Walter <wal### [at] 7stajfhkgescom> wrote:
: I was a computer programmer for many years, beginning with binary code (no
: lie) and vacuum tube computers also no lie), working my way up through
: assemblers and compilers and today's PCs. I mention this because Pov-Ray
: requires programming.

  Well, yes and no.

  Firstly, it doesn't require any kind of programming if you make your scenes
with a modeller program like Moray. There you can make a huge variety of
scenes without having to write a single line of povray script code.

  Secondly, this also depends on your definition of "programming". Let's
take this simple example:

  sphere { 0,1 pigment { rgb 1 } }

  Is this a program or not?
  This depends heavily on your definition of a program. One could think that
this is like a line in a windows .ini file telling a program how some setting
should be. Most people do not consider .ini files program source codes.
  On the other hand one could think that those are scripting language
instructions that make the interpreter (povray) do some commands. The only
problem is that it's not exactly a "command" (that says, for example,
"shoot a ray to this direction" or "assign this value to this variable"),
but more like passive data which povray uses for automatically creating
something.
  Now, this is certainly a program:

#declare Ind=0;
#while(Ind<10)
  sphere { x*Ind, 1 pigment { rgb 1 } }
  #declare Ind=Ind+1;
#end

although one could still think that only the lines starting with a # are
commands while the sphere line is only data. Whatever.

: My basic question is: If you were a virtually a complete newbie to graphics
: except as noted above, and had to learn and do cute, but often elaborate,
: illustrations of Revelation (dragon, beasts, four and twenty elders, seven
: lamps of fire, the New Jerusalem--to mention but a few), what would be your
: program(s) of choice?

: In particular, would you favor Pov-Ray over Paint Shop Pro or vice versa?

  This is a bit unfair question in the sense that povray is not a modeller
and it's more designed to render things than to model them. Basicly povray
only reads data and then renders an image from it. It doesn't care where does
that data come from nor it helps you very much in creating that data.
  Povray is more a tool for creating the image file than creating the models
and figures in the image.
  It's like comparing a camera and a pencil. A camera can take a photo of
a scene, but it doesn't help you creating that scene. A pencil can be used
to create both (perhaps a bit loosely speaking).

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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