TITLE: Tzolkin
NAME: Marjorie Graterol
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: emediez@emediez.com
WEBPAGE: www.emediez.com
TOPIC: Mystery
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
JPGFILE: mg_ahau.jpg
ZIPFILE: mg_ahau.zip
RENDERER USED: 
    POV-Ray v.3.5 Windows /Win 2000

TOOLS USED: 
    Hamapatch
                   Paint Shop Pro v.7
                Crossroads
                Wilbur
                   Plant Studio
                CorelDraw! and PhotoPaint
                  

RENDER TIME: 
    32h 41m 9s


HARDWARE USED: 
    P4, 2.4G, 80G HDD 512RAM


IMAGE DESCRIPTION: 

         (Spanish after English) 
         The time keeping system of the Mayans was a combination of several
cycles that meshed together, marking the movement of the Sun, Moon and Venus. 
Their sacred calendar, the "Tzolkin", is based on the cycles of the Pleiades,
encompassing 26,000 years.  This is reflected in the "Tzolkin" by 260 days,
pairing the numbers from one through thirteen with a sequence of twenty
day-names. 
         The image comprises several points regarding the Maya culture at its
classic stage, and at least, two "tzolkin" .It is basically The temple of
Inscriptions (Palenque, Chiapas, MX) seen from behind a classical mayan "arch",
or "false arch". Mayan temples are on top of pyramids. Usually, all the stairs
of the building -and every space on it- are somehow related to the Sun, Moon,
or Venus. These temples have (or used to have) an "estela" on top, as the link
to the heavens, the highest point to reach the stars.  

         From this standpoint and to the right, there is one "tzolkin" - or a
representation of. The first column represents day-names. Remaining columns are
symbols in 13 frequencies, repeating themselves to reach 260 days. 
In front, the "tzolkin" represented with two wheels, one inside the other. They
are not the same as aztec's calendar, which is based on mayans'. 

         Passing the arch, there is a sphere surrounded by circles, supported by
a cone, (there had to be a handy reminder of time somewhere, being so
important).   I guess that, in a culture capable of developing the most complex
language, and the most accurate calculation system including the zero -the
"discovery" of America -and the proof that the earth was rounded indeed- would
have been the joke of the month, had they been around by the time of the last
discovery. But they were not. Mayan vanished before conquerors arrived. Their
language has been just partially decoded, enough to know that their long count
ends on December 21, 2012.
 
/*Since the beautiful part of this image was the research, a list of links and
some comments -the relation with DNA and I Ching, etc; will be set at:
http://www.emediez.com/tzolkin/info.html */

         Finally, the name Ahau means the Sun and..."We are now in the last
k_atun of the cycle, stage 13, AHAU. 



DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: 


        -The image was built around the temple -modeled in HamaPatch. Then it
was placed on top of a height field (a *.dem from USGS). Two more height fields
were scaled and added, surrounding the pyramid. The path in the middle is
another height field from an image made in PSP and exported with Wilbur, too.

        -The Arch, in this case some type of vault because of its depth, is CSG.
The Right-Tzolkin is an image_map -and bump_map ad hoc-  made from scratch and
composed entirely in CorelDraw8, and then manipulated and filtered (outer
bevelled in PSP). The Left-Tzolkin is composed by two height_fields from images
made from the many interpretations of tzolkin on the net, in PSP.

        -The lizard was particularly hard to do. Not because the modeling, it
was the exporting and rendering in POV. After many lizards lost or just
deleted, Crossroads did the job perfectly for this one, number 6. 

        - Vegetation come from several sources. The lonely plant hanging from
the right, made and exported from PlantStudio. Those hanging from the left,
come from the aquatic free models at 3dcafe-from 3dplants.com. Same goes for
the foliage around the temple.  They are two models -without the pots-
repetead, scaled, rotated, and repeated again. Some of them are not visible,
but give their shadow to the scene.

