After a few years of experimenting, I have found it is very easy to "lie" when creating images. Take for example my latest image....

http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=572059&Start=1&Artist=Mrdodobird&ByArtist=Yes

It gives the impession of a huge mass of industrial piping and such, though really is just made of a small section reflected over and over. The top view is what the image would have looked like without the mirrors. The bottom one shows all that there really was to the scene. (I had to rotate the mirrors so you couldn't really tell, since the angle was not 90 degrees, it didn't form a perfect grid of reflection.

This was also what I did in my image "Hive".

http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=546381&Start=1&Artist=Mrdodobird&ByArtist=Yes

I just created the closest six windows, then reflected all the others. I then moved the light into different windows, and did plop renders so it didn't look like a reflection. (if that makes any sense). And my computer was about to crash with just those six windows! it was crazy.

I usually have some aspect of this in my images. (though not always).

examples are
--"Contrast"
--"The Complex"
--"Light Pollution"
--"Chasm (probably the most obvious. I only had one room, and all the rest of the cylinder was reflections. But which one is real, and which are reflections????)
--"Electric"
--"Hive"
--"Overkill"
--"Superstructure"
--"Suburbs" (majorly)
--"Industry"
--"Vast" (the right side of the image is all a reflection)
--"Refuel" (the far half of the station is a reflection, you can even see that one of the signs is backwards)
--"Ring"
--"Aquatic" (I only made one building)
--"Compromise"
--"Afterglow"
--"Underworld"
--"Cementville"
--"Vertical" (I only made a small section, then reflected it. I think. I don't remember)
--"Venture" (the background)
--"Horizontal Horizon" (the background)
--"Magesty"
--"Watcher"
--"Progress"
--"Spectral"
--"City of lights and stuff"
--"Hovering"

(I'm not expecting you read that all. I don't know why you would. I'm bored I guess. Been working on English, and I'm taking a break. But if you're as bored as I am, maybe you could go try to find the mirrors! haha! it's like a game!!!)
Don't you feel lied to? I'm sorry. I really am.

I don't feel cheated by your work Ian it's what happens in many images, out of nesessity. Inovative use of the program is what I think and your images are brill 'cos they look so very involved even if in reality they are not. Please go fool us some more. 8) Catlin

Aww! You know my real name! I feel so happy!!!

I don't understand what you mean by "reflecting". Take "Hive", for instance: how do you use the mirrors to give the illusion that there are more sets of windows? Also, do i have it right that you plop render on your final image? That's a creative use of the tool.

What I mean is that...hmm...say I have one cube, then next to it I make a huge virtical ground plane. (an infinitly high and wide wall) and I give it a perfectly reflective surface. What I get is an image with what looks like two balls, when in reality I only have to keep the file size of one. Now say that I made another wall, at 90 degrees to the original. It would reflect both the original ball, and the reflection, making it appear that there are four balls, all next to each other. Now, let's make the floor reflective, it would reflect all the other four balls above it, and make it look like there are 8 balls. Now comes the tricky part! If we put up another mirror right above the balls, parallel to the ground, the image would be reflected back and forth, creating an infinite number of balls in a tower! (have you ever been in a bathroom with a mirror on one wall and the wall opposite from it, and it looks like there are millions of you when you look at yourself? It's like that.) Then, you set up another mirror, parallel to a different one, and you get it reflected forever in TWO dimensions. Now, if you set up another one, so the ball is entirely surrounded by balls, what you get is an infinite number of balls in every direction! I hope that makes sense.

That's pretty amazing...it's actually a technique used in hollywood quite often, for movies and stuff. Cuts down on set building, i guess.

One word: "Innovative" Bravo MDB

I'm gonna have to try that myself to really understand it, but that's a great help. Thanks! I can almost grasp it and i'm sure doing your impromtu tutorial will hammer it home.

A cool idae, thanks for the tip, (had never thought of that before)

Lol, there's no such that thing as cheating if you've put in the work and get the image you want.

Great tip--thanks for sharing!

If that's cheating, Hollywood is full of cheaters..hmm..that didn't come out right..;) I've cheated on every pic I've ever done, by that standard..I've even made partial models, leaving detail and texture off the parts you don't see..I don't see anything wrong with it..you can only appreciate the art you can see..;)

There is only the final image. What goes into it is neither here nor there. "Cheating" is the wrong word. "Time-saving shortcuts" would be more accurate.

Indeed, I agree with Phantast. Imagine how much RAM your scene would have taken if every pipe was fully modeled! Ridiculous! Cool stuff, once again....