EMAIL: glenn@mccarters.net
NAME: Glenn McCarter
TOPIC: Mystery
COPYRIGHT: I submit to the standard raytracing competition copyright.
TITLE: The Enigma of Plumbing
COUNTRY: USA
WEBPAGE: http://www.geocities.com/gmccarter
RENDERER USED: POV-Ray v3.5
TOOLS USED:
  POV-Ray editor (all scene modeling)
  ColorPicker (define RGB colors)
  Paint Shop Pro (seamless textures, convert image to JPEG, add signature)

RENDER TIME: 36 min
HARDWARE USED: Athlon XP2100+ overclocked to 1900 Mhz

IMAGE DESCRIPTION:
Another leak has sprung.  <sigh> What's a plumber to do?

This scene strips away most of the infrastructure surrounding the world of plumbing, revealing the strange detail normally hidden from view.  Looking from top down, the viewer sees increasing levels of complexity.  Familiar plumbing fixtures give way to functional tanks and pipes.  Further down, heavy pipelines and turbomachinery toil at their work.  A plumber gazes at the mess.


DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:
I tried to create a certain mix of order and chaos in this image.  Some elements are laid out in regular patterns; others seem to be loopy or randomly positioned, contributing to a sense of mystery.  What is the purpose of this massive interconnected network?  Are there nonsensical elements here, or do we not fully understand the master plan?

I downplayed most of the colors in this scene, because the geometric complexity was overwhelming enough.  I reserved the brightest colors (and the most prominent position in the composition) for the small elements that I wanted to emphasize.  I tried a fully monochromatic scene, but many of the pipes became indistinguishable from one another.  Same thing with a nighttime version of the scene.  The background is a blending of two seamless textures.

I created everything in the scene in the POV-Ray editor.  Macros are used throughout the scene to make elbows, flanges, pipes, tanks, stairs, and catwalks.  I spent the most time creating the plumbing macros that can easily create extensive networks of piping.  Two main macros were most useful: a random version that quickly creates massively complex tangles of pipes, and an array version where you can specify exact pipe coordinates.  The scene started with many random elements.  Later, I actually replaced many of these with deliberately placed pipes to gain more control of the scene.  I put the most detail into the bathroom elements because they are the focal point of the scene.  The entire POV-Ray scene source code is included in the zip file.

Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Michael Hunter, without whose encouragement this image would not have been created.