        -The sky_sphere is from the POV include files -skies.ins- with modified
pigments.
        -Textures are procedural and mapped, -from images made/adapted  with PSP
or Corel.
        -There are 24 lights -spot and pointlights.
        -Rendering.  Rendered with  Antialias_Threshold=0.3, Sampling_Method=2 
and Radiosity. The "Warning:Illegal grid value in   dda_traversal()" appeared
multiple times, along with "The height field may contain dark spots. To
eliminate them moving the  camera a tiny bit should help. For more information
read the manual", and I did. Obviously, the left calendar (which is   made out
of two height_fields full of  dark spots) was the problem, but I wanted it
exactly in that way. I moved the    camera a tiny bit, but it didn't work. I
tried many changes in the radiosity settings, but the error appeared again. I  
 decided to set radiosity to those settings that hamapatch makes by default
when exporting an image with less brightness. 
        Since I had turned off -all (including textures'- ambient values to 0
-in order to get the best result with radiosity, I   tested the image
-especially those two height_fields--without radiosity and AA. POV-Ray didn't
complain, but the image was   very dark as expected (21 pps). 
        
        Since there is no more known work-arounds about this issue in the
manual, I decided to go ahead and render. POV made a   wonderful job. At 23
hours, the machine rebooted. I used the "Continue" from Rerun option, and it
crashed at 7 minutes    -alerting first!. This "continue" feature didn't make
the pre-trace for radiosity though. Reboot, disk clean-up and render   again.
This time, I started a plain render, no AA and no  radiosity at all, just to
catch the window. Aborted and   started an approximate area to finish the whole
image. Average speed for rendering while dealing with the height f1elds was  2
pps.After that it jumped to 15 pps, and then to 30. 
        
        Both parts were put togetehr in PSP. 

         
        NOTE: Very few source files are included. All files zipped go from 49 to
11 Megs, still too much. 
 

/***Espa_ol***/
IMAGE DESCRIPTION:
         El sistema de medici_n del tiempo de los mayas, era una combinaci_n de
varios ciclos que se entremezclaban, marcando los movientos del Sol, la Luna y
Venus. Su calendario sagrado - el Tzolkin- est_ basado en los ciclos de las
Pl_yades, abarcado 26.000 a_os. Esto se refleja en el Tzolkin con el numero de
260 d_as, pareando los numeros del uno al trece con una secuencia de veinte
nombres-d_a.
         
         La imagen comprende varios puntos referentes a la cultura Maya en su
periodo cl_sico y por lo menos dos "tzolkin". Es b_sicamente el Templo de las
Inscripciones (Palenque, Chiapas, MX) visto desde un caracteristico arco maya,
o "arco falso". Los templos mayas estaban en lo alto de las pir_mides. A
menudo, todos los escalones del edificio - y cada espacio dentro de el- est_n
de alguna manera relacionados con el Sol, la Luna o Venus. Estos templos tienen
(o sol_an tener) una estela en la parte superior, como el nexo con los cielos,
el punto m_s alto para alcanzar las estrellas.    

         Desde este punto y hacia la derecha, se encuentra un tzolkin -o una
representaci_n. La primera columna representa d_as-nombre. Las columnas
restantes son s_mbolos en 13 frecuencias, repetidas hasta alcanzar los 260
dias. Al frente, el tzolkin representado con dos ruedas, una dentro de la otra.
No son iguales al calendario azteca, que se basa en el de los mayas. 

         Pasando el arco, hay un esfera rodeada de c_rculos, sostenidos por un
cono (tuvo que haber habido alg_n recordatorio del tiempo en algun lugar, si
era tan importante). Creo que, en una cultura capaz de desarrollar el lenguage
m_s complejo y el sistema de c_lculo m_s exacto incluyendo al cero- el
"descubrimiento" de Am_rica -y la prueba de que la tierra como que de verdad
era redonda- hubiese sido el chiste del mes, si hubiesen estado por ah_ por los
tiempos del _ltimo descubrimiento. Pero no estaban. Los Mayas se desvanecieron
antes que llegaran los conquistadores. Su lenguaje ha sido decodificado s_lo
parcialmente, justo para saber que su "cuenta larga" termina el 21 de Diciembre
del 2012. 
 
