Rendering Technology-How It Started

Rendering technology has become indispensible for the multimedia industry today.  Graphics artists and multimedia specialists simply cannot think of creating 3D projects without rendering it repeatedly. But you will be surprised to know that the beginning of rendering can be traced back to the 60s!

Let us know more about the beginning of rendering and the first 3D object that was rendered.

The object that inspired

While discussing the beginning of render technology of render farm, mention needs to be made of Gordon Romney. He was one of the forerunners of 3D modeling and rendering who initiated the journey of creating computer generated objects and making it photo realistic.

The first object which inspired Romney to create a CG model was the ‘Soma Cube’.  It was a very simple rosewood box which was received by Romney in 1967. This rosewood box was developed by Piet Hein in 1933 and certified by the Denmark based brand ‘Skjode Skjern’.  The color, texture and visual effect of this Soma Cube were so outstanding that it encouraged Romney to develop its computerized form.

The basic framework

Romney discovered that the cube shaped rosewood box could be dismantled into seven parts: right screw tetra-cube, branch tetra-cube, left screw tetra-cube, ‘T’ tetra-cube and ‘L’ tri-cube.  He applied the same technique in making seven computer generated polygons that resembled dismantled parts of the original Soma Cube.

The steps that were followed

Romney created the seven polygons using a specific technique. The stepwise breakup of the technique is as follows:

·        Step one :

The light-pen driven Assembly Program was implemented for creating a cube-shaped meta-object from a list of pre-defined geometric objects. The hidden lines in the polygon were distinctly visible and it featured monochrome vector display.

·        Step two:

As it is known now, each of the components of the virtual Soma Cube had smaller units. At this stage, these unites were assembled together into standalone sub-objects.

·        Step three:

Now the color and texture of the components were decided and the necessary parameters were set according to that.  The pixel density, intensity of illumination, view point and other secondary parameters were also set.

·        Step four:

In order to place the CG object properly, the metrics needed for translation and rotation of the same were specified. The ‘Manipulation Program’ was used extensively to give a sequential action to the virtual Soma Cube.

·        Step five:

Now the Tektronix Oscilloscope was set by enabling film and camera options in it. The appropriate filter was also enabled. Separate renderings were done for the green, red and blue polygons in order to preview the rendered color image of each of the components of the Soma Cube. A final render was done when Romney was satisfied with the trial runs.

Although the process took long, now CG projects can be rendered faster using rendering techniques offered by firms like Foxrenderfarm.