Thanks for the update Gilles. I am sorry to hear so few images were
submitted. Time was an issue for me and I did not enter images despite
having that intent.  Those who worked really hard to meet the deadline are
going to be frustrated by this turn and I can understand.

While it is contrary to the way normal competitions are run, I wonder if it
might not help keep everyone motivated if the images submitted to the
competition were visible immediately on submission and that any image could
be replaced with an improved version some number of times prior to the
deadline. I am thinking of  a running competition where entries evolve to a
high level.

I started images, but life didn't cooperate to give me the time to get any
of them to the level I thought would be competitive.  It is hard to stay
motivated when you cannot see how far behind you are and can only imagine
how your images look in comparison.

An analogy. We are all choosing to run marathons when we take on a image. It
is hard to keep running hard in a competitive race when you have no idea
where you stand - especially once life gets in the way a few times.

Bill P.

"Gilles Tran" <gitran_nospam_@wanadoo.fr> wrote in message
news:417a9f5a$1@news.povray.org...
> Hello
>
> Disclaimer: this is not an official statement. An official annoucement
from
> the POVCOMP organisers will follow (some details are still being worked
on)
> and participants will be emailed privately.
>
> There are 56 entries. Among these, there are exceptional images, that
would
> be worthy of the main prizes. People have been working hard, and these
> images are a good testimony of what can be achieved with POV-Ray.
>
> However, these exceptional images are too few. The competition was all
about
> getting the best out of POV-Ray, and while most entries are very good,
they
> are on the whole not up to the standard that can be observed in current 3D
> contests. It's not an easy thing to say and we understand that this may be
> offending to some. Be sure that we fully realise the amount of work that
was
> put in all entries: it's just that the bar has been raised very high in 3D
> these days. The feedback on the new hall of fame was extremely positive:
> this newfound reputation should not be squandered. We all know that
POV-Ray
> is an exceptional piece of software, so we need lots of exceptional
artworks
> to prove it.
>
> One major reason for the lack of exceptional pieces may have been that the
> time period of two and a half months was too short. POVCOMP is of an order
> of magnitude harder than the IRTC, and the organisers underestimated the
> time needed to create this sort of work without giving up on real life.
> People couldn't find the time to complete their entries, and among those
> submitted, we feel that many can be improved.
>
> Accordingly, it has been decided to postpone the deadline until January
31,
> 2005. That's almost 3 additional months for people to resume or complete
> their work, or submit new ones.
> In a nutshell:
> - Those of you who have submitted an image will be given the opportunity
to
> unsubmit it and resume work.
> - Those of you who did not submit due to lack of time are encouraged to
> resume work on their creation.
> - For those who are happy with what they have submitted already, their
image
> will remain in its 'submitted' state. Of course, you can always create a
new
> work.
>
> The precise procedures to do so will be explained later.
>
> Again, this was not an easy decision to take. I'm painfully aware of how
> difficult this must be for the POVCOMP participants. We hope, however,
that
> these 3 extra months will result in many exceptional pictures.
>
> Gilles Tran
>
> -- 
> **********************
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> **********************
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>
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