TITLE: Circle of Life
NAME: Marlo Steed
COUNTRY: Canada
EMAIL: marlo.steed@uleth.ca
WEBPAGE: http://members.home.net/marlo.steed/Gallery/Gate.html
TOPIC: Life
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
RENDERER USED: Strata Studio
TOOLS USED: Strata Studio for modeling and rendering, Painter for textures, Premiere and Media Cleaner to composite and compress clipsPro 
CREATION TIME: tons didn't keep track
HARDWARE USED: Mac G3
ANIMATION DESCRIPTION:
“Life finds a way”.  This animation attempts to stimulate thought about life and its perpetuation and the implications for its continuity.  Life persists despite the inevitability of death.  In death there is new life.
DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS ANIMATION WAS CREATED:
The scene was rendered with a depth of field option in the camera for blurring distant objects.  Textures were made in Painter and Photoshop.  The ripe seeds were created as an instance shape with a transparency map created in Painter, then replicated around a sphere.  The dandelion flower was created was a combination of a bump map and the hair module. The actual animated sequence was a matter of moving cameras and changing the size and position of objects over time.