EMAIL: groovejetduo@yahoo.co.uk
NAME: Paul Hope
TOPIC: Desert
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
TITLE: Moisture Gatherer
COUNTRY: Cyprus
WEBPAGE: None
RENDERER USED: Vue d'Esprit 2 (FREE with cover disc of PC Format magazine Aug 2001)
TOOLS USED: MicroGrafx Picture Publisher-for scanning textures (FREE with cover disc of magazine-details lost in move,sorry)
RENDER TIME: 2h 29m 46s
HARDWARE USED: Retired HP Vectra with 166 Mhz Pentium
IMAGE DESCRIPTION:
This image was inspired by a picture seen in Focus magazine (www.focusmag.co.uk). It features the Tenebrionid Beetle, which gets precious water by climbing to the top of a dune on foggy nights and waiting for moisture to condense on it's legs. The water then runs down special grooves into it's mouthparts. The Darkling Beetle of the Namid Desert uses a similar trick.
DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:
The beetle, drops, and close-up dune were created using Mr. Glanville's lovely Anim8or (FREE from www.anim8or.com), and exported as Wavefront obj's. For the sand texture I scanned a piece of sandpaper, (cover with a clear plastic bag so as not to scratch the glass). To capture the cloud cover I used real sun-light for the whole scene and a 'dummy-sun' (directional light) to light the beetle, as well as an opaque disc in the 'sky' to add cloud cover. I didn't anti-alias the image at all, as I find Vue d'Esprit's AA at render is a little too blurring.