tc-rtc.co.uk : Picture rating system

Member : DrNo

Title	:	Democracy
Name	:	Normand Brière
Country	:	Canada
Email	:	#############
Webpage	:	www.noware.ca
Topic	:	The Contrast (July)
Copyright	:	Agreed - 2008-08-17 23:44:15
JPG file	:	pw-1218704734-democracy.jpg
Renderer Used	:	OpenGL (ARB program)
Tools used	:	Homemade Java software + GIMP for calibration
Render Time	:	1 minute 20 seconds
Hardware Used	:	Macintosh Core 2 Duo, RadeonX1600

Image description

This scene is about freedom of humanity through democracy, although we may not even know what "liberty" could mean...

The dog looks like free right now, but the birds are even more unconstrained, because they can fly. However both birds in the scene are not completely free either, because the blue jay must carry the lock's key, and the dove must maintain the very precarious peace.

The little man thinks that he has freed himself from the picture, and that he now has his destiny in his own hands. But if he lives in a democratic system, he will depend on people's decision, not his. So he will FEEL free only if he and the majority think alike.

The Statue of Liberty is also obviously not free, but even if one unchains her, the cage has no door, and she is too big to go between the bars. However it does not matter because even without any ball and chain, and cage, a statue would never break free.

Fortunately suppose the statue represents democratic humanity, then there is no problem for numerous little humans to bypass the chains and go between the bars. The cage is no prison at all for them. That is how it looks like at least.

Because if we take a closer look on two specific humans who do not agree, we can remove both of them from the democratic decision, because their opinions cancel each other out. And there is no way to escape from the magnifying glass, unless someone has an opinion that is not overruled by someone else's.

Somehow, democracy is a hoax, or at least an illusion, to whoever thinks his/her vote is important. But it must be that way, unless there would not be any democracy in the first place. Not voting, on the other hand, is the action of voting for the democracy.

Description of how this image was created

I had to do a little bit of modeling this time. Because I wasn't able to find specific public models, such as the chains, the lock and the key which are all CSG-made. Of course, I didn't make the dog nor the birds (nor the statue).

The sky has been generated by blending two completely different photographs: high-res for the top, and low-res for the bottom. The blending seems unnoticeable, and the low-res allowed for avoiding very sharp horizon curve. The thickness of the blurry curve corresponds to the texel size.

The "flares" are actually integrated with the scene and are not post-processed.The posters are B-spline surfaces, and the fabric comes from my new physically-based engine. There was no way for me to achieve such a realistic geometry by hand. The texture of the fabric is a drawing of the statue being assembled in Paris in 1886. The globe in the cage shows France, where the statue came from, and the outside one is oriented towards New York.

Now the fun part: it happened again.

My concept was "Democracy" from the very beginning, and the scene of the statue (virtually chained to humanity, etc) was completed to about 90%. Then I was looking for some image to put on the poster behind the statue. With the help of God, I got to this fantastic photograph (© Mole & Thomas) of the statue composed using only humans. Then I add the magnifying glass because I wasn't sure that the small poster would have been readable without it.

The poster of the dove have been discovered also near the very end (everything on the right was already there), but in this case, the coincidence was not as unexpected. I only had to add the reflection to represent the string in the beak.

The magnifying glass uses no actual refraction and is a total fake. I simply mapped the texture of the poster on an ellipsoid and got this effect by playing with the texture coordinates. Also, don't miss the subtle peace symbol on the statue's tablet.

Among the elements related to the topic, we have the left-handed statue of the fabric (pretty scary actually) and the "shadow" of the man in the picture. The poster in the back puts in a different way what is in front, together with the poster on the left which relates what is happening on the right. The horizon separates very dark and very bright illumination, and the shadowing unexpectedly goes towards the sun.

Finally, even though the two men in the glass are absolutely identical, we know that they have contrasting opinions.

General statistics
No of ratings	:	14
Min. overall rating	:	21 (10 / 10 / 1)
Max. overall rating	:	47 (16 / 16 / 15)
Sum of rating	:	534 / 840
Date uploaded	:	2008-08-12 12:35:51

Specific details

Note: The maximum value below is misleading as the voting system has changed.
If the member votes for all the entries and has created one him/herself, there is an
automatic 20/20/20 score added to the value (This encourages all members who enter to vote).

Rating type

Min

Max

Sum

Out of

Artistic

175

280

Concept

180

280

Technical

179

280

Overall

534

840

Comments by members when rating this image

1.	27-08-2008	Interesting concept, the idea of freedom through democracy actually being restricting. Although that is the proper way for democracy, at least as conceived by the founding father of the USA. A much more intellectual interpretation of contrast that most of the others here. The visual contrast is much more subtle, but still well done. Technically, quite well done. The cloth and paper are convincing. The torch of Lady Liberty is almost believable (but also quite difficult). I like the clouds. The lens flare from the sun is also very good. The biggest weekness, I think, is the textures on the ground and the cage. Everything else is quite convincing.
2.	27-08-2008	Looks like you spend quite some time on this but I feel it's a tab busy and your desired meaning(s) is(are) lost.
3.	18-08-2008	Better than Black and White, still a bit over the top in the working out of the idea. Again, contrast is not immediately evident from the scene and one has to read the explanation to understand the symbolism. Doen not work for me. A (political) statement should be clear and self-explaining at first glance (or so I dream...)
4.	18-08-2008	A nice evocative image displaying a wealth of imagery to be explored. A nice well finished piece of fairly abstract art.
5.	17-08-2008	A lot of symbolism in this image. I like the contrast of freedom versus captivity. It makes you think. I found the bright sun a bit distracting on the left. Also, the model of the dove would probably be better seen from a distance, as it looks rather rough. The ground texture seemed rather busy as well, distracting from the overall image. And I couldn't make out who was in the picture in the glass, although based on the description, I gather who is shown is important. Compositionally, the image felt rather like it was a conglomeration of symbols, rather than a coherent image, The variations on the statue of liberty held together thematically, but the glass and dog and bird poster seemed to be making points independently of the main image. Also, the little man was difficult to notice; I wouldn't have seen him if he had not been pointed out in the description.
6.	15-08-2008	I know the subject is contrast, but I would have expected shadow to come _from_ the sun. In general. I find the concept interesting, but I prefer images that don't need lengthy subtitles.
7.	14-08-2008	I don't like the concept of the Statue of Liberty representing "Democracy"