POVRay Short Code Contest - Round 3

What is this POVRay Short Code Contest about anyway?

Artist: Tekno Frannansa
Entry: cjj
Title: Simple
Length: 72 bytes
Source: cjjqmo.pov
Comments: cjjqmo_c.txt

Artist: Christoph Hormann
Entry: gys
Title: The agate face
Length: 238 bytes
Source: gyscwj.pov
Verbose version: gyscwj_l.pov
Comments: gyscwj_c.txt

Panel judge (First choice)
An interesting balance between the familiar and the alien - realism carried to a point of believability. The contrasting pink organic rock and pale blue sky produce a disturbing quality of dry heat and fleshy plasticine like formations. Very aesthetic with good use of colour, texture, light and shadow.

Panel judge (Second choice)
Great interplay between our knowledge that this is artificial (as an abstract image generated by code) and our sense of the "photoreal" - or simply of the "real." This is achieved by subtle yet direct lighting - resembling a bright summer's day, upon some billowing white rock - perhaps some calcareous formation on a beach or in a desert. I found this very evocative, and semiotically interesting as it plays around with our convention-bound sense of documentary realism.

Artist: Juha Nieminen
Entry: rjj
Length: 247 bytes
Source: rjjaij.pov
Verbose version: rjjaij_l.pov

Artist: Tekno Frannansa
Entry: swo
Title: City
Length: 255 bytes
Source: swokwz.pov
Verbose version: swokwz_l.pov
Comments: swokwz_c.txt

Artist: Immanuel Halupczok & Mark Weyer
Entry: gxc
Title: Swamp
Length: 203 bytes
Source: gxcjad.pov
Comments: gxcjad_c.txt

Panel judge (Third choice)
Whilst verging on fantasy-kitsch, this image is moody and evocative - obviously reminiscent of a forest, though perhaps it could be a microphotograph of something as well. It is compositionally satisfying, and seems to be the sort of image that one could peer into - spend some time looking at and imagining some voyage taking place therein - in this sense it is a kind of landscape and narrative image.

Artist: Mark Weyer
Entry: hyc
Length: 201 bytes
Source: hycxio.pov
Comments: hycxio_c.txt

Panel judge (Second place)
A great highly aesthetic abstract work conveying underwater depth, whilst the crimson colours suggest something unlike water, a journey into the body perhaps. A work that captivates and suggests, and invites the viewer to spend more time and contemplate the piece. A good balance of colour, form and depth.

Artist: Bernard Hatt
Entry: eqs
Length: 246 bytes
Source: eqstqh.pov
Verbose version: eqstqh_l.pov

Artist: Wlodzimierz Skiba
Entry: hsn
Length: 249 bytes
Source: hsneez.pov
Verbose version: hsneez_l.pov
Comments: hsneez_c.txt

Artist: Florian Brucker
Entry: jtv
Length: 241 bytes
Source: jtvpcb.pov
Verbose version: jtvpcb_l.pov
Comments: jtvpcb_c.txt

Artist: Manuel Kasten
Entry: mxo
Length: 244 bytes
Source: mxoapw.pov
Verbose version: mxoapw_l.pov

Panel judge (Third choice)
An evocative rendition of a burnished metal surface, where the sense of scale is completely lost. Good use of colours, lighting and texture.

Panel judge (First choice)
Compositionally, a very satisfying work: nice sense of symmetry, gentle colours, and not too "plasticy" looking. I was reminded of the paintings of Frank Stella - such as the Tahkt-I-Sulayman variations from the 1960's, and others from American minimalist painting of the period. In this sense it has interesting art-historical cross-references (whether intentional or not) that aligns it with minimalism and some op-art.

Artist: Daniel Prust
Entry: qha
Length: 255 bytes
Source: qhaohk.pov
Comments: qhaohk_c.txt

Coordinators pick
While they didn't make it in to the top ten, these three entries were among my (the contest coordinator) favourites.

Coordinators pick

Coordinators pick

Coordinator comment
This entry and the next three are contributed by myself, the coordinator of this round of the competition. Fortunately none of them reached the top three or I would have had to worry about convincing the community of the legitimacy of the voting process.

Coordinator comment
This makes an attractive background image, render it at the native resolution of your display.

A special thanks goes to the panel for their ratings and comments. They are Dr Peter Morse (Creative Arts, Melbourne University) and Richard Brown (Victorian College of Arts).

* These entries used TTF files included in the POVRay distribution. While not breaking the letter of the rules (#include files are not allowed), they break the spirit of the rule which was to preclude the use of any external files.