Le 01/11/2011 04:42, TSGM nous fit lire :
>  my
> main goal is to simply illustrate three-dimensional surfaces which are generated
> in matrix form (meaning x,y,z coordinates provided).

Could you clarify? Do you intend to represent a monkey saddle
( a²z = x(x²-3y²) ), Gabriel's horn ( (x²+y²)z²=a^4 ) or all that kind
of polynomial surfaces ?
(with the polynom expressed as a matrix of coefficient)

Or would your surface been generated as a matrix of voxel ?

> 
> Here are my needs:
> [*]Simple scenes (a plain backdrop for instance)
> [*]The kind of ray-traced pictures I've shown above

There is two approach in renderer: you can compute effect of each light
(and even more, separate lightning & shadow) separately, applying each
layers on the final result; Or compute everything at once. The latter is
the povray approach.
Your picture of a julia (well, your citation of) looks like a set of
pictures for the former approach (well, the title suggests that to me).

> [*]Simple coding environment
> [*]Good documentation
> [*]OSX support
> 

If you want to make movie, you will need an additional program to turn
the serie of pictures from povray into your animation.
Otherwise, looks like povray could qualify for all your needs.

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