CPSC 3710 - Computer Graphics Project   

By: Jaipaul Tung

The Software

I created my scenes using Povray 3.5 on a Windows 98 system.

The Lethbridge Teapot:

In order to create the teapot, I used three cones and a cylinder.  The first thing that I did was create the cone that would be the base.  Next, I created a second cone and set it up on top of the base cone.  Then, I created the cylinder and set it on top of the second cone.  And finally, I created the cone that would be the top of the teapot and set it on top of the cylinder.  In order to replicate the top part of the teapot as close as possible, I used the clipped_by function to slice the top cone by a plane through its y-axis.  At this point I was satisfied with the basic shape of my teapot and went on to the texturing phase.  Adding the designs to the teapot proved to be very difficult using Povray.  I  managed to add a few rings around the teapot using the gradient y design pattern and  the designs on the center and top of the teapot where created using a spiral pattern.  I created a union between the objects to simplify the transformations that I used later.  

The Scene - The High Level Bridge:

The scene that I chose to create was of the High Level Bridge here in Lethbridge.  I set up the camera so that it is positioned near water level at the legs of the bridge looking out towards the mountains.  The technique I used to tackle the scene was by working on the different components one at a time.  The sky, water, and mountains where actually very easy to create while the bridge gave me quite a bit of trouble.   

The Sky:

To create the sky I decided to use a plane rather than a sky sphere.  I used a color map for the color of the sky and the bozo design pattern for the clouds.  

The Water:

I used a plane once again to create the water.  I also wanted the water to look 'choppy' as it would on a windy day so I incorporated a number of basic features that would make the water seem more realistic but less reflective. 

The Mountains:

Creating the mountains required a little bit of playing around.  The first thing I did was create a seperate file that included the code to create the desired texture of the mountains.  Then, I created a height_field in my scene file and imported the mountains file to get the texture.

The Bridge:

As I mentioned before, I had quite a bit of trouble creating the bridge.  The legs of the bridge where created using a series of loops which I found to be the most efficient method.  I decided to create objects of the different pieces (horizontal beams, vertical beams, diagonal beams) since they would be uniform in size, shape, and color throughout the bridge.  After I created the first block of the first bridge I looped through the code to stack the specific number of blocks I wanted on top of one another to complete the first bridge leg.  From here it was easy because all of the bridge's legs where the same which allowed me to use the code from before.  The last thing I did was create the top of the bridge using a cube  and set it on top of the bridge's legs.  

Difficulties:

There where a few parts of this project that created problems for me.  The first was learning Povray.  I found that the software was very hard to get used to and it took a lot of playing around to feel comfortable using it.  The way that I built my scene was basically through a lot a trial and error.  Like I mentioned before, the most difficult areas where the bridge and the designs on the teapot.  I found it extremely difficult to map the designs I wanted on to the teapot.