TITLE: Confrontation NAME: Wolfram Koska COUNTRY: Germany EMAIL: Fay@gmx.net WEBPAGE: none TOPIC: Elements COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT. JPGFILE: fay_elem.jpg RENDERER USED: PovRay for Windows v3.02 TOOLS USED: Moray V3.01 for Windows Nathan Kopp's Lens Flare Plugin Paint Shop Pro RENDER TIME: about 2 hours HARDWARE USED: P100 32MB RAM IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Once ago, in a time when magic was reality and people believed in things we would deny, the elements were the guardians of the nature and the freedom. They ruled the earth in they wisdom and kindness. They allowed the humans to do what they wanted, as long as it did not engage the existence of other living beings. But sometimes, there were sorcerers who did not believe any more, and strove after might. The elements had to fight against those sorcerers to save the freedom of the world. There were many, many cases in which they won, and it was very astonishing that there appeared more and more evil sorcerers. But then, after hundreds of years, the reason became clear: one sorcerer, the most evil of all, teached young, inexperienced sorcerers the ideas of the evil, so they succumbed its temptation and faught against the elements, so they did not notice the Great One, how he called himself, and lost their might. Not much, but every time after they won against one of the disciples of the Great One, they were more weak. And at least, the Great One rised against the elements. It was a great battle, and both sides won and lost. The Great One defeated the elements, but in the moment of their loss, they used their last forces and killed the Great One. So the elements became a legend, and the people they protected once ago lost most of their magic forces. Nowadays, this tale is only known by some of those who use their magic with the help of the runes, but they keep their wisdom, because they know, when mankind becomes more mature, they will be able to call the elements back. DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: First, I made the elements (fire, water, earth and air). They are blobs, and handmade, with trial-and-error, and then fitted in the rest of the scene made with Moray, as includes. Then, after having thrown away my first idea of the rest of the scene, and after a long time of thinking about what would be the best environment for 4 elements, I got the idea with this confrontation between the elements and the sorcerer with his army. So I made a height-field for the ground (with povray) and a warrior. The other warriors are copies of the first, and it lasted a long time until there were no more of them hovering or sticking in the ground. The sorcerer is made out of bezier patches. His magic wand would look really good when it would be more detailed, but it is too far away :-(. The swords are crossed, just to show the conflict, and the runes are a ttf, they represent the circle of all things... yea, magic :-)