/*Puesto que la parte m_s bonita de esta imagen ha sido la b_squeda, se
publicar_ una lista de links -la relaci_n con el ADN y el I Ching, etc; y
algunos comentarios acerca del tema en :
http://www.emediez.com/tzolkin/info.html */

         Finalmente, el nombre Ahau significa el Sol y..."Estamos ahora en el
_ltimo kat_n del ciclo, estadio 13, AHAU"



DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

        -La imagen se compuso a partir del templo -modelado en hamapatch. Luego
fue colocado encima de un HF (un archivo *.dem de USGS) . Dos height fields m_s
fueron reducidos y a_adidos, alrededor de la pir_mide. El camino medio es otro
height_field de una imagen hecha en PSP y exportada con Wilbur. 

        -El arco, en este caso casi una b_veda a causa de su profundidad, es
CSG. El tzolkin de la derecha es un image_map com su bump_map ad-hoc creados en
Corel8, manipulados y sometidoa a filtros (outer bevel en PSP) . El tzolkin de
la izquierda est_ compuesto por dos height_fields  a partir de imagenes de la
red, creadas en PSP. 

        -El lagartijo fue particularmente antip_tico. No por haberlo modelado
sino a la hora de exportarlo a POV. Luego de muchos lagartijos fallecidos o
sencillamente borrados del mapa, Crossroads hizo por fin el trabajo
perfectamente para _ste, el lagartijo n_mero 6. 

        - La vegetaci_n proviene de varias fuentes. La solitaria matica que
cuelga de la esquina derecha en el primer plano, hecha y exportada por
PlantStudio. Las de la izquierda, una de las acu_ticas de los modelos de
3dcafe, que son de 3dplants. Lo mismo para el follaje de los alrededores del
templo. Son s_lo dos modelos -sin las macetas- repetidos, escalados, rotados y
vueltos a repetir. Algunos no son visibles, pero le brindan sombra a la escena.


        -El sky_sphere es de los archivos include que vienen con POVRay
-skies.ins- pero modificado.
        -Las texturas son procedimentales algunas y a partir de im_genes las
otras -hechas en PSP o COrel-
        -Hay un total de 24 luces -spot y pointlights. 
        

NOTA: Se incluyen muy pocos archivos. Todos ellos comprimidos van de 49 a 11
megas. 

        -Rendering.  Rendered con  Antialias_Threshold=0.3, Sampling_Method=2 y
Radiosity. El alerta "Warning:Illegal grid value in  dda_traversal()" apareci_
muchas veces, junto con este "The height field may contain dark spots. To
eliminate them moving  the camera a tiny bit should help. For more information
read the manual", que le_. Obviamente, el calendario de la  izquierda (que
consta de dos height_fields llenos de espacios obscuros) era el problema, pero
yo lo quer_a exactamente de  esa manera. Mov_ la camara un poco, pero no
funcion_. Trat_ cambiando los settings de radiosity, pero el error apareci_ de 
nuevo. Decid_utilizar los settings que exporta por default hamapatch , pero con
menor brillo. 
        Puesto que todos los valores ambient -incluyendo las texturas- estaban
inhabilitados,prob_ la imagen -
        especialmente los dos height_fields sin radiosity y con AA. POV-Ray no
protest_, pero la imagen sali_ muy obscura (21 pps) 
        
        Puesto que no hay m_s soluciones conocidas acerca de esto en el manual,
decid_ seguir adelante con el render. POV hizo un  estupendo trabajo. A las 23
horas, reboot. Us_ el "Continue" de la opci_ Rerun, y entonces se estrell_ a
los 7 minutos  -avisando primero. Este "continue" no hizo el pre-trace por
cierto. 
        Reboot, disk clean-up y render otra vez. Esta vez hice un render
sencillo,sin AA ni radiosity s_lo para obtener la
        ventana del display. Abort_ el proceso y entonces determin_ una _rea
aproximada que correspondiese a la parte que faltaba.
           La velocidad promedio con los height_fields fue de 2 pps. Despu_s de
pasarlos subi_ a 15pps 
        
        Luego se unieron las dos partes en PSP,y Tutto bene.

