Author/Artist : Josh Humphries
                gt2832b@prism.gatech.edu
Files :
spiff.jpg       - 800 x 768 x 24-bit final rendered image
spiff.txt       - this description file
spiff.zip       - archive of models, image maps, etc...

Archive Listing for spiff.zip :
2.tif           - backdrop starscape
spiff           - extruded text 'Spaceman SPIFF'
shirt.tif       - image map for Spiff's outfit
spaceshp        - model of Spiff's spacecraft
decal.tif       - image map of 'U.S.S. Hobbes' decal on ship
dash.tif        - image map of the ship's consoles
steer.tif       - image map for steering wheel 'BMW' logo
mouth.tif       - image map for Spiff's mouth
oxygen.tif      - image map for oxygen tanks behind Spiff's seat
x_fract0.tif    - image map for distant planet
earthmap.tif    - image/bump map for earth
planet          - model for distant planet
earth           - model for the earth
staging         - Imagine staging file for the scene

Description :

        I originally modelled a couple of goofy looking-killer robots for this
month's topic (detailed image-maps - pretty nice) but I couldn't really find
a place for them as far as relating them to comics & cartoons so I eventually
scrapped them. I came up with the idea for this while borrowing a book from
a friend of mine - a Calvin and Hobbes collection called 'The Revenge of the
Baby-Sat'. Being thoroughly entertained by the book, I was hit with the idea
of tracing Calvin and & Hobbes. After difficulty making a 3-dimensional Calvin
resemble the 2-dimensional drawings of him, I decided to stick with just the
model I had - no Hobbes. I noticed a recurring theme of Calvin daydreaming that
he was an intergalactic hero named Spaceman Spiff and the goofy thoughts that
would shape the final image suddenly leaped into my slowly-dying cranium.
        All of the modelling was done with Imagine 3.0 for the PC. The final
image WAS ray-traced (as opposed to scanline) but since there are no shadows,
refractions, or reflections the output would probably look the same either way.
The total render time was about fifteen to twenty minutes on my 486 DX4-120
(brand spanking new) with 16 MB of RAM (eight of which are also brand spanking
new) - it pays to get a commercial raytracer as far as the rendering times go. 
The earth image-map was included with my version of Autodesk 3D-Studio (academic 
price for release 2 was pretty low). The map for the other planet in the 
background is a plasma-cloud I generated with Fractint. The backdrop image is 
a starfield (also done with Fractint) interpolated with a plasma (also done with 
Fractint) with a black -> purple palette (all the interpolating was done by a 
program I wrote - SVGA Image Processor v3.0 - beware all versions before v3.0 
are SLOW and SUCK but v3 is good). All of the rest of the image maps were 
generated by hand with Adobe Photoshop for Windows version 2. All of the models 
were also done by hand with Imagine (the hands I did in the Forms Editor, the 
text at the bottom in the Spline (PS) Editor, and everything else just in the 
Detail Editor. The lens flare on the image was generated with Adobe Photoshop 
(50mm wide-angle 67% brightness centered at where the light source in the image 
was).
        All-in-all, I'm very pleased with the results, and I hope you like it,
too.