none wrote:

> 
>      "W00T!!!"
> 
> :)
... and just let me add Yaaaayyyyyy!!!!!! :-) :-) :-)
... let the joy be unbounded. Send for to slay the fatted calf &c &c

John

-- 
I will be brief but not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the
world's shortest speech. He said, "I will be so brief I am already
finished," then he sat down.

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Chris Cason <del### [at] deletethistoopovrayorg> wrote:
> As David pointed out, making the CD's was difficult - I guess primarily
> because I didn't want to just dump the data onto the CD. I wanted to try to
> identify the same entrant across all rounds and years  (this was more
> difficult than it sounds) so as to maintain a list of entries and results,
> and I wanted to re-format the text entry files into HTML (again, more
> difficult than it sounds, especially with the changes made to the files by
> the IRTC submission system - stripping high characters, re-wrapping the
> text, and so forth). In the end I just couldn't justify the time.

  That sounds like the IRTC would benefit from a database where entrants
and entries are automatically collected. Such a database would probably
make it a lot easier to do things like you describe.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp wrote:
> Chris Cason <del### [at] deletethistoopovrayorg> wrote:
>> As David pointed out, making the CD's was difficult - I guess primarily
>> because I didn't want to just dump the data onto the CD. I wanted to try to
>> identify the same entrant across all rounds and years  (this was more
>> difficult than it sounds) so as to maintain a list of entries and results,
>> and I wanted to re-format the text entry files into HTML (again, more
>> difficult than it sounds, especially with the changes made to the files by
>> the IRTC submission system - stripping high characters, re-wrapping the
>> text, and so forth). In the end I just couldn't justify the time.
> 
>   That sounds like the IRTC would benefit from a database where entrants
> and entries are automatically collected. Such a database would probably
> make it a lot easier to do things like you describe.
> 

That's exactly what I'm working on.  The database will be PostgreSQL and 
  it would track all contests (stills, animation, and others), all 
rounds of the contests, all submissions, all users, and all voting 
results.  The site will be almost completely automatic.

David Buck

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David Buck <dav### [at] simberoncom> wrote:
> That's exactly what I'm working on.  The database will be PostgreSQL and 
>   it would track all contests (stills, animation, and others), all 
> rounds of the contests, all submissions, all users, and all voting 
> results.  The site will be almost completely automatic.

  That will allow easily creating interesting statistics as well.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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47d154e3@news.povray.org...
> That's exactly what I'm working on.  The database will be PostgreSQL and 
> it would track all contests (stills, animation, and others), all rounds of 
> the contests, all submissions, all users, and all voting results.  The 
> site will be almost completely automatic.

Note that such a database already exists:
http://exether.free.fr/irtc/index.php?sub=site&lang=en

Gilles

-- 
*****************************
http://www.oyonale.com
*****************************
- Graphic experiments
- POV-Ray, Cinema 4D and Poser computer images
- Posters

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"Gilles Tran" <gil### [at] agroparistechfr> schreef in bericht 
news:47d16636@news.povray.org...
>
> Note that such a database already exists:
> http://exether.free.fr/irtc/index.php?sub=site&lang=en
>

What immediately strikes the eye is the gradual decline of participants over 
the years...
Is this loss of interest, or does it reflect the increasing complexity of 
POV-Ray over the years, I wonder?

Thomas

Post a reply to this message

Thomas de Groot wrote:
> "Gilles Tran" <gil### [at] agroparistechfr> schreef in bericht 
> news:47d16636@news.povray.org...
>> Note that such a database already exists:
>> http://exether.free.fr/irtc/index.php?sub=site&lang=en
>>
> 
> What immediately strikes the eye is the gradual decline of participants over 
> the years...
> Is this loss of interest, or does it reflect the increasing complexity of 
> POV-Ray over the years, I wonder?

I think that the growing prominence of GUI-enabled CGI packages, 
including freeware, caused many POV-Ray users to drift away from POV-Ray.

Regards,
John

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John VanSickle wrote:
> Thomas de Groot wrote:
>> "Gilles Tran" <gil### [at] agroparistechfr> schreef in 
>> bericht news:47d16636@news.povray.org...
>>> Note that such a database already exists:
>>> http://exether.free.fr/irtc/index.php?sub=site&lang=en
>>>
>>
>> What immediately strikes the eye is the gradual decline of 
>> participants over the years...
>> Is this loss of interest, or does it reflect the increasing complexity 
>> of POV-Ray over the years, I wonder?
> 
> I think that the growing prominence of GUI-enabled CGI packages, 
> including freeware, caused many POV-Ray users to drift away from POV-Ray.
> 
> Regards,
> John

I suspect you're right.  To me part of what makes POV-Ray fun is 
precisely the idea of modeling with code rather than with a mouse.  It's 
hard to explain to people why that's fun though.  I normally try to draw 
an analogy by asking something about why are hand-thrown ceramic bowls 
or cups better than much more efficiently made slip-cast or even 
mass-produced bowls/cups?  My metaphor doesn't normally get me anywhere.
Charles

Post a reply to this message

> "Gilles Tran" <gil### [at] agroparistechfr> schreef in bericht 
> news:47d16636@news.povray.org...
>> Note that such a database already exists:
>> http://exether.free.fr/irtc/index.php?sub=site&lang=en
>>
> 
> What immediately strikes the eye is the gradual decline of participants over 
> the years...

Look at when prizes were dropped.  Must explain a lot.  Reviving IRTC 
without prizes is the recipe for a new disaster.

> Is this loss of interest, or does it reflect the increasing complexity of 
> POV-Ray over the years, I wonder?

Lack of new features for end-users (e.g. stinking artists) in so many
years might be one of the reasons.

Fabien.

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Fa3ien <fab### [at] yourshoesskynetbe> wrote:

> > "Gilles Tran" <gil### [at] agroparistechfr> schreef in bericht
> > news:47d16636@news.povray.org...
> >> Note that such a database already exists:
> >> http://exether.free.fr/irtc/index.php?sub=site&lang=en
> >>
> >
> > What immediately strikes the eye is the gradual decline of participants over
> > the years...
>
> Look at when prizes were dropped.  Must explain a lot.  Reviving IRTC
> without prizes is the recipe for a new disaster.
>
> > Is this loss of interest, or does it reflect the increasing complexity of
> > POV-Ray over the years, I wonder?
>
> Lack of new features for end-users (e.g. stinking artists) in so many
> years might be one of the reasons.
>
> Fabien.

Firstly, I am very excited by the return of the IRTC. My only reasons for not
entering any round of the IRTC (since I discovered it) were lack of time/talent
to produce an image I was happy with or (more often with my limited imagination)
lack of a decent idea for the topic.
I like the idea of a competition every 2 months (for stills) as I am impatient
to see the entries for each round. However, I would also like to have more than
2 months to create an image. It would be good to have the topics for each round
announced 3 or 4 months in advance. Whatever the deadline and without a prize I
will enter the first round of the revamped IRTC (partly because I would love the
chance to compete against the other users who have said they plan to enter, even
if I know I could not beat them).

Sean

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