Renderman Image

PlatformWin32 LanguageC++ GraphicsRenderman/3Delight/Rhino

Hover over an image above to reveal the simplicity of the models beneath. The interest and detail of the objects is derived entirely through the use of shaders.

Detailed Screen Shot

hotel scene French Doors Seagull Stucco Patio Furniture Plants and Patio Bannister

Point at an object in the image to see a description of the shaders used to texture it. (Best viewed on a laptop or larger device)

Description

This project was created as an exercise while learning the RenderMan interface. The project represents the opening scene from the play "Private Lives" which takes place in an opulent hotel on the French Riviera. The models I chose to place in the scene suggest this luxury. The floors of the hotel are a fancy parquet texture. I used a high fill to key lighting ratio to create soft shadows and a warm summery feel. The front wall of the hotel is textured with a bump map based on a noise function and is tinted slightly pink to represent Mediterranean stucco. The sheer curtains add interest by restricting the view to the main rooms slightly, which I feel draws the viewer in. I added the shadow of the seagull to give another indication that we are close to the sea in a resort.

Technical Information

The renderer used for this image was 3Delight. Since the play takes place on the French Riviera, I used a high fill to key lighting ratio to create soft shadows and a warm summery feel. The scene is textured using 15 procedural shaders and 12 texture images. The curtains, piano, fireplace, chandelier, easy chair, plants, and banister are models from 3dCafe. All other models are original, which I created using Rhino.

The models for the French Door and windows are very simple low polygon models. And with no shaders applied they appear as simple boxes, as can be seen in the screenshots above. I devised a custom shader to create the realistic glass of the windows and doors that combines transparency, reflectance, and a dirt map to show smudges. The transparency and reflectance effects are generated procedurally and can be adjusted individually to any level.

I initially created the patio furniture as very simple models; see the screenshots of the chairs above. The intricate designs and scrollwork were created with a shader that combines transparency mapping and a metal texture shader.

The plants are textured with a variety of shaders, such as spatter and stipple, that add dimension and interest to the leaves.

One of my goals with this project was to use as many procedurally based shaders as possible. If you click on the final rendered image shown above, you can point at the objects in the image to see a description of the shaders used to texture them.