The 3D Logo

After some thought about how to project this image into a three dimensional space, I came up with the image in Figure 23-5 .

Figure 23-5. Image of 3D logo.

I've included several area lights to make the logo appear brighter on all the visible sides so that it will show up better in this book. The code for this logo is really simple:

 // Persistence-of-Vision Ray-Tracer Scene Description File

 // File: 3d_logo_1.pov

 // Auth: Steve Murphy

 // ==== Standard POV-Ray Includes ====

 #include "colors.inc" // Standard Color definitions

 background { color White }

 // camera { location <0, 20, 0> look_at <0, 0, 0> } // top

 camera { location <0, 0, -30> look_at <0, 0, 0> } // front

 // camera { location <-20, 0, 0> look_at <0, 0, 0> } // left

 // camera { location <10, 10, -30> look_at <0, 0, 0> } // perspective

 light_source { <0, 0, -130> color White }

 light_source { <130, 0, 0> color White }

 light_source { <-130, 0, 0> color White }

 light_source { <0, 130, 0> color White }

 light_source { <0, -130, 0> color White }

 // larger box in the center

 box {

 <-3, -3, -3>, <3, 3, 3>

 pigment { color Blue }

 // make a box object

 #declare myBox = box {

 <-2, -2, -2>, <2, 2, 2>

 pigment { color Blue }

 object { myBox translate <-4, 4, -4> } // tlf

 object { myBox translate <-4, -4, -4> } // blf

 object { myBox translate <-4, 4, 4> } // tlb

 object { myBox translate <-4, -4, 4> } // blb

 object { myBox translate <4, 4, -4> } // trf

 object { myBox translate <4, -4, -4> } // brf

  object { myBox translate <4, 4, 4> } // trb

  object { myBox translate <4, -4, 4> } // brb

  // make a cone object

  #declare myCone = cone {

  <0, -3, 0>, 4

  <0, 3, 0>, 0

  pigment { color Green }

  object { myCone translate <0, 9, 0> } // top

  object { myCone rotate <180, 0, 0> translate <0, -9, 0> } // bottom

  object { myCone rotate <0, 0, 90> translate <-9, 0, 0> } // left

  object { myCone rotate <0, 0, -90> translate <9, 0, 0> } // right

  // make a sphere object

  #declare mySphere = sphere {

  <0, 0, 0>, 2

  pigment {color Red}

  object { mySphere translate <0, 12, 0> }

  object { mySphere translate <12, 0, 0> }

  object { mySphere translate <0, -12, 0> }

  object { mySphere translate <-12, 0, 0> }

The first thing we do is set up the general stuff like the lighting and camera position. Then we define our basic shapes , or building blocks. Next we use our blocks to form each side of the logo. Each object is rotated and translated into its proper relative location from the coordinate <0, 0, 0>.

Once you're done with this example, try changing some textures or pigments, or add some new primitive objects to the scene and see what else you can come up with. Try to get fancy with it.