hi mitchell,

there's no doubt that whether you should include information or objects from
other software packages is a very big question.  on one hand, somebody is
buying a book on povray.  why should they have to deal with other software?
on the other hand, the use of other software enriches the povray experience.

i feel that the bottom line (and from your last post, i believe this is
where your
thinking is headed) is that you need to include a few chapters on some
modeller.
povray is a great raytracer.  doing a lot of 3D stuff requires a modeller
too.
and obviously the modeller (or modellers) you choose should be priced close
to povray.  it would be ridiculous to use studio max or maya as the
modeller.
you should definitely choose a package that exports to pov.  having to go
thru
another conversion app is messy and just muddies the water.

although you are hesitant about moray because it is not free, it is still
closely
integrated to pov, and complements it well.

hamapatch has a strong following also.

spatch is dead.  its a nice program but no longer under development.  avoid
it.

blender and some of the other apps you mention are full-blown tracers AND
modellers.  they are both modellers AND renderers.  if you model with them,
there's some question as to why you would want to come back to povray to
render.  although a povray render might be superior, a lot of people might
question the trade-off value.  it would lessen the impact and value of your
book.

my recommendation:  at least use hamapatch, and consider using moray
also.

good luck, miker

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