TITLE: Mekka
NAME: Stephen M. Farrell
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: StephenF@whoever.com
WEBPAGE: n/a
TOPIC: Great Inventions
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
JPGFILE: mekka.jpg
RENDERER USED: 
    POV-Ray for Windows 3.5

TOOLS USED: 
    POV-Ray for Windows 3.5; Paint Shop Pro 7 (for signature and jpg
conversion, and part of monitor image map)

RENDER TIME: 
    1 days 13 hrs 25 mins

HARDWARE USED: 
    Pentium 4 2.53 GHz; 1 GB RAM



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: 


  Playing off the phrase "build a better mousetrap", the inventor has tried to
do so, creating a mechanical cat designed to eliminate mice.  But the mice have
heard about his plan, and after the inventor has retired for the night, they
set about making sure his great invention will never see the light of day....


DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: 


  There's really not much to say this time around... about ninety percent of the
scene consists of simple CSG.  The hardest part of the scene was definitely the
mice, which consist of simple blob components covered with triangles for the
fur, along with CSG for the eyes, ears, and other small details.  I spent a lot
of time trying to get the fur to look good, and I'm reasonably happy with how
it came out... the more distant mice look pretty good to me, and the closer
ones look all right, at least... not great, but not bad.  While loops create
"spheres" of triangles, with randomization to make the triangles different
lengths and slightly different colors.

  Other than that, the only objects which aren't CSG are the post-it note (a
bezier patch with a text intersection), and various sphere_sweeps (the mouse
tails, all wires and cords, the wirecutters, the drawer handle, and the red
sine-wave readout on the testing unit (just below and to the right of the
rightmost outlet)).  Oh, and a simple prism was used for the pieces of the LED
display on the clock radio.  

  The screenshot on the monitor was creating by rendering the right side within
POV-Ray, and then creating the left side and the error message box with Paint
Shop Pro 7.

  I think it's worth talking about the lighting for a moment, since I think it
really helps make the scene what it is.  Most of the light comes from a conical
light fixture just above camera range, with several other dim lights scattered
about.  Light from the main source has a slight yellowish-orange cast, while
the others have a very pale blue coloring. This helps to increase the contrast
between the lighted areas and the more shadowed ones, I think, and really adds
to the reality of the scene.  And radiosity helps bring it to life.

  That's about all for this round, I think.  As always, any criticisms/comments
are definitely appreciated.


