This time we will be looking at more realistic looking, and time-consuming, rendering of a computer-generated scene.
In this assignment you will use POVRay to create an orrery (definition here). The orrery that you create will have the sun and all of the planets out to Saturn including the moons that are 1000km in radius or greater (apologies to Pluto). This orrery will sit on a tabletop. I think the best photograph showing what you should create is available here. Other interesting pictures are here, here, here and here.
Aside from the orrery the scene should contain some basic setting like a tabletop, maybe a simple lamp to light the scene. You do not need to create as ornate a base as shown in the example. You can choose the materials for the various parts yourself, but they should be realistic (i.e. the rods should very likely be metal rather than granite.) You are expected to be creative here. The goal is to explore the program and see what kinds of effects you can create. Try different materials, try putting a clear dome on top of the orrery, figure out a nice way to do the rings of Saturn, try different lighting conditions.
In this assignment you will be experimenting with Radiosity. You will create one .pov file (assign14a.pov) to render the scene (myout1.bmp) and another .pov file (assign14b.pov) containing the same elements and will use radiosity to render the scene (myout2.bmp). With the radiosity version you should have the sun of the orrery generate light; and you will probably need at least some other general light acting like the sky in the example so the sides away from the sun are also lit.
Obviously you will need to take some artistic license in rendering the planets (both in terms of size and distance). Comparing the Sun and Earth (size to scale, distance not to scale) we have:
Comparing the Sun and Earth (size and distance to scale) we have:
Turn in your two well commented .pov files (assign14a.pov and assign14b.pov.) and image files of the raytraced (myout1.bmp) scene and the radiosity (myout2.bmp) scene at 800 by 600 resolution.
Well commented means that you specifically identify the planets and their moons in the code by name.
You might consider trying to duplicate the actual "look" of the planets. Some nice pictures are available here.
What You'll Turn In