In the early 1990's, I was using an 'A3000' computer manufactured by Acorn Computers for most of my graphics and 3D work. This was a fabulous machine with an equally impressive range of software. One software company in particular that seemed to stand out above the rest in terms of quality of graphics software produced, was Clares Micro Supplies. And it was they who went on to produce, to my mind, the best 3D modelling package at the time. Titled 'Illusionist', it very quickly became my favourite package through ease of use and the stunning results that were possible to achieve.

It gave me an idea! I had long been a fan of Vincent Van Gogh and decided to try and recreate his famous bedroom painting, but with the idea being to show what might have been at the unseen end of the room. ie, the position that Van Gogh painted the scene from. I pushed the computer to the limits in order to achieve the results I did. Working in only 256 colours and on a machine with a 4mb hard drive wasn't an easy task but I managed to produce a perfectly acceptable result and actually better than I was expecting and quite extraordinary when you consider that the total size of the file that held the code, textures etc was only 2 mbs. Even more extraordinary is the fact that this was created in 1993 and published as a 3 part walkthrough in a computer magazine the following year. It was probably the first time that Vincent's Bedroom painting had been created in 3 dimensions, albeit in static pictures and not the fly around movies that were to be made later. This was the one thing I wished had been possible with this software. Yes, I could have rendered many frames and strung them together to form an animation but the render time was slow in those days and would have taken me an age to do.

To those of you who have been redirected from my hobbyist site and are wondering where the pictures of the bedroom are, then worry no more, clicking on the picture of Van Gogh's chair at the top of this page will take you there. In fact, there are three more pictures that were never included on the old site. But that's not all there is to see on this site, a new piece of software titled 'Atmosphere' from Adobe Systems has now made it possible for you to enter Van Gogh's House in Arles, climb the stairs and enter his bedroom and move around as if you were actually there. 'Atmosphere' for me is so similar to 'Illusionist' but takes the concept of 3D and movement through the 3D environment much further forward.

So ten years on and I have now created the same scene again but this time using 'Atmosphere'. Only PC users can enter the world at the present time but Mac users will be catered for in the not too distant future. Clicking on the Yellow House icon will take you to another page where you can enter the 3D world and learn about movement within the world and how to chat to others that you see there. My previous project caused a lot of interest, both negative and positive, I hope that this new venture will prove to be an equally entertaining and stimulating experience for you. At the present time, only the bedroom and the Yellow House have been modelled. I hope to extend down to the viaduct and to add other buildings that Vincent painted within the Arles area.

My thanks go to the Atmosphere development team at Adobe for a most amazing piece of software and for allowing me to continue my original dream and take it to a higher level, and to David Brooks who, over several years, has built up the most comprehensive Van Gogh site on the internet and who has giving me such encouragement and support with both projects.