EMAIL: daffy-duck@worldnet.att.net
NAME: Matthew Welch
TOPIC: Spirit of Asia
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
TITLE: Not-So-Traditional Tea
COUNTRY: USA
WEBPAGE: http://www.squaregear.net/raytrace
RENDERER USED: povray 3.5.beta.9
TOOLS USED: Photoshop, tga2df3
RENDER TIME: 4 minutes  36.0 seconds before adding the nice area_light
             51 minutes  57.0 seconds after
HARDWARE USED: 1.2Ghz Athlon
IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

We wanted to do something a little different. We wanted to incorporate a subtle
play on the word "spirit" as well as include a tip of the hat to Asian cultural
traditions and rituals.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

My girlfriend Libby Paletz and I worked on this image together. Libby is an
artist and graphic designer by profession, I am a computer geek who can make
things go but has no artistic talent. I told Libby about this topic around
December 15th. She immediately had the idea for an image and really wanted to
do it, but I wasn't sure we'd be able to in the time remaining (with the
holidays and all that). Fortunately, the image is relatively simple and it was
a good excuse to download the beta and try out some of the new features.

When Libby described a scene with a teapot I told her about the classic teapot
that we would have to use. The modeling all started there. I modeled the tatami
mats next and then worked on the background wall and paper screens.

The steam is Libby's work. She spent a lot of time drawing not one, but two,
intricate dragons before she was satisfied with how it looked. I had never done
any media work before, because in POV3.1 it looked so awful and took forever.
But in the beta it looks great and seems faster (though that could be because
I'm on a newer machine now). Also new to me was radiosity, but that was
necessary to make the scene look at all realistic.

The beautiful carving on the teapot and cup are Libby's work again. She drew
that wonderful bump_map in Photoshop and I wrapped it around the teapot and
cup.