TITLE: Exploring Mars

NAME: Leroy Whetstone
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: lrwii@joplin.com
TOPIC: Invention
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
MPGFILE: marsx.mpg
RENDERER USED: 
    POVray 3.6 Win


TOOLS USED: 
    Cmpeg & Cmpeg6 & POV
  I started to use Cmpeg6(a front end for Cmpeg)to make the Mpeg
   but the editor didn't function very well, but I could still use it to
   preview my scenes. I made a POV program to one create the list file 
   then ran Cmpeg from dos.  

  Special Thanks to space-graphics.com
    url: http://www.space-graphics.com
 e-mail: info@space-graphics.com
 For the Global Mars planet imagery bump and color map. 



CREATION TIME: 
    Render Time ~34 HOURS (about a minute per frame)


HARDWARE USED: 
    1.2ghz Athlon


ANIMATION DESCRIPTION: 
    My own take on the next generation of Mars
                       explorers and to celebrate One Martain Year
                       of Spirit and Oppertunity on Mars.



VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS: 
    I viewed this ActivMovie Win98 with no problem.
                         The screen resolution is 320*200.
 

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS ANIMATION WAS CREATED: 

 
  This is my second entry.
  There are no zip file because I'm lazy and everthing is so scattered.
  
  Mars : I had dowloaded the bump map from space-graphics.com
         a long time ago and played with it. I made the planet and
         close up views using Pov's isosurface. I had set it up where 
         you could choose a longitude and latitude to get the close up.
         You could disect a locate by either clipping a lower 
         limit(like water)or by clipping the height(cutting a mountain).
          When I started this annimate the old close up views where
         to far away (35-50 miles). So I took the map and wrote a Pov 
         that zoomed in Real close. I used pigment functions and splines
         to make a mesh. I made two meshs. One for the landing stage and
         one for the flying stage. Used the Isosurface for the intro.
          The colors of mars where harder to get right the closer you
         got. Instead of using a image map, I stole colors from different
         locations on mars and made my on color map for the landing site
         and the fly zone.
           For the landing site I used layered textures to simulate the
          bounce marks.

  Lander : This took a while to make, it's expandable. When I was making 
          it I didn't know just what size it should be. My robot had to
          fit inside. Each side is a mesh with 2 movable triangle inner 
          doors. Each side can move and rotate.
           When the robot was positioned I tested the ship size until I
          got something that worked.
           The airbags are simple texture spheres that can inflate or
           deflate togather. 

  Robot : I've been playing with the basis for this robot a long time.
          Trying to get a system set up where one can create two poses
          and have the computer make the in between poses for frame to
          frame animation and where the poses are reusable. 
           There are 4 files for each pose. One for each hand,one for 
          the face,one for the body. When you animate you have 4 action
          files these files are list of poses and frame counts. The number
          of POV files that makes all this work is large. The main thing
          about the set up so far that you can change the robot's 
          appearence fairly eazy. There still a lot to do.
  
 Special Effects: 
       lightning = the color cycle through red,green,blue,white once
                   every 4 frames. Each bolt is made up of 4 sets of
                   connected cylinders.
       
       Main Sign: I used pigment average with cells and an image map
                  of the words. 
                      
After thoughts: I got started late on this entry. I don't know what I
                was thinking with the holidays and other obligations.
                But I had fun. It could be a lot better. Espeically
                the mpeg conversion, I didn't have time to do it up
                right. And try and find out how on the Net.