I wanted to play around with POV-Ray, a program capable of creating ray traced images. Basically, this program can create some amazing photo-realistic scenes. Check out their Hall of Fame to get an idea of what some people have done with the tool.
I first checked out POV-Ray years ago and tested it out on an ancient 386. I just happened to remember it, and wanted to try it out again to have some fun.
As with many software packages out there today, a 64-bit binary version is not available. So, here are some instructions on how to compile it for yourself quickly and easily.