EMAIL: seayt01@mail.mgc.peachnet.edu
NAME: Thomas Seay
TOPIC: Imaginary Worlds
TITLE: Lost in the Mail

COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.

RENDERER USED: POV-Ray 3.1
TOOLS USED: Paintshop Pro (for snow image map)
RENDER TIME: A puny 4:26 ;)
HARDWARE USED: AMD 300, 64 megs RAM

DESCRIPTION:

Well, here it is: my first entry to IRTC.  This is about my first real
image ever (other than mirrored spheres on checkered surfaces), and 
given that, I'm pretty proud.  It doesn't even begin to compare to what
some of you guys can do, but I think I can get better with time.

The idea for "Lost in the Mail" began as a stream-of-consciousness 
approach to the Imaginary Worlds topic.  I invisioned myself setting 
foot on an alien world, and wondered what I would be most delighted 
to find.  For me, that would be a message from another civilization.  
Such a message would have been sent out to humans without the sending 
species even knowing where it was going to end up.  Well, when you 
send out a message in a bottle, you're trying to give out information 
without any real knowledge of who will finally get it.  Thus, the 
specimen left by this ancient civilization would be, effectively, a 
message in a bottle.

Now, that message has been "lost in the mail."  It lies frozen in a sea
on a moon which orbits its mother planet, which in turn orbits a star
that lies in the midst of a gigantic nebula.  It is patiently awaiting 
the day when an explorer will accidently come upon it...

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

This image used Chris Colefax's Galaxy include file for the background
nebula.  In addition, Chris allowed me to use his planet in this 
rendering.  Though I tried several dozen times, I couldn't make a 
planet that fit quite as well with this image as his.  Many thanks!

The bottle was created using simple CSG.  The ice/snow texture was 
simply an cut from a skiing picture with a bit of turbulence thrown 
in for style.  I considered adding terrain to the picture, but decided
that since the message was frozen in the middle of a sea, there would
be no terrain to speak of.  

Also, I did notice a few errors and such that I tried to correct.  I
know that the bottle is at something of an unrealistic angle, but
when I fixed it, it didn't communicate the effect I wanted.  Also, I 
tried several times to make a fissure around the bottle, but it ended 
up looking really awful.  My attempts were done with height fields... 
does anybody know of a better way?  In addition, the paper looks 
unrealistically flawless, but I couldn't figure out how to make it look
less perfect without making it look downright fake.

Lastly, I beg for comments from you all... That's the best way to 
learn!  Oh, and be gentle... ;)