Steve do you still remember the rant I had a few months ago? I was
complaining that pov models are going to be rated the same as models made
with 3rd party tools.  And yes I was pretty upset and frustrated at that
point and made the decision not to enter the competition because it's going
to be a waste of time. And oh yes I strongly believe that I was right at
that point and everyone else are wrong. But I do want you to know what
happened after I made that decision.

To be honest, my initial goal to enter the competition is for the prize, but
then after knowing that I won't have the advantage of using models made in
povray, as well as hearing how your modeling skill is close to Mr.
Rosenman, how the hell do I stand a chance? So I stopped working on my
image, stopped for two weeks, and during those two weeks I reflected on the
kind of things I said, and realized that I am not completely correct.
Gilles was right that modelers are not necessarily easier than povray
models, it's like having oil painting and watercolour, they are different
things and both have their own advantages and disadvantages.  If this
competition involves no prizes would you have entered? Back in September I
would've said no, but starting in November I realized my goal shouldn't
simply be chasing after first place. You can say I am just bullshiting
right now because the contest is over, but my expectation dropped from
"hopefully winning some poster money to print the poster for my Design
Project Presentation" to "using this as a chance to show the rest of the
people that yes, povray is capable of doing things that normally people
won't do".  That is my principle, and to be precise, my principle is that
it is not the tool you choose to use, but rather, how you use that tool to
make your image.  And it's NOT simply using that tool, but using it in an
innovative and interesting way. At least that's my believe. If I give you
three colours, red yellow and blue, what are you going to do with it? Some
people may draw really creative patterns with only those three colours, or
some people may mix the colours and get millions of other colours. The
point is, the art is in you, not what's given. If you perceive this contest
as a way to explore what haven't been done before, then you, and I, will be
a lot more happy.

I don't use povray "very often", in fact, the only time I get to play around
with it is during summer break, and now with work + school I can't really
afford to spend a lot of time of this competition. So for someone like me
(and probably a lot of other people) who can't dedicate sufficient chunks
of time in this matter, my hope is that someday, people will recognize my
work and say, yes, it is something unique, it is something that is
POSSIBLE. I was wrong in the first place for looking at things from one
direction, I was looking at povcomp in the sense that it has large first
prize. After two weeks of self reflection, it was clear to me that there is
another way to look at the competition, it's a way to promote mutual
learning. You too should try to see things with a different perspective,
perhaps you will get more insight to the true meaning of your values.

> This has nothing to do with my image. It is to do with principle.

If this is your principle then it's a good thing that you sticked with it. I
did, at one point, was tempted to use a modeller to make one of the
objects, because the povray model lacks detail and it is very crappy. But
no, in the end, i didn't use a modeler because it was the goal of my entry
to exploit povray as a modeler.

> Sure, I understand this, but please, don't think I was unappreciative. I
> just think it was a waste of time for anyone not using pov only.

My thought WAS the same.


Just a thought.
J