EMAIL: gmccarter@hotmail.com NAME: Glenn McCarter TOPIC: Horror COPYRIGHT: I submit to the standard raytracing competition copyright. TITLE: "Sole Survivor" COUNTRY: USA WEBPAGE: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/2006/ RENDERER USED: POV-Ray 3.1 TOOLS USED: ColorPicker ( define texture colors ) sPatch ( bezier patches ) Paint Shop Pro ( heightfields, convert image to JPEG ) RENDER MUSIC: Blue Öyster Cult - "Sole Survivor" RENDER TIME: first pass - 40m 01s, second pass 05m 42s HARDWARE USED: Pentium II - 300 mhz IMAGE DESCRIPTION: After I hooked up my new ScreenCap 2000 video capture board, I captured this image during the local broadcast news coverage of the Flight 61 tragedy. You remember it, don't you? The one where that plane crashed up near Billings farm? Remember that sole survivor who was just too frightened to move afterwards? Horrible. Anyway, when I captured the frame, I discovered an image of a skull in the scene, plain as day. This horrified me all over again, so I had to submit it here. DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: From the start, I planned this to be a "dual image": a hidden image within the main image. The conventional three-dimensional model of the aircraft wreckage forms the suggestion of a 2d image of a skull, when viewed and illuminated at exactly the correct angle. In order to achieve the effect, I juggled a tricky combination of lighting and modelling. I created everything in the scene, specifically for this IRTC image, except for updated versions of some macros, weeds, and my human figure. I did most of the conceptual work in Feb-Apr 1999, before beginning any real modelling. Conveniently, the easiest way to evaluate the skull portion of the scene was to render the scene in thumbnail-sized 160x120 test images. The global ambient light level is very low for strong nighttime contrasts. I spent nearly as much time on lighting/atmosphere, as for modelling. No post-processing is used. The "TV news" efffect is achieved by using the main image as an image map, then raytracing all the graphics on top, including the simulated scan lines and grain/noise. This is my first scene using POV-Ray's atmospheric media, which creates the visible light beams. To get this effect, it is critical to balance ambient light, light source intensity, media extinction, and media density. The lens flare effects are also media-based. Everything else is conventional CSG. Thanks to the Myers for ponderings on the meaning of "horror". - - - - - - - - - - - A note to IRTC regulars: yes, this is my very own Winseat image. For a brief period in early 1999, I was a "temporary associate IRTC admin". So I felt obligated to carry on the tradition, and do my own version of Winseat. Unfortunately, I wrecked the plane. :-) Could this be the end of the line for Winseat? Oh, the horror...