EMAIL:         famrom@ran.es
NAME:          Guillermo Sanz Romero
TOPIC:         Physics and Mathematics
COPYRIGHT:     I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
TITLE:         Laser Experiment
WEBPAGE:       http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/4774/index.html
RENDERER USED: POVRay 3.01.msdos.wat-cwa
TOOLS USED:    DOS Edit and Micrografx Picture Publisher 5.0
RENDER TIME:   4h 17m 47s
HARDWARE USED: PC iP55-166MHx(MMX)

IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

A low intensity laser experiment. The laser beams are visible due to the
particles present in atmosphere. =:]
A half-silvered mirror, a true mirror and the laser "cannon" are clearly
visible. The laser illuminaties them. More lenses and instruments can be seen
in the corner and over the shelf.
As decoration, on the cork, a poster from NASA, a shuttle ready to take off.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

I finished my exams. Three days to create a scene and send it for IRTC.
Hard, but not impossible. That will mean no radiosity, no big area lights,
but a image can be made.

First I took the desk and walls from a previuos scene (gr-leona), and applied
new textures. The "new" desk uses a teak map with a pretty woodgrain. Also
a coat of varnish was given. The cork texture was changed from its original
POV-include map to a more realistic one, after some testing. Now the cork
looks as a notice board one, not as the cork from a bottle.

The camera from the other scene was modified to obtain a better setting.
The lights were discarded. I need a dark image, with special lightining.

Then the time for the laser system come. The cannon created from some CSG with
boxes and cylinders. The base for all the optics was next, a heavy plastic
base with a metallic screw to fasten everything. The nut is a prism.
With this base I mounted the mirror (to redirect the beams), the half-silvered
mirror (to split a beam in two) and the lens (to focus beams).
I settled a half-silvered mirror in the middle of the image and normal mirror
and a laser cannon in background.

To add reality to the scene I put more instruments int the shelf and in the
corner. Some nuts was dispersed over the desk. In the cork a poster with a
really pretty image from NASA (took from the Picture Publisher CD) was pinned.

The beams are objects with halos. The mapping goes from transparent to intense
green. In the mirror, half mirror and cannon, a even brighter halo was set.
Thats the better way I have found to represent typical brightness of laser
when it meets a lens. The reflections can be seen in the desk. =8]
Dimmed lensflares was applied to each bright spot. [Thanks to Nathan Kopp]

Now the hard part, illumination. In every bright point I settled a light
source. For the beams I used an area light, one light per each 10 centimeters.
But this alone wasn't enoungh, so I modified all the light to fade with
distance. Now the effect is better. Even it can make up the lack of radiosity.

The radiosity statement was included, but not tested, the dead line was near.
The image was rendered without radiosity, I can't run the risk. =:[
The final image was signed and converted to jpeg with PP5.
This summer'97 I will render the scene with radiosity, =:] but the IRTC entry
is OK for me, two days of hard work with halos and small area lights in a home
PC can't achieve better things. Well, yes, I can improve some things. But I am
tired now. Does someone have a multiprocessor computer to lend? =;]