Ansichten eines Bauern – Bedrohung I

The work depicts a chessboard with gold and silver pieces. The reflection in the tower creates a special spatial effect: it extends the image into the space of the viewer.
Gerd W. Bieberich created the computer graphic »Views of a Pawn – Threat I« during his studies at the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Karlsruhe (today: KIT). The goal of the work was to demonstrate the effectiveness of the software VERA (Very Efficient Raytracing Algorithm).
VERA, a program that could generate both realistic and non-realistic images, was developed at the University of Karlsruhe, Institute for Business and Dialogue Systems. The first implementation was done in 1984 by Prof. Dr. A. Schmitt, further development was carried out by Prof. Dr. H. Müller. Markus Linsenmann integrated several versions into the raytracer Vera-I in 1986.
Among the special features of the image were multiple reflections and refractions, illumination, colored shadows, continuous color gradients, and material imitations. The individual image elements that created these effects - the checkerboard, the chess pieces, and the color gradient in the background - were programmed manually. Bieberich "digitized" the silhouettes of his brother's chess pieces by feeding their metric data into a computer program.
In the context of the history of representational computer graphics, the work represents one of the earliest convincing renderings of illusionistic scenes.

Research: Christina Dürr and Inge Hinterwaldner (KIT)