Adam <bel### [at] yahoocom> wrote...

> Apparently, my hunch has been correct. People that use the program are
> artists--or at least that's what they call themselves--

So, in your opinion, what makes a person an artist?  My opinion is that if a
person attempts to be an artist, that simple step means they have succeeded
in their attempt.  (They may not be a great artist, but they are still an
artist.)

>    Then, let me put it this way. Does anyone make good money using Povray.

The fact is that it takes more time to generate an image with POV than with
most commercial tools.  With POV, if you put in a little work, you get poor
results.  If you put in a lot of work, you get excellent results.  With
commercial software, you still have to put in a lot of work to get excellent
results, but if you only put in a little work, the results generally look
acceptable.  For most businesses, which are all about getting things done
quickly, such results are considered "good enough."

If someone is making "good money" creating excellent computer graphics, then
they will probably spend a chunk of that money on a product that has a
larger team of developers (who are motivated by money), a tech-support phone
number, and many cool user-interface features which make life easier.
Because POV lacks these things, it is generally not chosen for commercial
work.

> People have been talking of it as if it were a sport,
> not a tool. You have fun, exercise your mind, get your feet wet, join an
> international phenomenon, etc. That's something you say about scooters or
> Pokemon, not a screwdriver or a calculator.

Yes, it might be better (at this point) to compare POV to a sport as opposed
to a tool.

I have a vision to help build POV into a tool that can be used for
commercial applications, but that will not likely be realized for at least a
few more years.

I should point out that I have used POV-Ray to generate graphics for my job.
However, all that work has been fairly minor, since my primary work is not
as a graphic artist.

-Nathan

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