean or lake and snag 5 tons
of water.
    As long as it has water and sunlight, this platform could continue to hover
on rocket thrust and haul payloads up and down at will.  Superheating the water
is the trick- temperature is velocity!
    Anyway, enough of my rant.  Back to scribbling equations and modeling them.

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip

Post a reply to this message

"Sir Charles W. Shults III" <aic### [at] cflrrcom> wrote in message
news:3e48190b$1@news.povray.org...
>     Thanks.  Making the scenery realistic is a prime mover in selling an
idea
> like this.  Even some wooden-headed congress critter might be impressed by
those
> odd stirrings of imagination that hits them and sign a few checks.

If you wanna go all out on realism why don't you use some high res image and
bump maps of the real earth?
http://gw.marketingden.com/planets/earth.html

If you want the planet to be imaginary you could still get away with using
their cloud maps as I've never really seen a good procedural cloud texture
for an entire planet.

Corey


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003

Post a reply to this message

You have a very good start there, I can't wait to see the finished pruduct.

One thing you might consider though for your exhaust plumes (which look
mysteriously like the ones I made a while back =) try using some vertical
turbulence in the media block and change the media container to a cylinder
instead of a sphere, makes it look slightly more like a jet of hot gas.

--
Kevin
http://www.geocities.com/qsquared_1999/
#macro _(r)#if(r<12)#local i=asc(substr("oqshilacefg"
,r,1))-97;disc{<mod(i,7)-3,div(i,7)-1,6>,z,.4
pigment{rgb 10}}_(r+1)#end#end _(1)//KL

Post a reply to this message

The cloud maps might be a good idea.  I wasn't going to put any images in it
though- half the fun is creating it from pure numbers and algorithms, you know.
I can tell this is going to be fun anyway, and the image is developing pretty
nicely.  Thanks for the helpful comments.

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip

Post a reply to this message

Yes indeed, Kevin- these are your exhaust plumes.  My thanks for the idea
and code and I will be tinkering with them to make some improvements.  The
turbulence is a good idea.  From seeing what you did with the media (which I had
not tried before), I developed that atmosphere envelope around the planet.  I
might have to play with it just a bit also.

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip

Post a reply to this message

I have reworked my clouds algorithm and used a texture map, as well as
making a few more additions to the platform itself.  The new clouds are far
better (I think) than the last ones, but as usual, I am open to comments.
Remember, I am trying to skip image maps altogether, using only mathematics.

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'Liftplt2.jpg' (76 KB)

Preview of image 'Liftplt2.jpg'