Paper and lighting test..

A few renders created using Maya translucency and transparency maps, with the burning town in mind.  Area lights were used, to make for soft shadows.  Its all Mental Ray - Ray Traced.  Really just starting the ball rolling, need to play with more 'paper' and lights.  Will look at animating shadows too (silhouettes).  In the top render the paper was triple thickness (best seen around the windows).

thickness closeup

no external light

external area light

projected fire

box test

object blocks light

cutout areas using transparency masks

John Harrison