This scene's modeled structures are comprised of two buildings, a launch pad and a star ship.

TWO BUILDINGS: These were created almost entirely with the BUILD -- COMPLEX -- LATHE command. Fo the taller building create a simple polygon with a concrete material setting, lathe it. The shorter building is made the same way, but with an aluminum material.

For the bubble dome I followed the same procedure of lathing, then duplicated it [BUILD -- COMPLEX -- DUPLICATE -- make sure to place it exactly on top of the original x0, y0, z0], scale (MODIFY -- SIMPLE -- SCALE [Alt-F9]) the duplicate larger, using it as a shell around the original dome. On the duplicate put a glass material, and MATERIALS -- MAPPING -- PSEUDO-ENVIRONMENT MAP a good glass reflection map. Place a MATERIALS -- MAPPING -- AUTO-ENVIRONMENT MAP on the smaller dome inside. I then used MATERIALS -- MAPPING -- PSEUDO-ENVIRONMENT MAP to put this same map onto most of the other metals on the building. This saves a lot of render time and memory. Not UN like saving used Christmas wrapping paper for next year. I re-used the same dirt texture used for the landscape as a bump map for the concrete surfaces to add detail.

LAUNCH PAD: The launch pad was also simple. Create a rectangle and extrude it at 90 degrees (BUILD -- COMPLEX -- EXTRUDE). For the stairway (not very visible) I make a polygon outline of the steps, (BUILD -- SIMPLE -- POLYGON) then extrude it as well. Make a circle and put it on top of the pad. There are two methods for making the railing:

• make a circle and lathe it, or
• make two circles one slightly larger than the other. Use cut-polygon or drill object, this will leave you a ring, bevel it.

I applied to the railing an aluminum texture, and on the gray areas of the pad itself a concrete material with the dirt texture as bump map.

STARSHIP: This is a slightly more complicated object though still rather simple. The wings are made by extruding polygons, the central body an extruded circle, the head a sphere, and the rocket engines (metal ones and large ones) by lathing polygons. The metallic pattern, bump panels, and windows are all texture maps.

The creation method of the large engines was rather interesting. After having created the shape by lathing a polygon, I split it into different sections using the MODIFY -- OBJECTS -- SPLIT OBJECT command.

• Put a box around the area you want split off, select the NO to the question box. These will be the gray metallic areas on the ship's central engine.

On these gray areas apply an aluminum material, and two middle sections I made a darker gray. The gray areas were made more interesting by slightly shrinking [MODIFY -- OBJECT -- STRETCH] the width and depth so that they are slightly sunk into the engine.

#4: Final Touches

Ensure the camera is at a good angle. Next, complete the lighting. This scene has extremely simple lighting. I deleted the default scene omni-light, and put in a distant light [LIGHTING -- ADD DISTANT LIGHT]. A distant light makes all the light come from one direction, much like sun light seems to. It is especially good for outside lighting. Make sure you have it casting shadows [LIGHTING -- LIGHT ATTRIBUTES]. Where you place the actual light icon is not important as it just represents from where the light is coming. I've mine pointing across the scene from the left aimed somewhat away from the camera.

As a final step, put textures on the landscape object and in the background. To set a background texture, use the VIEW -- DISPLAY OPTIONS -- BACKGROUND MODE command and select the image you've loaded to be your background texture.

That's about it. I hope this walk through has helped you in some way. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me. Remember, "He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet." Happy imagining!

• The Rendering Times: Design and Copyright & © 1997 -- David Chandler Spake. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without the express written permission of DCS is prohibited.