TITLE: Northpole NAME: Darcy Johnston COUNTRY: Canada EMAIL: 93johnst@scar.utoronto.ca WEBPAGE: http://www.scar.utoronto.ca/~93johnst/raytrace.html TOPIC: Magic COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT. JPGFILE: nrthpole.jpg ZIPFILE: nrthpole.zip RENDERER USED: Povray 3.01 for Windows TOOLS USED: Spatch, Blob Sculptor, Lview, Chris Colefax's Lens Effect Plugin RENDER TIME: 1h 32m 23s HARDWARE USED: P-166 32Megs RAM IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Very few things in reality are truely magical. Christmas and the whole Santa Claus mystique are exceptions, which is why I chose to do this image. Even today, the ideals that come with Santa Claus manage to bring out the bext in people. The North Pole seemed to be the center of Santa's magic; its where everything started. The image is of a beautiful winter day at the North Pole, not long before Christmas day. The northern lights and the Northern Star can be seen in the distance, offering even more to this magical haven, as Santa works in his shed, putting some finishing touches on his slay. Looking closely we can see hints that Rudolph, the famous magical reindeer, is not far away. DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: First, I must give great thanks to Nathan Kopp and Sonya Roberts. Nathan was kind enough to allow me to use some of his textures from 'Reflections' as a basis for textures I used in this round. Thanks again Nathan! Sonya helped me out when I was still stuck on the concept, giving me ideas for the image itself. - SPatch was used to make the curtain, a simple wavy pattern. - Chris' Plugin was used to make the large stars, including the Northern Star. - The Blob sculptor was used to make the icicles and the antlers. - Heightfields were used for all the snow, including the snow on the roof of the workshed. - The shingles which make up the wall were made with an include file I wrote. It randomizes the size of each shingle, while making sure it will fit as part of the wall, as well as the sizing and placing different nicks in each shingle. I didn't include Chris' plugin in my zip file. You can get it at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/1434 If there are any missing files with the zip file, please email me and I'll send them to you.