TITLE: Bore - Outback Australia

NAME: Ian & Ethel MacKay
COUNTRY: Australia

EMAIL: ethelm@bigfoot.com
WEBPAGE: http://www.hermes.net.au/artwerx/

TOPIC: Water
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
JPGFILE: bore.jpg
ZIPFILE: bore.zip
RENDERER USED: 
    Povray for DOS 3.01


TOOLS USED: 
    Fractint


RENDER TIME: 
    35 minutes & 4 seconds


HARDWARE USED: 
    Pentium 133, 64M RAM


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: 


It is said that one picture is worth a thousand words. However, images can mean
different things in different societies.
In Australia's dry inland, over vast areas and sometimes for years, the only
water is underground. Bore holes are drilled to tap the underground water which
is then pumped to the surface, mostly by windmills.
For livestock, wild animals and birds, and thirsty travellers, a windmill on the
horizon is a sign of water and can mean the difference between life & death in
the harsh outback climate. Temperatures can sit for months in the 40 plus
degrees celsius range. 
So this image contains water but also a windmill which is a symbol of water in
the 'outback'.
The image is a 1/1000 sec 'snapshot' which is why the windmill wheel appears
stationary although water is flowing into the tank (for those who would pick
this point).
Animals from many miles around rely on this water so the surrounding ground has
been trampled bare of vegetation. The ground in this area is of two distinct
types, 'redsoil' and 'blacksoil', often seen in contrast like this.
The birds, in this case Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, arrive in flocks, wheeling
and shrieking overhead before lining up along the trench to drink.
The small mob of Kangaroos is deciding if it is safe to approach the trough, a
bit nervous of the PovRay camera.
The sheep have already been in to drink and gone out to forage what little they
can in the way of food.
The 'tilt' on the tank is an illusion created by the camera angle, although some
times these tanks are out of level.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: 

This image was hand coded in PovRay. All of the image is new and original.
The image started with a rough sketch. From this a plan layout was made. A unit
of 1 for 1 foot was choosen so that all parts of the image would be in scale.
The image was made from memory with some reference to photos. The sky is a
vertical plane.
The bare light-source is placed just in front of the plane to make a fuzzy sun
(by reflection) without messing around with a halo.
The clouds are a horizontal plane, mostly transparent. The distant hills and the
'blacksoil' are height fields from Fractint 'plasmas'.
Everything else is CSG. Textures are standard PovRay.
I try to get an effect without getting fancy and technical. The birds and
Kangaroos are crude CSG but far enough away to create an impression without
detail.

POV file is included as bore.zip