h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for the tip and the URL, I wasn't aware of this group/competition. Impressive images ... I especially like the info. on how each was created. I ordered the latest CD, $28 US sounds like a pretty good deal.

I've been trying to do something for this month's IRTC compo... the theme is ruins. My attempts so far aren't hugely impressive but the constructive criticism should be useful

So where can we find some pictures of your ruinous ideas to deconstruct? (all to enable you to build a winning picture

Id say the best you can get your hands on would be Maya 2.0 U, but if you want to take the straight road, there is POVray!

I currently have lost my copy, but will be fixing that soon! Meantime I do have LightWave which is a lot of fun if you can get it

Just found a new raytracer! It's called Cinema4d. It was used to create the current animations winner at irtc. I checked out the demo at http://www.maxon.de, and it appears to combine the pure power and performance of POV with a semi-user-friendly GUI. Of course, you can't beat POV for price, but this is definitely a medium-priced option for 3D artists. I'm tempted to buy it, but I really can't justify it after the Metacreations Suite(even with the educational discounts).

I think, and it's probably out there somewhere, that all POV needs is a decent modelling program and interface (for free of course) that then connects to POV as a back end to do the rendering.
Anyone got any ideas as if there is anything like this out there?

Moray and POVLab are probably the closest.

I'm sure I remember cinema4d from my amiga days, was there an earlier version of the program which I might have had?

I think I have heard that there was.

I've got demos of the three versions of Cinema 4D but as they don't allow you to save, they're pretty useless. It's a good idea releasing three versions, though... the cheapest is Cinema 4D Go, very reasonably priced at £169. There's also Cinema 4D SE (£529) and Cinema 4D XL6 (£1469) which is mindbogglingly powerful to say the least.

Yep, I'm still wrestling with myself about whether to get the GO version. I'd like to master Raydream first, though, before I spend any more money.

Have you put any of your work on the internet?

no, but I think I'll submit something for irtc. It's not great, but then again I'm rather new to 3d.

same here really I've only done a few things in 3D but I've put them on my homepage ( http://www.ianferguson.co.uk under Art). My homepage is very graphical, so takes a while to load, but have a look if you like
I'm trying to do something for IRTC but I'm not sure what yet.

I haven't received my IRTC CD yet, but I assume the animations allow sound? I recall reading that for big productions like "Toy Story", the sound track was recorded first - e.g. Tom Hanks dialogue - then the animators matched that, sometimes even using mannerisms they picked up while observing the recording of the dialogue. On a much smaller scale, I've had better luck doing the sound first, which establishes the timeline.

Sound is not required but sometimes it helps, check out the current 3rd place winner, "Traffic". Is there a particular program you know of to add sound to an animation?

Hmmm... the "Ruins" pic at the bottom of the art page seems to strike a chord for some reason. Looks like its coming along pretty well. I think my mistake is the decision to use Bryce on mine. It's so easy to use a moron could come up with a decent pic. I think I prefer the satisfaction that comes from POV-ing.

For me, the soundtrack is a two step process. First, I create it using Acid Pro from Sonic Foundry. This is basically a multi-track arranger (i.e. sets the timing) with unlimited tracks. The audio content of the "tracks" - meaning short audio clips, voice, music, sound effects - are available at the start (creating/obtaining these is a whole different topic). Then, after mixing all these audio tracks together into a single stereo soundtrack, I add them to the video using MGI's VideoWave II - a budget version of Adobe Premiere - which is basically a video editing program. It sounds more complicated than it is ... just drag and drop. VideoWave III is now out from MGI Software, about $70 street, Ulead has a similar product for about the same price. Adobe Premiere is ten times the price.

If you're looking to enter the IRTC you'd better check the rules... I have a feeling they only allow the use of POV-Ray. Or that may be another competition, I've lost track.
The effect I'm *trying* to get with the Ruins picture is of light streaming down from the hole in the ceiling. I've tried it and it looks appalling. I'm going to add a lot more stuff, but it takes an hour or so to render at 640x480 already - there's a lot of texture detail. It's one of my first pics so I'm learning a lot as I go along

Any raytracing program is allowed to be used. They do tend to be more impressed with works from POV-Ray however because of its difficulty to use. However, the honorable mention for originality in the garden stills went to a pic done in Bryce and Poser.

If you're looking to use media for the light beams, you might find this tutorial helpful:
http://members.xoom.com/POVRAY3/