Welcome to the POV-Ray v3.5 Beta Testing Group
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Greetings,

  We thank you for participating in the beta testing of POV-Ray v3.5.
With your participation you have the opportunity to test drive the
newest and latest version of the program. With your participation
you also have a few responsibilities that come with that privilege.
Please take the time to read this and the other announcements you
find in this group carefully.

  As with past beta testing rounds you will find the distribution
package for POV-Ray v3.5beta a complete package with updated scene
files and documentation. There have been several changes to the
Windows scene file editor and you should take some time to read
through the docs on how to use these new features. Just because
it acts differently does not mean it is a bug!

  A quick reminder that the time is past for feature requests.
This is the final version of POV-Ray v3.5 and we don't want to
get bogged down with a lot of last minute discussions on possible
additions or changes to the program. You may be unhappy that a
feature you were wanting added didn't make it into the program
but the POV-Team had a lot of decisions to make and the feature
list is locked at this time. Complaining will waste your time
and ours.

  Try to keep the off topic chatter down to an absolute minimum.
The POV-Team will be reading the messages in this groups and
need to be able to identify potential problems with the program
with a minimum of reading time. Please take off topic discussions
to another group.


Bug Reports
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  Before posting a bug report please read or re-read the POV-Ray
documentation for the feature you are having problems with. Also,
please try to keep up with all of the bug report messages posted
to this group. We would like to keep duplicate bug reports down
to a minimum to avoid wasting our time and yours.

  Do not expect a reply from the POV-Team. They will be busy reading
the daily postings and working on whatever verified bugs they see
reported. There were many people involved in the alpha and pre-beta
testing rounds and they will be active in this group. If you have
a question, or a possible bug report, they will likely be the ones
who will answer your post and help verify that it is an actual bug
or not.


***The minimum information to include in your bug report is:

- The version number of POV-Ray you are using, such as v3.5 beta 1,
v3.5 beta 2, etc. Each beta version will expire at a preset time
and when it does you will have to upload the next version as it
becomes available.

- Your operating system. It is surprising how many people fail to
provide this basic piece of information. We need to know what
version of Windows, Mac, etc. you are running. This will aid in
discovering whether it is platform-dependent, and hopefully will
also uncover some work-arounds and a possible bugfix in the
subsequent discussion from those who are familiar with the POV-Ray
source code.

- Your computer; what processor and how much memory.

E.g. POV-Ray for Windows v3.5b1, Windows 98, AMD Athlon 950, 256 megs SDRam

- A complete description of the problem and what led up to it. Please
include any error messages that POV-Ray or your OS reports when the bug
manifests itself.  It will make it a lot easier to track down if you
can include a scene file that will cause the problem. Please remove
non-essential parts until you have the minimum scene file that will
reproduce the problem (but do include your camera and light source!).
We prefer that you copy and paste your example scene into the body of
your message rather than attaching it.


Thank you for your help in ensuring that the final release of
POV-Ray v3.5 will be bugfree and ready for the public.


Ken Tyler - POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group Member

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