Bytescapes

a gallery of computer-generated images

Giedi Prime

Comments

Having decided that my ‘SF Library’ section was looking a little thin, I thought of possible scenes from favourite books that I could possibly render. I eventually thought of Frank Herbert’s “Dune”, which - for all its ponderousness and interminable sequels - is still probably one of the great works of SF.

This scene is supposed to represent the stronghold of the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen on Giedi Prime (if I’ve remembered the names correctly; it’s about fifteen years since I last read the book). Harkonnen is represented by the fat man from the original Zygote Fun Stuff CD. Beside him, Feyd-Rautha is a standard Poser male, outfitted largely with items from Zygote’s Costume Shop. In the background, the Mentat assassin Piter de Vries models the hooded robe and jacket from Costume Shop. He also appears to be thinking his own thoughts, which probably doesn’t bode well for anyone.

The surroundings are all Bryce modelled from primitives, and there are a number of different lights in the scene. Most are radial lights, but Harkonnen himself is illuminated by a spotlight that helps to illuminate part of his face.

Originally, Harkonnen was supposed to be hovering, one hand rested on Feyd-Rautha’s shoulder, but the sight of a fat man floating above the ground looks slightly absurd, so he was grounded.

I haven’t read the book recently enough to be sure whether the scene properly represents the characteristics of the different individuals. Fans of “Dune” will, I hope, excuse me if I’ve got anything grievously wrong. And yes, Harkonnen should probably be fatter and more loathesome, but I had to work with the materials I was given: Zygote’s ‘fat man’ model is only intended to represent the average obese American male, not a hideously bloated and corrupt nobleman from some future interstellar empire.

Applications

Bryce 4
Metacreations
Poser 4
Curious Labs