Development Journal of a Raytracer - Monthly Items

Small Items of May - 2

nospam@example.com (Josef Meixner) — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:10:38 +0200

The reddish group of books is the new object inserted multiple times.

Yesterday I modeled the next book, so I make it to create the two objects (although it feels a bit like cheating).

I didn't even create a cover image this time. So they look a bit bland. I fear it will take a lot of additional books to fill the shelf, using the same three books multiple times won't look good.

Small Items of May - 1

nospam@example.com (Josef Meixner) — Sat, 29 May 2010 23:18:14 +0200

The light green books are the new object.

I fear I will not make it to create two objects this month again. But at least the book seems to work now, perhaps I will create a second one tomorrow. The pages still need a better shader, though.

I also have to find a good way to combine multiple books into groups. It still makes sense so I can fill a shelf much faster. The idea to model them as a group was not good, I think. I will try to combine the books with the CSG-operator. There is a small feature I have to add, the uv-maps are currently merged and I think I should add code so they are shrunk and put side by side.

Small Items of April - 2

nospam@example.com (Josef Meixner) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 23:18:18 +0200

Today I created a simple (very simple) texture and put the group of books into the book shelf. It still looks very empty, but at least some object is in it now.

For the next stack I have to be a bit more careful with the geometry. The books can't be separated, they look like one big block. If the angle is slightly from the top, it is better, though.

Oh, in case somebody wonders, what the title of the books is, the "words" are just some random lines I did with a pen. So they won't make sense (and are probably not readable in any language. I hope).

Small Items of April - 1

nospam@example.com (Josef Meixner) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:31:02 +0200

I didn't count the last images as monthly items. So this one is the real first item for April, I modeled a book shelf. Currently it is still empty, the books will be interesting to model. I will try to create bigger blocks of books so it is easier to fill the shelf.

I will try to model the books next, but have no clue yet how long it will take. But I think this model is already nice, some books and perhaps some other little items and it might be quite pretty in the background of some scene.

Dual Socket/Switch

nospam@example.com (Josef Meixner) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:35:20 +0200

Two sockets side by side

As an addendum to last months monthly items, here are the respective modes with a dual frame. One combines two sockets, the other a light switch with a socket.

A light switch atop a socket.

For the dual socket I had to do the fixes in the CSG difference modifier. But now it hopefully works correctly. I think both look quite nice.

Small Items of March

nospam@example.com (Josef Meixner) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:40:36 +0200

Socket

I have finally rendered some images of the switch and the socket. The socket didn't come out too good, it is not easy to light it well, it seems (and the light setup was done in a hurry).

Light Switch

I have only used the single frame, I will soon post an image with the dual frame being used to combine switch and socket. I think the objects are quite nice.

So this month I managed to finally post them. So at least in March I have created my small objects, though the geometry has been finished for a very long time.

Small Items of January - 2

nospam@example.com (Josef Meixner) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:51:10 +0100

Nearly didn't make it this month. I had some problems with my netbook (spilled some liquid over it on Friday, I still have to clean the keyboard, I was just too frustrated to do it today) I use for modeling. But I still managed to finish this wall clock. The wall is a bit dark or rather the exposure is not correct (slowly my models behave more like reality, so I should use my photography skills).

I think it came out very well. There are still some problems with the clear cover you can see in the image to the right. Where the surface has a vertex there is some disturbing reflection. I think I have to do a bigger change to fix that, I think the best way would be, if the object wasn't a polyhedron at all. I should directly render the object as a rotation surface made from a spline. That way there would not be any hard edge.

But I think I get much better at modeling and defining materials. Both images are linked to bigger versions.