Internet RayTracing Competition
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        Topic: "Lamps, lights and lighting" - December 95
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IMAGE FILE NAME : NOC1900.JPG
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TITLE : "Promenade Nocturne - 1900"
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AUTHOR : Xavier Manget (France)
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How to contact me:
 - Internet: 100620.2112@compuserve.com
  or
 - SuperPHENIX BBS 'le BBS de l'image de synthese': (19.33)1-46261953


SOFTWARE :
-------- 
POV 2.2, FTPOV 2.2, Moray 1.53, MORY2POV 1.1, Lparser 3.0, Paint Shop
Pro 3.11


HARDWARE :
--------
PC 486 DX2/66 12 Mb RAM (my home PC)

RENDERING TIME :
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19h 30mn with FTPOV 2.2 (640x480, anti-aliasing 0.3 - 0.35)

DESCRIPTION:
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View from a narrow street under the moon light, in the style of Paris in
the 1900s. A three-headed gas lamp-post, cobblestones, reflections on
still water...


SOURCE FILE NAME : NOC1900.ZIP
----------------
All POV source files (including mappings) are included in this archive.
I also included the Moray models (.MDL files) and the Lparser tree
parameters files (.LS files) though these files are not needed for the
rendering. (Of course, you can't directly regenerate the final POV files
with Moray and Lparser: there was a lot of do-it-yourself work and
polishing-up with the generated POV files)



COMMENTS
--------
This is my first entry in the raytracing contest. I have been playing
with POV for nearly one year now, but I've made very few 'exportable'
images. This image is a new one in the lot, I think!

The image is raw raytracer output, I made no post-processing except my
signature and the JPEG compression. All objects and textures were made
especially for this contest, there was no 're-use' of any sort.

I found it an interesting challenge to build an 'old-fashioned' scene
that seemed credible and somewhat 'casual', using high-tech 3D-imaging
tools to render it. Then I got the idea to emphasize the contrast
between the yellowish light of the gas lamp-posts, and the crude
moonlight, which I made slightly bluish to give it more coldness (sure,
that's not very realistic, I agree!)

I took my inspiration by observing many reproductions of old post-cards
and photographs of Paris in the 1900s. As you may guess, they were all
black and white, they were all taken by day and there were few close-ups
on lamp-posts! Not so easy.

There are various tricks in this image: a slight black 'Fog' to simulate
the attenuation of the main lights in the distance, very bright spot lights
for the distant lights (moon, distant lamp-post...), height_fielded wrought
iron on balconies, tileable bumpmaps...


CREDITS :
---------
- The moon image_map was made from f a photograph I downloaded from the
NASA ftp site.

- The advertising poster is a hand-made personal scan (in fact I mean
'office-made': I have no scanner at home...) The original is kept in the
'Musee de l'Affiche et de la Publicite'

- I used Lparser sample files by L.J. Lapre (author of Lparser) as a
starting point for my personal trees.

REGRETS
-------
I first intended to upload a 800x600 rendering with a lot of anti-
aliasing, but I didn't have enough time to get it ready in time for
the contest, since I started working on the image rather late in the
month; moreover, I was not on holidays this month, and I under-estimated
the time I needed. I also didn't have enough time to polish up textures
as much as I wanted.

In the next days, I will make a new render at 800x600 with heavy anti-
aliasing, probably with the official POV compile; if someone is
interested and asks for it, I'll upload it on the POV server.





                          HAPPY NEW YEAR !
                          ****************