EMAIL: 93johnst@scar.utoronto.ca
NAME: Darcy Johnston
TOPIC: Magic
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
TITLE: Northpole
COUNTRY: Canada
WEBPAGE: http://www.scar.utoronto.ca/~93johnst/raytrace.html
RENDERER USED: Povray 3.01 for Windows
TOOLS USED: Spatch, Blob Sculptor, Lview, 
	    Chris Colefax's Lens Effect Plugin
RENDER TIME: 1h 32m 23s
HARDWARE USED: P-166 32Megs RAM
IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

Very few things in reality are truely magical. Christmas and the whole
Santa Claus mystique are exceptions, which is why I chose to do this
image. Even today, the ideals that come with Santa Claus manage to bring
out the bext in people. The North Pole seemed to be the center of Santa's
magic; its where everything started.

The image is of a beautiful winter day at the North Pole, not long before
Christmas day. The northern lights and the Northern Star can be seen in the 
distance, offering even more to this magical haven, as Santa works in his 
shed, putting some finishing touches on his slay. Looking closely we can 
see hints that Rudolph, the famous magical reindeer, is not far away.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED:

First, I must give great thanks to Nathan Kopp and Sonya Roberts.
Nathan was kind enough to allow me to use some of his textures from
'Reflections' as a basis for textures I used in this round. Thanks again
Nathan!
Sonya helped me out when I was still stuck on the concept, giving me ideas
for the image itself.

- SPatch was used to make the curtain, a simple wavy pattern.
- Chris' Plugin was used to make the large stars, including the Northern Star.
- The Blob sculptor was used to make the icicles and the antlers.
- Heightfields were used for all the snow, including the snow on the roof of 
  the workshed.
- The shingles which make up the wall were made with an include file I wrote.
  It randomizes the size of each shingle, while making sure it will fit as 
  part of the wall, as well as the sizing and placing different nicks in each
  shingle.

I didn't include Chris' plugin in my zip file. 
You can get it at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/1434
If there are any missing files with the zip file, please email me and I'll send 
them to you.