Shore Of An Endless Dark Sea by geirla

Bryce • Science Fiction • posted on Oct 25, 2009

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Description

I'm not the one who thought of the idea of cities clinging to the underside of the ice on Europa. I stole -- um, er... borrowed the idea from Alistair Reynolds. As far as I know, it was his idea, but perhaps he pilfered it from some book or story I haven't read. The 'clinging to the crusty underside like barnacles' simile is mine, though. I had a bit of a challenge illustrating the dark water. I turned the atmosphere off, which made it harder, then covered the scene in a water slab. I didn't realize that transparency values for the slab only affect the surfaces, not the volume, so other than coloring the scene bluish, it did little good. I added a partially transparent cube over the scene (but not over the camera) to get the effect I was looking for. Needless to say, Volumetric World doesn't do anything with the atmosphere turned off. But with 22 lights, the render time without volumetric was 6 hours at Premium (only 4 rays). Had I used have and volumetric and lights, it would have rendered til Christmas... I thought I captured the sunless deep waters pretty well, though. Let me know what you think. --- Every world is different. Once you get past Mars, every world is hostile. Sometimes the people are too, once they find out you don't have any hard currency. Europa is one of those places where you don't think there would be any people. The surface is a cold ball of ice, bathed in enough radiation to kill you in hours. But underneath that ice is an ocean, and cities cling to the crusty underside like barnacles. They smell like barnacles too, if you get too far off the beaten path. --A Vagabond's Guide to the Solar System, 2nd Edition, 2515

Comments (17)

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Penters

11:37AM | Sun, 25 October 2009

Interesting concept (Barnacle cities on ice!) and a beautiful tittle.

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Seaview123

12:13PM | Sun, 25 October 2009

Your underwater barnicle city is pretty imaginative, and a good concept for living on an ice ball like Europa. Only one potential engineering hurdle about that... I remember reading that the ice on Europa is about 60 miles deep, on top of an ocean of water which also might be about 60 miles deep. The amount of pressure that would be acting on every square inch of your habitat is about 14 and a half thousand pounds, give or take. I'd think it would be a little easier to just burrow under the ice a couple miles to get away from the radiation, and mine for mineral deposits suspended in the ice. What do you think? Great looking city, though, and your lighting effects are pretty neat.

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grafikeer

1:12PM | Sun, 25 October 2009

Great work...the lighting in this is very good,gives a mysterious mood to the scene...love the building models!

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shayhurs

4:58PM | Sun, 25 October 2009

Cool POV adn idea

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DPW

9:05PM | Sun, 25 October 2009

Love it! Feels very Golden Age SF to me.

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Bambam131

8:16AM | Mon, 26 October 2009

I have always followed your work for your imagination and creativeness. You are one of my favorite artist here and a great inspiration to me. Keep up the excellent work. Cheers, David

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Rutra

3:40PM | Thu, 29 October 2009

Very mysterious indeed. Very good idea, although that thought about the huge pressure does seem a bit problematic. :-) But nothing that some advanced technology can't solve. If they went that far, for sure they faced more challenging problems than a bit of pressure. :-) The buildings are good too and the light on them is well achieved. Your story sets the viewer in the right mood wonderfully, as usual.

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e-brink

4:24PM | Sat, 31 October 2009

Excellent mood imagery - I'd not heard of that idea before - you do it great justice.

dcmstarships

9:23AM | Fri, 06 November 2009

interesting concept

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Chipka

10:46PM | Wed, 11 November 2009

WOW! This is astonishingly good. I've heard of exotic cities such as this in the field of science fiction, but you bring it to vivid life! I love the work you put into this and the details you've chosen. The story you added makes me want to explore this place even more. Who are these Europans (Europians?) And the smell of barnicles, I love the reference! Super work on so many levels.

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gmvgmvgmv

4:45AM | Fri, 13 November 2009

Interesting POV; nice use of light as well.

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NefariousDrO

5:24PM | Sat, 14 November 2009

Wow! I've dreamed of visiting Europa ever since the Voyager photos were so suggestive. This is such a cool concept, and your render is great. I agree that volumetrics can kill a render-time, your solution is as creative as your modeling work. This is one of my most favorites I've seen in a very very long time.

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