I had a great idea recently...

Do a "User Documentation Project"!

I had the idea while noticing that the Pov-Ray docs, while complete, didn't
go into much detail in certain cases, and there are people that DO know
certain aspects very well. (John VanSickle comes to mind....).

It seems to me that much of the manual could do with expanding on topics
(Media is one example) and tutorials.

So, here's the complete idea:
1. With the pov-team's permission (please, can we?), rewrite the pov-ray
docs.
2. Make it available in a number of formats, from plain text to PDF format.
3. I would ALSO like to be able to publish a spiral bound volume, and sell
it at a minimal cost.
4. I intend for this to be a "group" project. It's a daunting task for a
single person.


Twyst
=====================================
twysted mynd - for pov-ray news, reviews, and tutorials
http://twysted.net
e-mail: twy### [at] twystednet
=====================================

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I think it would be a great idea. Instead of sitting at the beach with 400+
pages of printed paper on a clipboard, i could have a cool bound book to
read while my kids are playing in the sand.

Twyst wrote in message <3681705a.0@news.povray.org>...
>I had a great idea recently...
>
>Do a "User Documentation Project"!
>
>I had the idea while noticing that the Pov-Ray docs, while complete, didn't
>go into much detail in certain cases, and there are people that DO know
>certain aspects very well. (John VanSickle comes to mind....).
>
>It seems to me that much of the manual could do with expanding on topics
>(Media is one example) and tutorials.
>
>So, here's the complete idea:
>1. With the pov-team's permission (please, can we?), rewrite the pov-ray
>docs.
>2. Make it available in a number of formats, from plain text to PDF format.
>3. I would ALSO like to be able to publish a spiral bound volume, and sell
>it at a minimal cost.
>4. I intend for this to be a "group" project. It's a daunting task for a
>single person.
>
>
>Twyst
>=====================================
>twysted mynd - for pov-ray news, reviews, and tutorials
>http://twysted.net
>e-mail: twy### [at] twystednet
>=====================================
>
>
>

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Seeing as I have recently been spending all my time experimenting with
features to figure them out, I would be happy to help write a "Practical
Guide to POVRay" or some such... (as opposed to theoretical) 
(Especially since I am on break ATM...)  Anyhow, let me know if you do
get enough support...

Steve
 

Twyst wrote:
> 
> I had a great idea recently...
> 
> Do a "User Documentation Project"!
> 
> I had the idea while noticing that the Pov-Ray docs, while complete, didn't
> go into much detail in certain cases, and there are people that DO know
> certain aspects very well. (John VanSickle comes to mind....).
> 
> It seems to me that much of the manual could do with expanding on topics
> (Media is one example) and tutorials.
> 
> So, here's the complete idea:
> 1. With the pov-team's permission (please, can we?), rewrite the pov-ray
> docs.
> 2. Make it available in a number of formats, from plain text to PDF format.
> 3. I would ALSO like to be able to publish a spiral bound volume, and sell
> it at a minimal cost.
> 4. I intend for this to be a "group" project. It's a daunting task for a
> single person.
> 
> Twyst
> =====================================
> twysted mynd - for pov-ray news, reviews, and tutorials
> http://twysted.net
> e-mail: twy### [at] twystednet
> =====================================

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Twyst wrote:
> 
> I had a great idea recently...
> 
> Do a "User Documentation Project"!

Hail to thee, oh bringer of ideas! I agree, a practical user guide would
be a great idea. 

My question (ofcourse) is: what should we put in it? A couple of
possible items:
- extensive coverage of all the features of POV-Ray;
- step-by-step tutorials on scene layout, lighing, etc.;
- BIG coverage on media.

Just my 2 euro worth.

