by resuna » Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:15 am
That's one of those synthetic images where the surface imagery is layered on a topographic map and rendered in a perspective view. They've got a lighting model that's forced on them by the CGI software they're using, and those tend to be relentlessly conventional. I'm talking about the real images from orbiters and probes, the ones selected and arranged by astronomers... it's as if they're expected to be viewed in a dark room with the only light coming from the glowing screen the viewer is crouched over in a fervor of scientific passion, face hilighted from below in a kind of '30s "world of the future" tableau.
That's one of those synthetic images where the surface imagery is layered on a topographic map and rendered in a perspective view. They've got a lighting model that's forced on them by the CGI software they're using, and those tend to be relentlessly conventional. I'm talking about the real images from orbiters and probes, the ones selected and arranged by astronomers... it's as if they're expected to be viewed in a dark room with the only light coming from the glowing screen the viewer is crouched over in a fervor of scientific passion, face hilighted from below in a kind of '30s "world of the future" tableau.