MC Escher Relativity Stairs

I always loved the abstract and confusing style of MC Escher and I've been wanting to make an interesting scene. I do a lot of dynamics, and effects so as of late I've been trying to put more time into adding real detail to my work. I swear, working on this one was tough at first! Analyzing an Escher sketch to gauge angle, distance, and lighting when it's all at random angles can really mess with your mind. I began work on this scene a while back and the total time to create and test the lighting on this scene was just over 32 Hours. This image was originally a 4096X3072 render for print, and it's actually two different renders layered. My first high-res render was a bit too grainy on the wall texturing, but the second one (which also had twice the light detail) looked a bit too smooth, so the second render was put to 50% opacity over the rougher render.

This scene was built in Maya, and rendered with Mental Ray. There were a total of over 3,500,000 photons shot throughout the scene for Global Illumination, and the caustics on the table outside. Every light was an MR ray-traced 'area light' to get every shadow to have a soft look to them.

Total work time; 33 hours. Total render time; 18 hours for two layers. Made in Maya with Mental Ray rendering.

It is also featured in a demo reel of mine - [link]


----This scene has been updated for the fun of it to play in a stereoscopic anaglyph 3D video, DeviantArt still here. [link] ----

Don't buy the print! A higher-resolution version is available FREE, along with an HD video which has a stereoscopic 3D segment, and even the model used to make this.
[link]