Well, probably not the most creative entry for this months challenge. But it was an idea that I had. For those of you not familiar with the Bonneville Salt Flats, it is a place in the U.S. where people from all over the world bring their machines in a quest to set land speed records.

Greenish vehicle is the metaball work.
Liquid Spill is a lattice.
Photo Textures: Ground, Magazine, Redish Vehicle,Some Clothing and Skin.

Good Luck! to all that enter. I had quite a bit of fun with this and learned quite a bit about the textures. My metaball work is improving and is not typical of the vehicle in the pic. The vehicle had to be smooth and somewhat aerodynamic. Enjoy:)

I like it. I love the tire tracks in the sand, and the texture of the sand itself is nice. A little haze in the distance, maybe even some of the salt flat's famous heat shimmer would be nice.

Cool idea and glad to hear you learned about textures as a result too. My pic is quickly becoming the bane of my existence so I am also glad to hear you enjoyed the challenge. That is what it is all about!!

Just saw it in the gallery. Excellent job, Rich. Stefano

Interesting picture. It looks like the picture/photo was taken from about 3 feet off the ground. Maybe if you raised the camera a bit you could remove some of the flatness in the picture and give it more of a 3d look. Likewise, the sand is a bit washed out, though I guess this is the desert you are talking about. Darkening the tire tracks slightly (increasing the camera height may do this) might help a little.

This makes me wish I could find a model for the Oldsmobile Aerotech. It set and presumably still has the fastest land speed record for an American built 4-cyl engine car. (It was later fitted and ran with the Aurora v8 engine.) Of course it had a special one of a kind twin turbo version of a Quad4 made of titanium (or is that unobtanium?) that was honed to perfection by Feuling. :) Now all this image needs is some post work with a 2D program, using a bit of strategically placed wave deformation and blurring would simulate the mirage effect and heat coming from engines. Also a little bit stronger specularity couldn't hurt either, being that some objects would sparkle a lot in the harsh desert sun.

Thank You everyone for the comments and suggestions. But this is it for now. runwolf13 & pauljs75 - I agree with you both on the heat shimmering or mirage effect. But perhaps at another time. I'm trying to stick to the rules as far as postwork goes. The only postwork that I did was a contrast enhancement, actually to the negative, to soften up the picture in order to get a sense of realism.

....and the sand really ISN'T all that washed out...since it is salt. :)

I'd have to agree with Claymor...The Salt Flats are that white.

There's nothing wrong with this picture. Its heart and soul is the feeling of what is going to happen/what is happening. It totally tells the story and that's all that's needed here. Anything else is just nitpicking. I love the idea of making a car out of metaballs! By the way, it's nice to see someone depicting the place where the Brits regularly thrashed the US at speed challenges!!!!! The Bryster