What kind of people use Povray? I keep hearing about this "certain
niche," but more specifically... I don't see many female users for
instance. Also, the program doesn't seem to be well suited for
Engineering, drafting, or even designing real-life objects. Now, I am
well aware that the ray tracer is just made to create images, but that's
the problem. Other programs may offer tension or elasticity analyses, or
offer  to work with materials with actual physical properties.
   I haven't heard of any company using POV-ray to design their bikes or
remote controls, like with Rhino. Povray is too difficult for, say,
architecture, since walkthroughs are a pain. The features include
cylinders, not pipes; "clipped_by," not "window." It seems that
everything you do, has to be done from scratch unless you look for
include files. Even for graphics, motion picture industries use
expensive programs like 3D Studio, and others simply use 2D programs
like Photoshop.
   So what does that leave us with? Artists who want total control over
the scene? Computer programmers who simply want to challenge themselves?
In other words, it seems to me that Povray has few practical
applications, but is more of a hobby, or even a teaching device for
understanding higher-level programs.

Post a reply to this message