TITLE: Standing on Io
NAME: Brian Blovett
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: brianblovett@mac.com
WEBPAGE: http://homepage.mac.com/brianblovett
TOPIC: Spectacular Landscapes
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
JPGFILE: jupiter1.jpg
ZIPFILE: jupiter1.zip
RENDERER USED: 
    POV-Ray 3.1

TOOLS USED: 
    Photoshop 5

RENDER TIME: 
    15 min, 42 sec

HARDWARE USED: 
    iBook

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: 

Standing on the surface of Io, as Jupiter hangs in the background, watching a
volcano erupting exactly 200 years after Neil Armstrong's first step on the
moon.

This is my second entry to the IRTC. I hope you enjoy it.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: 

Most of this scene was straightforward. The most difficult part was what ended
up being the glow in the crater. I had indtended to do a violent eruption with
some particles and media, but they never came out like I'd hoped, and I could
never figure out how to get the the density distributed in the way I wanted it
to look. In the end, I decided to make the glow effect as a compromise to show
something going on without the distraction that would be created by the
full-scale eruptions I was working on.

Things I would've done differently: I wanted to make my own texture for Jupiter,
but got distracted for so long that I knew I'd never make deadline that way, so
I found an image at NASA (I think -- I've lost the original link). I also
wanted to make a partial reflection of the astronaut's face in his visor (It
might've gone nicely with the HUD display at the bottom), but once again I was
pressed for time. I also wish I had more time to tweak the textures in the
image.