I was going through some old drives and found this one.  I posted this probably
20 years ago as my obligatory first RSOCP.  I came across Povray in the early
90s and have used it off and on ever since.  I thought it might be interesting
to see what programming Pov scenes would be like in the 1970's.  Just for a
little background, I've been a mainframe programmer since 1969, and now enjoy
programming PC's.

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On 8/1/2025 7:11 PM, Clarence1898 wrote:
> I was going through some old drives and found this one.  I posted this probably
> 20 years ago as my obligatory first RSOCP.  I came across Povray in the early
> 90s and have used it off and on ever since.  I thought it might be interesting
> to see what programming Pov scenes would be like in the 1970's.  Just for a
> little background, I've been a mainframe programmer since 1969, and now enjoy
> programming PC's.

That is a nice variation on a theme.

Josh

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Hi(gh)!

On 02.08.25 04:11, Clarence1898 wrote:
> I was going through some old drives and found this one.  I posted this probably
> 20 years ago as my obligatory first RSOCP.  I came across Povray in the early
> 90s and have used it off and on ever since.  I thought it might be interesting
> to see what programming Pov scenes would be like in the 1970's.  Just for a
> little background, I've been a mainframe programmer since 1969, and now enjoy
> programming PC's.

When I read the subject, I first thought of ASCII art... such as the 
physical maps based on early Landsat altimetry data I once saw in a 
1970s issue of "Afghanistan Journal", just numeric characters (0 to 9) 
for different altitude ranges and then manually(!) coloured...

I could very well imagine coding a rudimentary raytracer on my Commodore 
64 and then print the rendered scenes as such ASCII graphics...

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

-- 
VBI BENE, IBI BACTRIA!

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hi,

"Clarence1898" <dle### [at] comcastnet> wrote:
> I was going through some old drives and found this one.  I posted this probably
> 20 years ago as my obligatory first RSOCP.  I came across Povray in the early
> 90s and have used it off and on ever since.  I thought it might be interesting
> to see what programming Pov scenes would be like in the 1970's.  Just for a
> little background, I've been a mainframe programmer since 1969, and now enjoy
> programming PC's.

very nice.  and the cards are punched :-).


(is the 1898 a jazz reference ?)


regards, jr.

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"Clarence1898" <dle### [at] comcastnet> wrote:
> I was going through some old drives and found this one.  I posted this probably
> 20 years ago as my obligatory first RSOCP.  I came across Povray in the early
> 90s and have used it off and on ever since.  I thought it might be interesting
> to see what programming Pov scenes would be like in the 1970's.  Just for a
> little background, I've been a mainframe programmer since 1969, and now enjoy
> programming PC's.

Nice scene!
I have cases of the paper in your scene. Got them from a office supply store
that closed down in the late 90's. Used to use the punch cards as book markers.
Have Fun

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Hi(gh)!

On 02.08.25 19:37, Leroy wrote:

> I have cases of the paper in your scene. Got them from a office supply store
> that closed down in the late 90's. Used to use the punch cards as book markers.
> Have Fun
> 

When the Internet hit me first in 1995, Cologne University's computing 
centre still used a DIN A1 chain printer... and, yes, there even were 
some unused punchcards left! And it would be really nice to find a stack 
of DIN A4 fan-fold paper for my Commodore MPS 801 printer... if I only 
had some fresh ink ribbons for it! But who sells ink ribbons for a 
40+-year old matrix printer?

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

Now crafting: lots of computers in Satisfactory!
-- 
VBI BENE, IBI BACTRIA!

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"jr" <cre### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> hi,
>
> "Clarence1898" <dle### [at] comcastnet> wrote:
> > I was going through some old drives and found this one.  I posted this probably
> > 20 years ago as my obligatory first RSOCP.  I came across Povray in the early
> > 90s and have used it off and on ever since.  I thought it might be interesting
> > to see what programming Pov scenes would be like in the 1970's.  Just for a
> > little background, I've been a mainframe programmer since 1969, and now enjoy
> > programming PC's.
>
> very nice.  and the cards are punched :-).
>
>
> (is the 1898 a jazz reference ?)
>
>
> regards, jr.

Thank You.  Of course the cards are punched.  How else could I feed the program
to the computer.  No, 1898 is not a reference to jazz.  I grew up in the 50s and
60s, my taste in music runs more to classic rock and roll.

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"Leroy" <whe### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> "Clarence1898" <dle### [at] comcastnet> wrote:
> > I was going through some old drives and found this one.  I posted this probably
> > 20 years ago as my obligatory first RSOCP.  I came across Povray in the early
> > 90s and have used it off and on ever since.  I thought it might be interesting
> > to see what programming Pov scenes would be like in the 1970's.  Just for a
> > little background, I've been a mainframe programmer since 1969, and now enjoy
> > programming PC's.
>
> Nice scene!
> I have cases of the paper in your scene. Got them from a office supply store
> that closed down in the late 90's. Used to use the punch cards as book markers.
> Have Fun

Thank You.  I ran out of green bar paper a long time ago.  I still have half a
box of punch cards left.  Indeed they make great book markers.

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hi,

"Clarence1898" <dle### [at] comcastnet> wrote:
> "jr" <cre### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> > ...
> Thank You.  Of course the cards are punched.  How else could I feed the program
> to the computer.

</grin>


>  No, 1898 is not a reference to jazz.  I grew up in the 50s and
> 60s, my taste in music runs more to classic rock and roll.

ah, ok, thanks.  (about 10 years ahead of self, then :-))

in the reply to Leroy, you wrote: "I ran out of green bar paper a long time
ago".  glad you did because I now (can) see what had "nagged" me re the image,
the solid colour bars.  the (fan-fold) "green bar" I remember, and used, had six
(I think) thin, parallel green lines making each "bar".  must be a
manufacturers' thing.


regards, jr.

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"Clarence1898" <dle### [at] comcastnet> wrote:
> I was going through some old drives and found this one.  I posted this probably
> 20 years ago as my obligatory first RSOCP.  I came across Povray in the early
> 90s and have used it off and on ever since.  I thought it might be interesting
> to see what programming Pov scenes would be like in the 1970's.  Just for a
> little background, I've been a mainframe programmer since 1969, and now enjoy
> programming PC's.

Hi,
Did you render this on a current POV-Ray version (3.7 or 3.8b), and if so with
the proper version directive?

I love the concept, the visual ideas, and they read like a very nice picture...
So though I'm not used to that, it motivates me to use for the first time (and
maybe the last if it comes out too harsh) a very meanly well-intended sarcasm :
could you please use conserve_energy keyword with your metals, as they are
currently so blindingly bright that I can't see the picture ! ;-P
I wish Cousin Ricky's macros could be included in POV-Ray sources, so that the
default way of calling a metal would have all that hard-wired. because users
should be able to trust the defaults to not do that kind of thing. To sum it up
use fresnel, ior, conserve_energy and a sum of diffuse+specular+reflection below
1.(most clean and shiny metals should have very very low diffuse)

Seriously, nice hues and punched cards though, as I do see them!

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