EMAIL: Fay@gmx.net
NAME: Wolfram Koska
TOPIC: Elements
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
TITLE: Confrontation
COUNTRY: Germany
WEBPAGE: <none>
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 :-)