EMAIL: stephenhasmail@yahoo.com
NAME: Stephen Bell
TOPIC: The Laboratory
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
TITLE: Animal Sacrifice
COUNTRY: Canada (but living in Oklahoma, USA)
WEBPAGE: http://students.oc.edu/stephen.bell
RENDERER USED: POV-Ray 3.1 for Windows
TOOLS USED: sPatch, POV-Ray 3.1, Printmaster Publishing Suite 7.0 (for Frank poster)
RENDER TIME:
HARDWARE USED: Pentium II 400MHz, 64 Mb RAM
    
    
    
IMAGE DESCRIPTION:
 
The human race, some believe, has constantly been battling the "gods," those mysterious entities which can rob us of our wealth, power and
even life.  At times, these pagans believed that it was necessary to appease these gods with gifts.  Animal sacrifice was not an uncommon
means of doing this, as these gods, for their own mysterious reasons, liked it.

In modern times, our "gods" are much different than in ancient pagan culture, but at times we fight them in much the same way.  When the 
gods of disease, old age, electrocution, bad chemical interactions, and biological frailty threaten the human race, once again we are 
rescued in part by our friends, the animal sacrifices...

         
         
DISCLAIMER:

I am not making this image to make any kind of statement for or against testing on animals, I merely thought that it would be an
appropriate subject for this competition.  Please don't email me telling me that I am a jerk or a hero.  That really was not my intent.
                                         
                                         

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

	Nothing too fancy really.  I used a LOT of sPatch modelling (the scientist, the brain in the background, the mouse, etc. etc.) and when 
that didn't suit my purposes, I used some simple CSG objects for things like tables, shelves, and test tubes.
One thing I did that I think was quite original is the skin on the old scientist.  I tried to simulate thin skin over flesh by making the
texture in layers (red and blue flesh covered by off white semitransparent layers).  Some very interesting, and quite creepy, effects can 
be created by leaving holes in the semitransparent layer.
I had to teach myself how to use media for this picture, and I think it adds a lot to have that electrical glow coming from the aparatus on
the table.
	I have not included any ZIP file with my work, so if you would like a copy of one of my models, etc. just email me and tell me.