W_Simul_1· Sep 2021
W_Simul_1 is a series of renders, computed from a 3D reproduction of a chunk of the Auenwald forest (51°18'49.9"N 12°21'33.1"E). It is a continuation of works revolving around my overwhelming experience of noise at that location at night.
I returned to the same spot in the forest to take reference photos and 3D scans of the surroundings. To reconstruct the location, I combined my scans with algorithmically generated plants, trees and bushes that represent the complexity of the forest's structures.
The strong noise in the rendering is caused by computational errors - Just like my own vision - the ray tracing engine computing the images struggles with the complexity of the scene. Hundreds of thousands of small twigs, diffusing the already low presence of ambient light, vanish into a field of noise.
process
After taking a reference image by day (top left), I reconstructed the scene with a mix of sculpting and algorithmic plant systems (L-System plants). Then, using the front facing Face-ID camera (scanner) of my iPhone I scanned branches, twigs, leaves and parts of the floor - keeping track of where i took the scans in the scene. Then, I placed the scans in the 3D scene, at their original locations.
Walking around the forest spot I noted down the light sources in the area - some streetlights far away, and dim moonlight. After recreating these lights digitally, I computed images from this scene with a ray-tracing rendering engine, with noise reduction turned off.