TITLE: Atomic Singularity Portal
NAME: Mikael Kinnunen
COUNTRY: Canada
EMAIL: runners@baynet.net
WEBPAGE: http://ir.indigogames.com
TOPIC: Imaginary Worlds
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
JPGFILE: asportal.jpg
ZIPFILE: asportal.zip
RENDERER USED: 
    PovRay 3.02, PovRay 3.1

TOOLS USED: 
    Rhino, Photoshop 5, Kais Powertools

RENDER TIME: 
    5hrs 40min 05sec

HARDWARE USED: 
    PII400 64ram

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: 

Human kind has discovered a new means of travel.  The concept was simple
create a fold in space to take an object from one point to another in no time.
Scientists worked like mad to create the technology and it was dubbed the ASP
device,
the Atmoic Singularity Portal. The term was derived from the technology used, a
small
black hole, the size of an atom creating the gravity required for space travel.
Word had it that an alien race much like our own was existing in another solar
system 
but to get there would take many millenia.  
A fleet was sanctioned to lead in the invitational party.  Armed to the teeth
in weaponry, the voyeurs of man-kind were ready, and so was the Portal.  The
time came
and the fleet docked in front of the portal awaiting activation. A blast of
energy, a 
shock wave of power and they were gone.  Communication was lost at that point,
just as
the scientists predicted but the fearless group marched forth, into the world
within their own.
They saw something of a dust ahead.  Like a sand storm on the horizon. It was so
far 
away.  The dust grew closer and closer.  By that point it was too late.  The
swarm had
engulfed the entire worm hole.  The team attempted to fly back.  They turned
their ships
around and hit full thrusters.  The lead ship failed to turn quick enough and in
no 
time was torn apart by the organisms.  They seemed to eat right through the
hulls of 
ships as if their teeth were titanium.  No one survived that expedition.  Not
one ship 
returned.  
Since the night of that dream I've had a totally new outlook on the world.  It's
because
of that dream that I can never finish development on the ASP device, this
gate way to an Imaginary World.



DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: 

Mix the following ingredients:
1 Cup of PovRay 3.02
1 Cup of PovRay 3.1
a teaspoon of Kais Powertools
A Hint of Photoshop 5
and a dash of Rhino.
Place in a bowl, stir and chill.  Enjoy :)

I started this venture armed solely with Pov3.02 as I despised the new Media
fuctions of
3.1.  I modeled the Ships after Voyager and the Defiant and the aliens after the
Zerg.
As you can see I had a lot of influence from Star Trek and Starcraft for this
design :)
During a boring Comp Programming class I dl'd pov3.1 onto my Jaz at school and
begun to
play with the media functions of 3.1. I was impressed and that night I spent a
good 5 hrs
converting my code.  At the same time I also managed to bring a 3day render down
to only a 
few hours... The actual modelling was all done in PovRay. (I despise modellers
too :) guess
I'll have to pick up Moray during my Programming Exam :)
The ship was just a bunch of basic shapes.  The aliens were a little more fun. 
To get
the curvature on their bodies I made several loop statements to slowly translate
and rotate
cylinders to form one complete object.  Their tails were the same with a small
sin-wave
thrown in for god measure.  After picking up the Feb issue of MaximumPC I
noticed a dmeo
version of Rhino and inside the mag a short tutorial on how to make a tunnel.  I
installed
the demo, made the tunnel and imported it into my scene to give it a little more
bumpy
feel.  The texture on the tunnel is a fractal pattern I made at school during a
boring
Computer Graphics class using Kai's Powertools. All of the image_maps were
created
at school in Photoshop 5.  I then made all of the explosions, flares
and effects in custom media statements (custom meaning I copied code from the
Help file and
modified it) I began working on this in eary January and think I could've had
another month
or so to finish it but distractions (Tribes, Brood Wars, Half-Life, need I go
on?) kept
me from working 24/7.  Hope you enjoy the image and if you have any questions as
to how
I did anything, feel free to give me a shout at runners@baynet.net.