EMAIL: robsampson@sprynet.com
NAME: Robert Sampson
TOPIC: Glass
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
TITLE: "Ray Tracer's Happy Hour"
COUNTRY: USA
WEBPAGE: http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/robsampson/
RENDERER USED: Lightwave 3D 5.0 Intel
TOOLS USED: Acad. Rhino, Starfire Collection texture plugin,
            Photopaint 5 Plus (name)
RENDER TIME: 15 hours, 1 minute, 19 seconds
HARDWARE USED: Pentium-90, 40 meg ram, 2.6 gig drive space

IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

"Ray Tracer's" Happy Hour bar and grill is my first attempt at using
Lightwave.  I purchased the program at almost the same time the topic "Glass"
was announced.  It depicts as many different use's of glass in the same 
scene as I could think of additionally taking advantage of Lightwave's ability
to do glows and therefore enhance the neon effect on the sign.  In addition
the front glass reflects the harbor and city directly out front.  

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

Once I had the basic scene concieved I had to spend a couple of days becoming 
familiar with the new software.  The modeling for this scene was all fairly 
straight forward and I found Rhino to be an excellent product.  There were a
large number of test renders as one detail after another required fixing.  
Things such as an inner wall so the bar mirror did not reflect bricks:) ect.
I also spent allot of time working on the lighting but do to my unfamiliarity
with the program it is still not as good as I am sure it could be in the 
future.  Lighting to a certain degree requires sort of an intuitive feel for
how the package works to minimize the number of test renders required for 
proper placement.  Even with many features turned off test renders took a little
over an hour and so my patience ran a bit thin in this area:)  This scene
incorporates reflection, refraction, transparancy, self illumination and glow.
If I could have figured out how to put a diamond in the front I would have:)
All in all I was pleased enough considering this was my first attempt with
this software.