"havinfun.jpg", a 256-color 800x600 JPEG image of a skateboarding alien.

By J. Sean Keane, keane@ece.arizona.edu


The idea for this picture was tortuous in its inception.  The topic of 
"Alien Worlds" immediately appealed to my sense of the absurd.  In a 
relatively short period of time, I had decided on a skateboarding alien.  
The devil was in the details.

The vast majority of surfaces in this image are Bezier curves.  I tried 
quarter-torii for the eyelashes and they just didn't work.  I spent over 
a week on the lips alone;  I wanted them to be slightly smiling and full, 
not looking like they were just painted on.  The effort payed off.  I was 
also trying for an Elizabeth Taylor violet color to the eye. 

Total rendering time on a relatively fast 486/DX2-66 computer was about 
60 hours.  Much of that was taken by the flower with varying degrees of 
transparent petals.  I'll bet that some of those pixels need at least 50 
rays to determine the final value.  I think the result was worth it;  
this "detail" of the contest entry is worthy of a complete image all its own.

Pyramids just seem to go with aliens, so I threw one made of green glass 
in the background.  The "sculpture" is the result of several weeks 
experimentation with wood textures that fade from a solid color to 
transparent.  This was the result that I liked the best.

Following this description is the file HAVINFUN.INC which defines 
standard colors and textures, and then the file HAVINFUN.POV.  These 
files were created with Moray, which I have paid for but not yet 
received my registration code.