 Brian Carl BahrProfessional Draftsman | |||
3D StudioIn the spring of 1992 I had my firsts introduction to modern rendering software. These new concepts of texture mapping and colored lighting all in a 3D environment that was from the start optimized for aesthetics instead of accuracy was a big change. While I have never adjusted to the lack of precision in most rendering applications it did force one to focus on the art and not the science. 3D studio was an all inclusive package unlike AutoSHADE. In it you could draw models from scratch and had access to tools not found in AutoCAD. I never did become proficient in 3D modeling outside of engineering programs like AutoCAD and Solidworks, but I believe this inclusive, one stop shop nature of 3D studios contributed to is success which is still going to this day. 
Click to see full image.
This a 3d model of what was my computer room with an evening sunset circa 1992 (and baring a change in desk and computer it is still the same today). It is fully textured and if you look close you can see the use of bump maps on the computer case to show embossing. This machine was a Packard Bell Legend 386sx 16 Mhz (.016 Ghz) computer with a whopping 4 megabytes (.004 gigabytes) of memory, 40 megabyte hard drive (.04 gigabytes) and a Cyrix cheap knockoff of Intel's 387 coprocessor (now built in on all Pentiums). Also my Panasonic printer (which long outlasted the computer) and standard VGA monitor (640x480 only, no 800x00 and a .41 dot pitch this thing was practically a television). I paid US 1200$ for the whole setup from our friends at Best Buy. 
Click to see full image.
Here is my first attempt at some detailed surfacing. These surfaces we all done in AutoCAD, not 3D studios. Knowing what I now know about advanced surfacing even I really don't know how I squeezed this out of AutoCAD's limited surfacing. Essentially you create 4 sides to define the surface, tell AutoCAD the resolution of the surface and it calculates the average "Z" position of each face using some math formula I probably should know. As you can see this model is loosely based on a Corvette but it is an original design. The "line" you see along the front bumper is as much my ignorance of different surface classes and fits as much as AutoCAD's limitations. It could have been eliminated with more effort but being on the bumper it doesn't really look so out of place, or so I tell myself. Please also ignore the instrument cluster protruding from the bottom edge of the front dashboard. |