TITLE: Escape of the Greb
NAME: John VanSickle
COUNTRY: US of A
EMAIL: evilsnack@hotmail.com
WEBPAGE: http://users4.50megs.com/enphilistor/irtc.htm
TOPIC: Pursuit/Escape
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
MPGFILE: eotg.mpg
RENDERER USED: 
    POV-Ray 3.1g for Windows.

TOOLS USED: 
    Text editor, CMPEG, pencils, paper

CREATION TIME: 
    I started making notes with pencil and paper for various
objects around mid-November, when my PC was packed for shipment.  When I got
the PC back on 21 December, I started typing up the scene code and doing
test renders.  Final rendering was complete on 2 January.
VIEWING RECOMMENDATION:  Full color, 24 frames per second.

HARDWARE USED: 
    K6-2 @ 300MHz, 96 Megs of RAM

ANIMATION DESCRIPTION: 
    The Greb seek to retreat and regroup. They don't
make it.


DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS ANIMATION WAS CREATED: 


I typed out a bunch of scene code, rendered the frames, and slapped
them together with an MPEG compiler, just like I always do.

I have two more characters in this entry.  One is Kammi, a re-textured
Rusty.  Adding the low-slung lasers to the Rusty model kept me up until the
wee hours of the morning.  The colors for Kammi were taken directly from the
green, brown, tan, and black of my uniform.

The levitating robot is Domo, and is a new model.  Using notes I had made
over the course of the prior month, I bashed out the scene code in about
twelve hours, test renders included.   It was a quick design because he
floats; legs and wheels are a pain to design.  Although I used lots of
curves to make this model, it doesn't use blobs.  The little jet rings are
slightly independent of Domo, so that if he is moving, they will appear to
trail behind him a bit.

I found a couple bugs in the Greb model (no pun intended), which caused me
to spend a couple days re-rendering finished frames.

I've been asked about the slow panning and zooming I use in some shots;
I do this for long shots of static objects, so that they're less dull.
Generally, if nothing is moving in a shot, and the shot is more than three
seconds in duration, some sort of camera movement should be in use.

If you have any other questions about things, e-mail me directly, or
leave comments on the comments page (and be sure to put your e-mail address
in the comments; sometimes the bot records the wrong address).

