Notes on the project:
To submit, cd to the proj2 directory and type "submit proj2".
This lab is a partner lab. You should do it in groups of two. Only one partner should turnin. Make sure you include a "README" file that identifies the two partners and who did what in the lab.
Project Plan:
This project is allocated 3 weeks, and you should start early and budget your
time so that you get it done comfortably. You are required to submit a project plan by
Friday 11/20/98. The project plan is submitted just like the project. That is:
Create a directory called proj2plan. To submit, cd to the proj2plan directory and type "submit proj2plan".
This project will use Renderman. You should also generate a spline shape using a modeller. We suggest you use sPatch, which will be available on the instructional NT machines by Monday 11/16.
What we are looking for is a reasonably complicated environment that makes use of what you have learned so far about high-quality rendering. A typical environment would have at least 6 different objects, and one of these should be a spline object. You should write a shader, which can be procedural, or can use a texture-map image. Bump or displacement mapping is highly encouraged. You dont need to animate your world, and we need only the rib file, a tif output file and any shaders and texture images that you needed.
The scene contents are up to you. Here are some suggestions:
A bathroom scene. A marble washbasin with a mirror above it, some faucets (think extrusions), toothbrushes, soap etc. and a toothpaste tube. The toothpaste tube would be a spline that has been suitable squashed with use. It would have the manufacturers logo texture-mapped onto it.
A desk with computer monitor and keyboard. The keyboard could be texture and displacement mapped with the keys. The monitor would be emitting light and illuminating the desktop. Add some speakers, pens and pads on the desk. Use splines for scrunched up pieces of paper.
An outdoor scene. Use splines to model an undulating terrain. Add a grass shader. You can put in a brick castle/house/hut. Wonderful effects are possible by writing a "smooth water" shader. Basically a flat surface with some normal variation (think ripples on a lake) that reflects the objects at lakeside. Add a moon with crater shader for an evening scene.
You might also try generating a spline surface procedurally using Matlab. e.g. a circular wave function to model the aftermath of a water drop falling into a glass of water. The rest of the environment would be other dining things near the glass, e.g. knife, fork, some fruit (good shader possibilities).
Toy story. Its been done, but other plots are possible. Build a bunch of toys with plastic and metal shaders, and some fabric shaders that you write yourself (you have plaid or polka-dot).
Underwater scenes. Some fish and seaweed (splines) with interesting shaders and a wavy surface shader for the water surface. In theory, BMRT should be able to model the "caustics" that are caused by light from the sun refracting at different angles when it hits the undulating water surface. You'll see these if your camera points up toward the surface. The water surface doesnt really have to undulate, it can be flat and its shader can cause the undulation as in the lake scene above.