web.417adbffb45fa19e939d10d20@news.povray.org...

> And the time wasn't the best to choose: i didn't have much time for my
> submission since i was starting the year. If i remember well, the
> competition announcement was given during the holidays.
> 2 months would be enough, but not in early september.

I don't think there's an ideal, universal period for such a long 
competition. People have all different time constraints.

> The rules were also HARD to understand. The 1/25th of the picture is 
> really
> a silly idea! Couldn't it be "show us how far you've gone into details"?

About the 1/25th being a silly idea, I disagree. If we had run the 
competition like 3D competions are run today, we would have asked for the 
full, large size, printable render.  This is what is expected in a 
competition where the winning images will be shown (or so we hope) in 
magazines and such. And of course, this is what is expected if you're 
working professionally for a client. Again, working for print isn't the same 
as working for a 800x600 screen. It's a different kind of work, with lots of 
additional constraints. And in my view, it's much more exciting and really 
worth it...

We ask for detail images so that people won't spend most of the competition 
time watching pixels crawl across the screen. Knowing our beloved POV-Ray, 
we expect that some entries will take days or weeks to render at screen 
size(and some probably already did), so asking people to provide full size, 
printable renders would be too much to ask.

But for this, we have to provide strict rules concerning the size of the 
detail images: experience shows that not giving precise rules always means 
big trouble, so we would have ended up making them anyway.

Personally I still don't think that the detail rules are so complicated: 
it's just a simple ratio, and nothing that could possibly scare an 
experienced POV-Ray user who's playing with complex CSG, isosurfaces and the 
like! But it's true that some people found them confusing, and indeed, if 
people have a better way to express them, please do so.

> And why can't the entries be modified once submitted? I may want to submit
> it once to be sure to participate, and to modify it as long as i still 
> have
> time.

I'm not sure of what you mean by "to be sure to participate". Participation 
is defined by the registration.

> The format rule has not been made to be understood. Couldn't you just type
> "minimum resolution: 1280*960, maximum size 5Mb"? Why couldn't i do a
> 960*1280 picture? And an 960*2800 one?

It's a good point.

> You asked too much for a subject-free competition. So it failed.

No, it's just that all of us are a little spoiled by the very relaxed rules 
of the IRTC, and by the fact that we don't have experienced 3D pros walking 
among us. Just have a look at other 3D competitions or sites like Raph.com 
to see what I mean. As I said, the bar has been raised very high these days, 
and I mean *** high ***. See for instance: 
http://cgnetworks.com/challenge/machineflesh/

> Do not blame any of us for that.

We don't blame anyone apart ourselves, for underestimating the time 
required.

Entrants did their best, considering the time constraints. Most, if not all 
of us, are hobbyists, working on our POV-Ray work at night or during the 
week-ends, between studies (for the youngest) or work/family duties, and the 
type of work required for the POVCOMP is clearly of professional quality, 
the sort of stuff that people who do graphics on a full-time basis can do. 
If I had entered the competition, I would have given up early or I would 
have submitted a subpar image, all due to real life interference. By 
postponing the deadline, we want to give more POV-Ray users the opportunity 
to create truly exceptional work.

G.


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