Recently, a thread about the cooperation of the PovTeam & the creator of
Lightflow has emerged in this newsgroup.  Many people seem to feel that
the Lightflow license is too restrictive (it doesn't allow a person to
sell images they create with it), and that, for this reason, Povray &
Moray should have nothing to do with it.  I'd like to make a few points:

#1. Very few people (actually, none that I know of) actually make money
using PovRay and/or Moray.  In fact, most people seem to prefer to
*share* their images/source with the rest of the Pov community.

#2. Lightflow is vastly superior to PovRay in certain areas (just look
at Lightflow's surface engine), and I think PovRay would definately
benefit from a merger of some sort.

#3. Given the huge delay between releases, I think it's safe to say the
PovTeam is in need of more programmers.  And, let's face it, the author
of Lightflow has, in a mere 5 years, single handedly implemented
features (such as distributed rendering, an accessible api, and *real*
radiosity) that the PovTeam can only dream about (no offense to the
PovTeam intended; the entire Pov community appreciates their efforts).

Don't get me wrong, I like PovRay, but I sense a growing lack of
interest amongst members of the PovTeam (of coarse, I could be way off
on this).  Also, PovRay *needs* an accessible api (I realize that this
would be difficult to implement in a portable way), and perhaps this api
could be accessed via Python.  And, most importantly, there needs to be
more interaction between the PovTeam and the Pov community.  Every 2 or
3 weeks, the PovTeam could report on the progress of the next release
(is this too much to ask?).  Of coarse, this is all just imho;-)

Hookflash

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