CS3710 -Computer Graphics-

By: April Banack

For this assignment I chose to create an image of the University of Lethbridge using POV-Ray. To begin I created the main building just as a three-dimensional box and then spent a bit of time getting the angle of the building right. I used the picture below as a guide for my image.

When I was satisfied with the angle of the structure I began working on the windows. This took more time than it might seem because I started out trying to situate the windows overtop of the actual structure but when that didn’t work I searched among many POV-Ray tutorials and found that the easiest way to add the windows was to use the difference function which carves out one shape from another. My first attempt with this function produced undesirable results. The difference among my objects was left looking speckled instead of as a solid cutout. Again, I searched the POV-Ray tutorials and found the solution through www.f-lohmueller.de/pov_tut/csg/povcsg3e.htm. The solution to the speckled problem offered by this web site was successful and I was able to use it for the windows in my image. I also made use of difference by cutting out section of the building to create the structured archway.

Once the basic design and angle of the building were complete I then added textures and finishes to both the building and the windows. The building itself was layered with two textures, one of which was transparent, in order to get the right look of the actual building that I was modeling my image after. Again, www.f-lohmueller.de/pov_tut/addon/insert61.htm is an excellent source to find examples of the many textures available to POV-Ray. I referred to this web site a lot when selecting the textures and finished for my building. It took some trial and error but eventually I found a combination of textures that worked. The windows were given a glass texture as well as a reflective finish so that the reflection of the sky plane could be seen in the windows. Also, the columns the run across the bottom half of the building were created using a simple box object that was called within a while loop to avoid creating each individual column.

Another good resource that I should mention is the POV-Ray tutorial that comes with POV-Ray for Windows version 3.6. It helped me get started with the basic structure of object and of creating scenes; it also answered a lot of my questions.

The next step was the landscaping. This was much more difficult than creating the building. I was able to find and download additional include files for both the grass and the tree. The grass code came from www.runevision.com/3d/include/ and came with example pictures and their source codes, which I studied and then applied to my own image. It took some time to apply it correctly but it eventually worked out. The tree came from www.aust-manufaktur.de/austv2.html and proved even more difficult to apply to my image. The tree image within the include files had to be scaled down quite a bit, translated and rotated in order to fit in with my image.

The sky was probably the easiest to implement. At first the sky seemed intimidating and hard to implement but as it turn out POV-Ray supplies different sky textures. The sky was simply a plane with the Bright_Blue_Sky texture applied to it. The scale and finish of the plane can also be specified.

The most difficult part of this image was lighting! I was never satisfied with the lighting; I tried many different light sources and spotlights but I couldn’t seem to find exactly what I wanted. The light that is shining from behind the building and through the archway was created using a spotlight and was given a yellow hue.

Once my image was complete I used Photoshop to brighten up the image and fix some of the lighting problems that I was having.