EMAIL:          Sonya_Roberts@geocities.com
NAME:          Sonya Roberts
TOPIC:          Science Fiction
COPYRIGHT:         I submit to the standard raytracing competition copyright.
RENDERER USED:         POVRay 3.00e.watcom.Win32
TOOLS USED:         Paint Shop Pro 3.0 to create image maps and convert from
.TGA to .JPG
          POVRay 3.00 Windows '95 interface (with customized insert menu) for
all coding.
          My brain, with occasional assistance from pen and paper, to
          layout and plan objects.
          TextureMagic v0.95 (Trial Version) for creation of a number of
          textures.
RENDER TIME:         28 minutes, 15 seconds
HARDWARE USED:         Pentium Pro 200 w/32 meg memory and Matrox Millenium 2mg
Graphics Card
IMAGE DESCRIPTION:        A space station being assembled in Earth orbit, will
eventually be "shot" towards
          Mars.  The big tanks at the middle hold water, air, fuel, etc., though
the station
          is being built with a closed-loop ecosystem to recycle air, water,
etc. as much as
          possible.


DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

The Earth, starry sky, and moon are all very large spheres.  The texture on the
planet consists of two matched
layers, one for the water and another for the land.  The clouds around the
planet are mapped onto four concentric
spheres, with the ambience of each level being less the closer to the planet's
surface you are. The ambient light
level of the moon is very high to make it seem more brightly lit.

The Space Station is a fairly simple construct of scaffolding, some big tanks,
and a ring-shaped habitat.  The
whole station can be spun around it's long axis to provide centrifugal gravity
in the habitat.

The two shuttles (the Space Shuttles "Sonyar" and "Strebor") are simple
work-horse machines that operate on a
space-to-space basis; they never land anywhere, though they dock a lot.