Hi people! First off, I have never participate in the IRTC myself. And
secondly, I have a great deal of respect for the many distinguished and
capable artists and animators that fascinate us each time.

One thing has come to my attention though. The name of the competition
in itself is Internet RAYTRACING Competion, if I'm not mistaken, right?
Then how come (even thought it looks great) Pindrop won third place if
it was made using Blender? I thought Blender didn't do raytracing, as is
indicated in the specifications, and I quote:

<<
Render
- rendering in foreground with direct output
- it can be started with a single key press at any level
- three rendering layers: for solid, transparent and halo's.
- delta accumulation buffer with jittered sampling for perfect
antialiasing.
- any resolution up to 4096x4096
- field rendering and pre-gamma correction for the best video output
possible
- NO ray tracing!!!                                     <------- See???
- panorama rendering
- Plugins for textures and post production (disabled)
>>

So what happened? How come you can participate in a raytracing
competition without a raytracer? I'm confused. Can someone explain this
to me?

Thanks.


PS If the author of Pindrop is reading: Great animation, sir!

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On Sun, 31 Jan 1999 21:30:16 -0500, Anthony Bennett 
	<ben### [at] panamaphoenixnet> wrote:
>One thing has come to my attention though. The name of the competition
>in itself is Internet RAYTRACING Competion, if I'm not mistaken, right?
>Then how come (even thought it looks great) Pindrop won third place if
>it was made using Blender? I thought Blender didn't do raytracing, as is
>indicated in the specifications, and I quote:

From the IRTC Stills FAQ:

[1.1.9] Can I use a scan-line renderer instead of a ray tracer? How 
        about one that uses some other rendering technique? 

     Yes, all algorithms are welcome. The quality should be equivalent 
     to modern ray tracers, though, or your image will compare badly 
     with the other entries. Note--we do not consider photocopying or 
     paint programs to be "renderers". The image should be generated 
     by a computer, algorithmically.

and from the Animation rules, section 3b (emphasis added):

  Any rendering and animation conversion programs are acceptable. 
      ^^^^^^^^^

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OK. I guess it's ok then. Forgive my misinformation. But IMHO the name of the
competition misleads.

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Anthony Bennett wrote:

> Hi people! First off, I have never participate in the IRTC myself. And
> secondly, I have a great deal of respect for the many distinguished and
> capable artists and animators that fascinate us each time.
>
> One thing has come to my attention though. The name of the competition
> in itself is Internet RAYTRACING Competion, if I'm not mistaken, right?
> Then how come (even thought it looks great) Pindrop won third place if
> it was made using Blender? I thought Blender didn't do raytracing, as is
> indicated in the specifications, and I quote:
>
> <<
> Render
> - rendering in foreground with direct output
> - it can be started with a single key press at any level
> - three rendering layers: for solid, transparent and halo's.
> - delta accumulation buffer with jittered sampling for perfect
> antialiasing.
> - any resolution up to 4096x4096
> - field rendering and pre-gamma correction for the best video output
> possible
> - NO ray tracing!!!                                     <------- See???
> - panorama rendering
> - Plugins for textures and post production (disabled)
> >>
>
> So what happened? How come you can participate in a raytracing
> competition without a raytracer? I'm confused. Can someone explain this
> to me?
>
> Thanks.
>
> PS If the author of Pindrop is reading: Great animation, sir!

Hi, this is Mike Norton.  I won the third place with pindrop.  I understand
your question and you have a good point.  As Ron has pointed out, the rules
state that any rendering program is acceptable as long as it "renders".
Also, without going to the web page and checking this moment, there is an
emphasis on "free software" over "commercial software" such as LW and
3DSMAX.  Blender is freeand is as good a tool if not better, IMHO, as these
packages.

So LW is ok to use, as some have done in the past, and at least one person
I know is going to do this round.  Max is ok, all be it how can many afford
either mentioned packages,  Blender, BMRT, and POV are also ok.

Lets keep cranking out good animation that tell a story!

But hey, Im just really honored that I won third place, thanks everyone!!!

Mike Norton

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Anthony Bennett <ben### [at] panamaphoenixnet> wrote:
: - any resolution up to 4096x4096

  I wonder why such limitation.

-- 
main(i){char*_="BdsyFBThhHFBThhHFRz]NFTITQF|DJIFHQhhF";while(i=
*_++)for(;i>1;printf("%s",i-70?i&1?"[]":" ":(i=0,"\n")),i/=2);} /*- Warp. -*/

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