I have heard much about POV-Ray's Compuserve forum, and unfortunately I have
never had access to this wonderful place.  I feel now that the closing of
the forum will at least bring all POV-Ray users together in a more united
manner, rather than dividing the users into "those that have Compuserve
access" and "those that don't".

I first heard about POV-Ray in the back of a 3D modelling program's manual,
suggesting that users that want true photo-realism not use their software,
but an infamous renderer called "POV-Ray".  At this thought I was
immediately excited (especially since I'd never heard of a company that
suggests the usage of another piece software!!!).

The passage read:

"3D WorkShop version 2.0 provides a simple way to export the objects,
lights, cameras, and surfaces you use to create an animation to the freeware
raytracing program POV-Ray.  POV (Persistence of Vision) can use these files
directly to produce fully raytraced 24-bit images of astounding detail,
providing true reflections, shadows, refraction, and a multitude of other
effects"

It then told of how to access POV-Ray from Compuserve, by typing Go Graphdev
and selecting Library 8, POV Sources...

Of course it was only years later when I gained internet access that I
tracked down www.povray.org!  And then began another era of computer
graphics for me...

And now of course, we are passing into another era in POV-Ray...  And I feel
that while closing the Compuserve forum will be a great loss, it will only
make the POV-Ray community more united, and I think everyone will benefit
from that...

I can still remember the first time that I found Dan Farmer's website, and
still new to email wrote to him, and was thrilled the next day to have
received a reply!  While the forum is gone, I'm sure that it's colourful
history lives on in Dan Farmer's "A Bit of History and Lot of Name
Dropping", which can be found at http://www.websharx.com/~dfarmer/bio.htm

I can confidently say that things can only get better from here, and POV-Ray
will live on forever as the best raytracer... EVER!

In total gratitude and thanks to the POV-Team who have opened up my life to
the world of POV-Ray,

Lance.


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For the latest 3D Studio MAX plug-ins, images and much more, go to:
The Zone - http://come.to/the.zone

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