Ray-traced landscapes

Photo-realistic renderings were once exclusively the domain of super computers and high-end workstations. Now with the increasing sophistication of geometric algorithims, ray-traced landscapes can be created with a Macintosh.

Digital elevation models (DEM's) are used as a framework over which fractal landscapes are placed using Bryce software. End products include photo-realistic recreations of past geologic enviroments.

Nakata & Mark, Sight & Sound Productions

Pre-dawn scene of Pleistocene Lake Manly. The remnant wave-cut features that surround present-day Death Valley were used to determine approximate lake depth. View southeast from a virtual point above Mesquite Flat.

Nakata, Sight & Sound Productions

A glacier flowed down an ancestral valley about a million years ago and sliced a dome-shaped mountain in half forming the most recognized feature in Yosemite Valley, Half Dome.

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John K. Nakata, Sight & Sound Productions, P.O. Box 51745, Palo Alto, California, 94303 * USA Voice/FAX (650) 494-7600
E-mail URL http://www.sightandsound.com