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

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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...

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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s.day <s.d### [at] uelacuk> wrote:
> 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.

  Actually I like that idea. Have a compo each 2 months, but announce the
topic of each compo 3 monts before its deadline (or something along the
lines).

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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"s.day" <s.d### [at] uelacuk> schreef in bericht 
news:web.47d32e65db92fe1285a73e9b0@news.povray.org...
> 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).
>
I support this idea. Having more than 2 months to think about a round would 
be very nice.

Thomas

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Fa3ien <fab### [at] yourshoesskynetbe> wrote:
....
> ... Reviving IRTC without prizes is the recipe
> for a new disaster.
....

Respectfully, I must disagree rather strongly.

Prizes, especially very valuable ones, tend to
attract mercenary participants and bring out their
worst behaviors.





Also, large prizes tend to come from corporate sponsors
who never GIVE anything to anybody.  One way or another
sponsors will see to it that a contest is skewed to
promote THEIR products.  IF there are going to be
any prizes, I would much prefer that they remain
small token prizes to enhance the fun of participating,
say a coffee cup with the winning image.

Best Regards,
Mike C.

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Fa3ien wrote:
> Look at when prizes were dropped.  Must explain a lot.  Reviving IRTC 
> without prizes is the recipe for a new disaster.

Prizes were never an important part of the IRTC. The vast majority of
entrants enter not to win something physical but for the satisfaction of
doing so. They also benefit from the respect of their peers.

If we were to have prizes at all, I would prefer that they be relevant
(e.g. a poster print of, perhaps, the winning image, or some other image of
the entrants choosing).

-- Chris

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One thing we might want to consider is whether or not, this time around, we
decide that IRTC stands for 'raytracing competition' or 'rendering
competition'. Officially it's always stood for 'raytracing competition',
even though the IRTC permitted scanline rendered images to be submitted.

My personal feeling is that I would like to see the IRTC be a raytracing
competition. I'm sure there are other places that folks who use scanline
renderers can compete; there are fewer opportunities for raytracer users
to compete with others using only raytracing.

-- Chris

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Chris Cason wrote:
> One thing we might want to consider is whether or not, this time around, we
> decide that IRTC stands for 'raytracing competition' or 'rendering
> competition'. Officially it's always stood for 'raytracing competition',
> even though the IRTC permitted scanline rendered images to be submitted.
> 
> My personal feeling is that I would like to see the IRTC be a raytracing
> competition. I'm sure there are other places that folks who use scanline
> renderers can compete; there are fewer opportunities for raytracer users
> to compete with others using only raytracing.

But then we get into questions about GI renderers that don't follow the 
traditional raytracing paradigm.

Personally, I've always thought of it as a POV-Ray competition anyway, 
even if it wasn't the official POV-Comp ;)

-- 
...Ben Chambers
www.pacificwebguy.com

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Chris Cason napsal(a):
> Fa3ien wrote:
>> Look at when prizes were dropped.  Must explain a lot.  Reviving IRTC 
>> without prizes is the recipe for a new disaster.
> 
> Prizes were never an important part of the IRTC. The vast majority of
> entrants enter not to win something physical but for the satisfaction of
> doing so. They also benefit from the respect of their peers.
> 
> If we were to have prizes at all, I would prefer that they be relevant
> (e.g. a poster print of, perhaps, the winning image, or some other image of
> the entrants choosing).
> 
> -- Chris
I would like a puzzle (1000+ pieces) of the picture ;-)
This amplifies any mistake :-)

-- 
the ultimate time-killer:
+a0.0 +am2 +r9

Johnny D

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