TITLE: Asynchronous Memory
NAME: Ron Gow
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: rgow@lanset.com
TOPIC: Old Technology
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
JPGFILE: async_rg.jpg
ZIPFILE: async_rg.zip
RENDERER USED: 

    PovRay 3.5


TOOLS USED: 

    Terragen, Poser 4, Poseray, Wings3d
    Gilles Tran's Maketree & Makegrass macros,
    Chris Colefax's City macro,
    Paintshop Pro 7 used for conversion to .jpg


RENDER TIME: 

    PovRay: 6 hr 16 min 


HARDWARE USED: 

    Pentium IV 1.8gz
    512 mg RAM



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: 

    > Warning!    Warning!    Warning!
    > Asynchronous Temporal Anomaly
    > Optical input disagrees with stored memory
    > How long have I been gone? 
    > That don't look nothin like Dodge City!



DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: 

    First, thanks to all the voters in the last round. That was
    good inspiration. And especially thanks for all the kind 
    comments.
    
    I didn't have an IRTC entry in mind when I started this, I just 
    started modeling the buggy because I liked the way it looked. 
    It's a type known as a "Doctor's Buggy", and was produced by 
    several different manufacturers. My model is primarily styled
    after one that was produced by the Galion Buggy Works, but not
    entirely, since I was getting my details from pictures and not 
    all the pictures were Galion buggies. Its also unfinished, I
    still need to add lamps and trim and upholster the seat, but
    didn't have time.

    As I worked on it I decided it would be a good Old Technology, 
    but I couldn't think of a scene to put it in. Then I got the 
    idea of contrasting the old technology with the modern city in 
    the background and started playing with Chris Colefax's macro, 
    which is perfect for distant cityscapes.

    Meanwhile, I was trying to write a macro to string telephone 
    wires.  I decided the telephone wires were a good in between 
    technology, plus they provided a visual connection between the 
    old and the new.  The railroad tracks added to that connection.
    
    I had my basic scene then but it needed color.  I thought a 
    sunset would look good, but didn't know how to create one in POV.
    So I set out to learn scattering media.  That was a slow process
    with all the test renders, but I do like the sun I came up with.
    The sunset was too dark though, and gave too much shadow so I 
    raised the sun higher and made it late afternoon.
    
    The station building and the trees filled out the rest and gave
    the scene some compositional direction.
    
    Horse is Poser 4, harness is all POV CSG, mostly sphere_sweeps.
    Man is also Poser, with clothing tweaked in Wings3d, converted 
    with Poseray.

    Buggy is all CSG, so is the building.  Railroad tracks are CSG 
    with boxes and prisms, and a heightfield for the gravel.
    
    Telephone wires are sphere_sweeps.

    Grass & trees done with Gilles Tran's macros. Cityscape done with
    Chris Colefax's macro. Sky_sphere is a Terragen render.  

    Textures are all procedural by me.

    Buggy, horse & man are a light_group, so is the grass in front.
    Everything else lit by sun.

    Zip file contains the telephone wire macro, the station building 
    and the buggy. 
    Warning! Code is raw at best!  Keep away from sensitive eyes!
    

