TITLE: DomoRobo
NAME: rjchase
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: jchase1024@aol.com
WEBPAGE: none
TOPIC: Robots
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
MPGFILE: domorobo.mpg
ZIPFILE: domorobo.zip
RENDERER USED: 
    Povray 3.0

TOOLS USED: 
    Moray, POV_People, DTA
RENDER TIME: 30 frames .tga at 320 by 240 +a = 6 hours an' a cool cuppa java.

HARDWARE USED: 
    486 with 16 megs by 133 Mhz. 1 meg Video. What!?

IMAGE DESCRIPTION:  Robots.  Robots doing what Robots do best when Robots
 are together with more Robots, doing Robotic things to other Robots.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

//  Date : 11/14/1999    (Date of last render J_Robot.mdl)
//
//  - The Robot project has been in the works for a couple weeks now;
//          it would be appropriate to add a few comments.
//  - Versions 4 and later use J_Robot.inc, which holds all declares,
//          making the .pov file easier to manage (shorter).
//  - Animation feature added with vers. 4a  11/21/99  rjchase
//  - After a few animation renders:  Creating a single file Robot_Grp.inc,
//      so that Robots can be animated separately with parms passed to the
//        include file.
//  - Re-introducing Slab from Moray, twice as x and half as y and z.
//  - Animating final touches with J_Rob4c.pov. PovPeopl move independent
//          of Robot_GRP.  Next step is to move Robot_GRPs separately.
//          Render animation with RES.ini  A160  0.0 to 2.0, cyclic animation.
//        final_frame=31
//  - Incorporated the conditional (Laser) for selected frames 11/28/99  
//  - Separated all refs to J_Robot to the include file Robo_Grp.inc  1/2/00
//          #switch used instead of #if #else when referencing Robo_GRP.inc
//          Robot_GRP.inc will be invoked as an include file.  Added RoboClock.
//  - Added WideCam and OrthoCam to camera declares (J_Robot5a) 1/10/00
//

        First, setting the scene with a floor plane and Wall_CSG.  Wall is a CSG
difference between a wall-shaped cube and several inset taper sweeps
(Wall_Panel) replicated.  The taper sweeps have a higher ambient pigment than
the surrounding wall, to lend a background highlight effect, without the
shadow.
         The Slab_CSG is, well, a slab (vidi the code.)  Supported by three
rot_sweeps that resemble aluminum barstools.
        
        Three red robots in the scene are multiple translations of the same
Robo_GRP.inc file, and animated by the variable 'RoboClock' passed from
Robot5.pov to Robo_GRP.inc three separate times per frame.  Also passed is the
'Laser' boolean that controls the appearance of the A_Laser object for each
invocation of Robo_GRP.inc.  Now you see it...now you don't.

        DomoRobo uses a two cycle clock, with a #switch(RoboClock),#range
directive in Robo_GRP.inc that handles up to three cycles of animation.  This
was done because RoboClock is given a different value for each robot - up to
(clock+1).  If all robots worked from the same clock, their actions would be
identical, and more boring than this.  During the second cycle, the robot arms
are returned to their respective origins, suitable for cyclic animation.
   
        Several parameters in Robo_Grp.inc are used to manipulate the individual
axes of the robot appendages; including the LFinger, WristX, WristY, ForeArmX,
and Upper ArmX.  The (Robot_GrpY) variable in J_Rob5.POV spins the whole red
plastic sphere - arm and all - upon yet another rot_sweep (a barstool.  whee!)
        
        The gruesome part of this clip - best viewed in a cyclic mode - is in
the background.  A single light_source starboard aft at ground level creates
ominous shadows of arms raising, fingers grasping, arms groping, and the
lasers...doing whatever it is that lasers do.
        All the while, the hapless POV_People (certainly cybernetic) pass
beneath each cutting laser beam.  Dave?  Please don't, Dave. Daisy. Daisy. Give
me your answer true...

        Objects of the initial scene were modeled using Moray V3.1.  Accolades
to Lutz + Kretzschmar for the coolest texture editor.  The resulting .POV and
include files were meshed together using the CodeMax editor included with
POVRay for Windows.
        ...And speaking of Dave, his DTAWin was used to assemble the 30 frames
of POVRay render .tga into one domorobo.avi - which the IRTC does not accept. 
Sooo,  Avi2Mpg1 was chosen to do the conversion to .M1V, which is an .MPG
without the audio.  If anybody knows of an easier way to do this, pipe up. 
Also, Ken Tyler's Raytracing Links can be very helpful to us newbies.
        
        disclaimer:  The diffuse red light from the "laser" strobing on the back
wall would not occur in the real world.  Neither could there be a "shadow" of a
laser.  This is the movies.

        About the Author:  "...the purpose is to mesh the visual image with
digital technology, and to push digital art to an affordable limit, say, $2.99
marked down, cash and carry, no refunds."  rjchase is a hard working single dad
living in Seattle.

        I submit to you "domorobo.mpg"
- rjchase