Phoenix

--
http://users.telekabel.nl/eagle
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AFP Code 1.1 AC d%40 s%40:-- a- U+ R+ F++ h- P- OS-:%40 C+++ M- pp----
L+ c%40 B- Cn%40 PT+ Pu0@ 5++ X-- MT+ e%40 r- y* end     AFPurity: 78%

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Phoenix wrote:
> 
> Twyst wrote:
> >
> > I had a great idea recently...
> >
> > Do a "User Documentation Project"!
> 
> Hail to thee, oh bringer of ideas! I agree, a practical user guide would
> be a great idea.
> 
> My question (ofcourse) is: what should we put in it? A couple of
> possible items:
> - extensive coverage of all the features of POV-Ray;
> - step-by-step tutorials on scene layout, lighing, etc.;
> - BIG coverage on media.
> 
> Just my 2 euro worth.
> 
> Phoenix
> 
> --

I really think lighting tips would be immensily valuable. I have made so
many scenes that could have been atleast decent if the lighting was any
good.

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Do we need to rewrite the whole thing? Or would it be alright to create a supplement?
--just asking... I suppose if the intent is to give new users more assistance
with certain aspects of POV-Ray, rewriting the thing and keeping it with the
official binaries would be good, but it would still be easier to just gather
additions to the current manual. ...wouldn't it?

-Mark R.

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Can't argue with the usefulness of this. A number of tutorials are available
on the net (including, of course, your excellent page), but it would be nice
to have them bundled into one central archive.
If it's gonna be a group project, I'd be happy to donate my 3 ounces of of
experience (Is that a lot? Dunno, I'm used to the metric system :))

A couple of things that (in my opinion) need extensive coverage:
* media - probably most important, since the possibile applications are
innumerable and yet very difficult to achieve;
* lighting - imperative for a realistic/artistic scene, but also very
difficult to get right;
* loops, conditionals etc. - they can do so much more than strings of spheres,
if you know how;
* materials - again, very difficult to get right without knowing some tricks;
* radiosity - the settings are somewhat difficult to understand and it's
difficult to make a particular scene look good.

Margus

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Mark Radosevich wrote in message <3682FCEC.FC49E97D@randolph.spa.edu>...
>Do we need to rewrite the whole thing? Or would it be alright to create a
supplement?
>--just asking... I suppose if the intent is to give new users more
assistance
>with certain aspects of POV-Ray, rewriting the thing and keeping it with
the
>official binaries would be good, but it would still be easier to just
gather
>additions to the current manual. ...wouldn't it?
>
>-Mark R.


Well, it depends.
Some cases, the manual is very good..
(look at chapter 4)
In others, it's very sparse (Vectors, media, etc,etc)
Also, does anyone here actually use/understand the graphs they give (like
for the scattering types) -- Yes, it can be useful, but without a detailed
explanation ( in layman's terms, not mathematical) It's pretty useless to
me. I usually just skip right over them.
Renderings SHOWING the effects of the different settings would be far more
useful, imho.

It's also to avoid infringing on copyrights (as of this moment.. I haven't
heard "yes" or "no" about using the pov-ray documentation as a base)

Twyst

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Twyst <twy### [at] twystednet> wrote:
: 2. Make it available in a number of formats, from plain text to PDF format.

  Including povhelp format, of course.

-- 
main(i){char*_="BdsyFBThhHFBThhHFRz]NFTITQF|DJIFHQhhF";while(i=
*_++)for(;i>1;printf("%s",i-70?i&1?"[]":" ":(i=0,"\n")),i/=2);} /*- Warp. -*/

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My 2 centimes (until Dec 31, 1999)
I don't think it's necessary to rewrite the help file, which is very good on the
whole. However, I completely agree that there's a lot to do... Povray has become
so powerful that my lingering "fear" is to see it becoming more
programmer-oriented than user-oriented. But that's another debate...
Perhaps we can distinguish between what would be the enhancement of the current
help (basically a more practical tutorial on media, macros, and radiosity, that
could be integrated in the present help), and an "applied tips" section (how to
get better lighting, how to do realistic skies, water, how to make a tree with a
recursive macro etc.) fed by users.

Gilles Tran

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