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.