"How Camp" <hac### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> I've been monitoring the POV-Ray newsgroups for nearly a decade, and I've seen a
> number of prolific users come and go.  I'm curious what software POV-Ray users
> tend to migrate toward after they 'move on'.  Do most convert to high-end
> render packages (I think H.E. Day did this), or is there another open-source
> package that eventually steals away the POV community?
>
> I wonder if such users 'outgrow' POV-Ray as an artistic tool, or whether they're
> mostly casualties of 'lack of time' syndrome (as I perpetually seem to be).
>
> (Not that I'm advocating such an evolution.  I've heard you can catch the H1N1
> flu if you don't use POV-Ray regularly...)

I'm not a "stolen child", but like to throw in my 2 cents as well, about why
(and how) I *am* using POV-Ray:

- It's free. No commercial tool can give me that :)

- Due to its textual interface, it doesn't distract me with stuff I haven't yet
toyed around with (nor with yet another 3D interface behaving in a proprietary
manner); so I can just perfectly leave such stuff aside until the time comes
for me to try and use it. Makes for a very adaptive learning curve.

- It's powerful. I cannot think of much you cannot do with it *already* (even
though some things may take time).

- It's portable. I can run quick test renders on my Windows machine, and have my
Linux QuadCore crunch away on the final renders.

- I'm typically using POV-Ray (A) as a render engine, (B) as a tool to assemble
a scene from pre-modelled objects and to fine-tune textures, and (C) as a tool
for auto-generating some geometry based on other objects (like the mattress in
the shot I postend recently). I rarely do straightforward CSG modelling; most
non-trivial objects in my scenes are modelled in Wings3D (very intuitive tool,
with a very good "beginner's mode", again making for a good learning curve!),
or 3rd party work typically modified using Wings3D or Poser.

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