MichaelJF wrote:

> I posted this issue some 48 hours ago. There are four responses now.
> Two of them cannot be counted really

I'm probably not alone with the following predicament:

I think having a contest is a good thing, and as Tina Chep is
the only one oriented towards pov-ray (although not exclusively
or even majority-wise anymore) I'd hate to see it go.

But I also cannot in good conscience suggest you should invest a
lot of work to keep it going if I never get around to submitting
and entry - just for the fuzzy warm feeling it gives me to know
it is there should I ever make a nice image ...


Also, why don't I simply participate?

This is probably because I am lazy and my attention span lately
seems to approach that of a day fly on acid. I duly note when a
new topic is available but usually do not even get to the stage
were I have a (realistic) idea for an image, and much less to
committing to the arduous task of producing a publishable scene.

In my case this is not so much the merciless demands of RL but
also competing interests (I now have a telescope ...) and plain
procrastination (I'm now rerunning all ST TNG episodes ...)

Also my interest in raytracing is more of technical nature
(how to simulate atmospheric effects? can I render something
that looks fluffy? can I produce an isosurface function that
looks like grass? is it possible to reconstruct Escher's study
from a mirrorball reflection?). I usually get lost in one such
detail so I rarely finish a scene.


I were asked to design a competition that would appeal to me
most, it would probably have the following features

1. A focus on simple scenes that can and should be explored and
finished in one or two evenings (possibly with a weekly topic?).
E.g. single objects, doodles, friday abstracts.

2. Constraining topics that are not intended to be interpreted
with too much artistic freedom (e.g. "pebble", "glowing spheres",
"lightning bolt", "ice cube") and possibly sometimes constraining
rules (think short code contest, cgsphere, lighting challenge, ...)

3. Povray centered, not in order to exclude other people but because
- topics could explore specific technical features ("crazy crackle",
   "photon party", ...)
- the competition also serves to share the sdl code
- the broad user base of pov-ray tends to be more hobbyist
   than that of most other products

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