In article <3c8b8493$1@news.povray.org>,
 "Thorsten Froehlich" <tho### [at] trfde> wrote:

> Hence I said "still supported or still being developed" :-)

You said "there are no other free ray-tracers that are still supported 
or still being developed", but there *are* free raytracers that are 
still being actively developed and supported. My point was that none of 
them have the features and community of POV-Ray, and either can't 
compete or are targeted at a completely different audience. There are a 
few that had sizeable communities, but they are now pretty much dead.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <chr### [at] maccom>
POV-Ray TAG e-mail: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
TAG web site: http://tag.povray.org/

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> We're not a cult, you know.

What?! So David K. Buck isn't a god? What a rip-off! I'm outta here.

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I've been using/learning POV-Ray for 3
years now (so, I'm a total newbie on some
things... That'll stick to every POVer, I
guess), and it still fascinates me.

I can program algorithms and have immediate
effects visible. For over a year now I am working
on a particle system, and the SDL of POVRay
is just awesome.

The community is great, and you can always,
ALWAYS have the feeling of having achieved
something when you've finished an image.
Look at 3DS, for example. Hand on the mouse,
squish, squash, here's a car. Squish, squash, a
house.
Well, okay, it may not be that easy. But you
always get so many options, controls, whatever,
that it sometimes seems to be more luck than
skill to achieve something.

I do think that there are great artists out there
not using POV-Ray, don't get me wrong. But
the satisfaction I get is bigger, because I can
tell myself:
Aside the raytracing job, and the SDL,
everything POV-Ray spits out is my job.
Textures I averaged, finishes I experimented
with, medias I fiddled with.

You really are NOT limited when using
POV-Ray. With other programs, you need
to have a lot of skill to actually write something
that thing would understand...



--
Tim Nikias
Homepage: http://www.digitaltwilight.de/no_lights/index.html

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> Why should we waste valuable ray-tracing time trying to convince you?
> Try it for yourself; if you like it, use it.  We're not a cult, you know.

LOL!  Well said!  Love that response!

Jim


"Ron Parker" <ron### [at] povrayorg> wrote in message
news:slr### [at] fwicom...
> On Sun, 10 Mar 2002 15:56:28 +0200, Hershel Robinson wrote:
> > why POV-Ray is the best ray-tracer available today and why I shouldn't
> > bother wasting my time investigating the others, even the free ones.
>
> Why should we waste valuable ray-tracing time trying to convince you?
> Try it for yourself; if you like it, use it.  We're not a cult, you know.
>
> --
> #macro R(L P)sphere{L F}cylinder{L P F}#end#macro P(V)merge{R(z+a z)R(-z
a-z)R(a
> -z-z-z a+z)torus{1F clipped_by{plane{a 0}}}translate V}#end#macro Z(a F
T)merge{
> P(z+a)P(z-a)R(-z-z-x a)pigment{rgbf 1}hollow interior{media{emission
3-T}}}#end
> Z(-x-x.2x)camera{location z*-10rotate x*90normal{bumps.02scale.05}}

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"Tim Nikias" wrote:
> The community is great, and you can always,
> ALWAYS have the feeling of having achieved
> something when you've finished an image.
> Look at 3DS, for example. Hand on the mouse,
> squish, squash, here's a car. Squish, squash, a
> house.
> Well, okay, it may not be that easy. But you
> always get so many options, controls, whatever,
> that it sometimes seems to be more luck than
> skill to achieve something.

That's true.

Of course, if one likes it that way, it's also possible to have it that way
in POV-Ray. There are so many include files and macros around ready to use
which also have many options and controls, and where the user don't have to
do all the work on his own.

These macros and include files can be found on this news server and
scattered around the web. Many links available at
http://www.povray.org/links/POV-Ray_Include_Macro_and_Object_Files/

Rune
--
3D images and anims, include files, tutorials and more:
Rune's World:    http://rsj.mobilixnet.dk (updated Feb 16)
POV-Ray Users:   http://rsj.mobilixnet.dk/povrayusers/
POV-Ray Webring: http://webring.povray.co.uk

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Ron Parker wrote:

>  We're not a cult, you know.

We're not? Dang!

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Tom Melly wrote:

>
> Just out of curiosity, what other raytracers (free or otherwise) support
> direct scripting to the extent of pov?

The only one IMO that only comes close is Virtualight, which is more of a GI
renderer than full-featured package, although it does support nurbs and has a
few neat features like refraction blurr and blinn shading. The quality is
roughly equivalent to POV, but, after 8 years of POV-Ray, I'm not about to
dive in and learn another SDL, especially with all the new 3.5 toys to play
with.

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I hope I can get my money back for that goat...

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip

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It seems like BMRT has been acquired, altogether with support site, and is
being actively incorporated into the paid product (ExLuna?).

There is no development happening there for the very long time now... BTW,
BMRT author now (not surprisingly) works for Pixar.

"Ron Parker" <ron### [at] povrayorg> wrote in message
news:slr### [at] fwicom...
> On Sun, 10 Mar 2002 20:13:02 -0000, Tom Melly wrote:
> > Are there other rt progs where a text-file can be the single source for
> > complex scenes, and where meshes and similiar can be occasional luxuries
> > rather than an essential element?
>
> Well, there's BMRT...
>
> --
> #macro R(L P)sphere{L __}cylinder{L P __}#end#macro P(_1)union{R(z+_
z)R(-z _-z)
> R(_-z*3_+z)torus{1__ clipped_by{plane{_ 0}}}translate z+_1}#end#macro
S(_)9-(_1-
> _)*(_1-_)#end#macro Z(_1 _
__)union{P(_)P(-_)R(y-z-1_)translate.1*_1-y*8pigment{
> rgb<S(7)S(5)S(3)>}}#if(_1)Z(_1-__,_,__)#end#end Z(10x*-2,.2)camera{rotate
x*90}

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Vadim Sytnikov wrote:
> It seems like BMRT has been acquired, altogether with support site, and is
> being actively incorporated into the paid product (ExLuna?).
> 
> There is no development happening there for the very long time now... BTW,
> BMRT author now (not surprisingly) works for Pixar.
> 
Vadim, Your information is a little bit outdated. Larry Gritz, author of
BMRT, worked for Pixar, but about 1 year ago leaved it and created his own
company, called Exluna. BMRT is now maintained by Exluna (previously L.
Gritz was only developer) and still developed (although not very
actively, as it seems), but their main product is Entropy, RenderMan 
compliant renderer (it's not raytracer, but scanline renderer, using 
somewhat similar technology as PRMan, Pixars renderer). Exluna has 
gathered quite a number of CG gurus (Matt Pharr, Pat Hanrahan, L. Gritz 
himself, Steve Upstill etc.)

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