> If you would like to contact me we can start some dialog.
> I can tell you who I am, my background, and my education.

thanks for the offer, if there is enough interest in participating I will do
so. I think this will depend on the direction the IRTC takes.

-- Chris

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Count me in Chris. I also think the mix of technical and artistic challenges
could definitely give more people the chance and desire to compete.

I've not participated in the past nearly as much as I would have liked, but
have been a huge follower of IRTC since I discovered it ~10 years ago. I
want to see it stick around, but we should take this opportunity to see if
we can't change it/add to it to make it better than it's been.

Post a reply to this message

Chris Cason <del### [at] deletethistoopovrayorg> wrote:

> Even if the current situation is not resolved there is no technical
> reason for the site to be closed down (though of course it would
> be wise to modify any parts that refer to accepting submissions
> and so forth).

It's not clear to me why the IRTC can't be continued in the current form. As
I understand things, the primary issue is that the admin is AWOL. Prior to
that, the primary issue was the admin was consistantly late in posting and
announcing new topics.

I don't understand why, if the current admin has disappeared, the IRTC can't
be taken over by another administrator. There have been various admins that
have come and gone in the past, and I don't see why the contest hinges on
this one particular admin.

> Going on, to me, the question is: what would pique your interest and keep
> it long term? A clone of the IRTC? Or something quite different, but with a
> similar flavor? Or something else entirely? Or even a competition that has no
> set flavor - one that changes according to the times?

Again, I don't understand the necessity of closing the "old" IRTC and coming
up with another contest. It seems to me that there's still
considerable interest in maintaining the IRTC in its current form.

I understand how it would be beneficial to have additional competitions,
especially if they are focused on POV-Ray specific features. However,
replacing the IRTC with something new is a bit like throwing the baby out
with the bathwater.

In fact, given the number of submissions for this Animation round, I don't
understand why this round can't be open for judging.

-- David

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David Cuny <dcu### [at] lansetcom> wrote:
> It's not clear to me why the IRTC can't be continued in the current form.

  Many people have the opinion that the IRTC could benefit from some
spicing up. Give people more varied challenges than just a topic.
Appeal to a more wide variety of people. Try something different from
time to time.

  The IRTC could also perhaps benefit from a more focused approach.
The current liberal approach is ok, but it has gotten a bit old. That
doesn't mean that there couldn't be free-form rounds from time to time,
but perhaps increase the challenge and set up more specific rules.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Chris Cason wrote:

...


The lack of responses surprises me.  Actually I thought I did respond to 
this in the positive but I am so bleery-eyed after a night of driving I 
probably forgot to press SEND

Anyway I like the idea of shaking up the format a bit, especially the 
idea of variable length contests and contests in parallel.  I also think 
the idea of "challenges" over, or in addition to, "topics" is a good 
one.  Your examples are intriguing and suggest some enticing 
possiblilties for starting from a "seed" of materials, image, or source 
in another media rather than a topic or concept.  I think all of this 
alos allows you to "raise the bar" in some places while still giving 
fledglings a place to compete.


 > So. Anyone interested?
 >
 >

Question is a little ambiguous but if you are asking for volunteers I am 
willing.  However my skills are fairly limited, technically.

-JC

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I'm certainly interested to see what comes of this. My two cents would be
that, though I enjoy the technical aspects of POV a great deal, and would
be exited to see some competition in that realm, I alo think that the
artistic possibilities are rarely fully developed and deserve equally to be
explored.

At least in my opinion, it isn't so much the competition as the deadline,
and the chance for feedback. Doing an IRTC round is a sort of
NaNoWriMo-like event for me --- I finally finish an entire image because I
HAVE to. In that spirit, I think it would be fun to have some
so-fast-it's-silly contests; 24 hours to make a scene? 1 hour?

Finally, I will say that I do a good bit of web design, and I can work
pretty happily in perl, PHP, ASP, HTML, and javascript. I'll happily donate
time if you want it.


Sam Bleckley
http://enso.freeshell.org/

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[Previous post got lost; reposting]

I think this is an excellent idea. My two cents:

(cent one) I think that, as interesting as it will be to have technical
competition, the artistic possiblities of POV have only rarely been
explored ot their full potential; it might be equally interesting to have a
few 'rounds' that go exactly in the opposite direction and be as completely
artistic as possible. Of course, it is the synthesis fo the tow that makes
the most interestic scenes (to me), but limiting one's self is always a
good exercise.

(cent two) I always used the IRTC less for competition and more for a
deadline (gasp). Entering the IRTC was a NaNoWriMo-like experience for me,
forcing a project to completion. It might be fun to have some uber-short
*time* contests; 24 scenes, that sort of thing (in addition, of course, to
the others)

Brainstorming now, would it be sensible to instead just build a structured
site in which *any* member could start a contest, administer it, give all
the rules, etc, prizes, whatever? Then you can have a constant flow of new
contests without any one person getting sick of the work. There would,
inevitably, be many contests with no entrants, or just one or two, but at
the same time, there would be no backseat drivers. *shrugs* I don't know if
that would be the smart way, but it would certainly be the _internet_ way ;)

Finally (and in conclusion; that is, to wrap up) I am pretty comfortable
doing web-based programming (PHP, ASP, perl, mySQL) and would happily
donate some time and energy to this project, if you wanted it.

Sam Bleckley
http://enso.freeshell.org/

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On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:58:54 +1100
Chris Cason <del### [at] deletethistoopovrayorg> wrote:

> I can provide the POVCOMP site source code and web hosting for a new
> competition. Long-time POV user Lance Birch, a professional web
> designer, is willing to supervise and assist with the coding stage. We
> would need some additional help there, as well as at least three
> trusted people who are willing to make a long term commitment to
> supervising the operation of the contest.

Hi Chris

I'm not sure about the 'trusted' issue, but I've done quite a few pages
in PHP and others, I offer my help.
 
> I would like to suggest one possibility. It would be interesting to be
> able to conduct a series of competitions - of variable length according
> to difficulty - that I would perhaps describe as the "POV-Team's
> Challenge".

Yes! Every single one of the propositions seems tempting! And even though
the IRTC certainly has (had?) its merits, I would certainly welcome (and
would be more easily seduced to participate in) a more dynamic challenge.

John

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"John Coppens" <joh### [at] johncoppenscom> wrote in message
news:200### [at] johncoppenscom...
> On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:58:54 +1100
> Chris Cason <del### [at] deletethistoopovrayorg> wrote:
>
> > I can provide the POVCOMP site source code and web hosting for a new
> > competition. Long-time POV user Lance Birch, a professional web
> > designer, is willing to supervise and assist with the coding stage. We
> > would need some additional help there, as well as at least three
> > trusted people who are willing to make a long term commitment to
> > supervising the operation of the contest.
>
> Hi Chris
>
> I'm not sure about the 'trusted' issue, but I've done quite a few pages
> in PHP and others, I offer my help.
>
> > I would like to suggest one possibility. It would be interesting to be
> > able to conduct a series of competitions - of variable length according
> > to difficulty - that I would perhaps describe as the "POV-Team's
> > Challenge".
>
> Yes! Every single one of the propositions seems tempting! And even though
> the IRTC certainly has (had?) its merits, I would certainly welcome (and
> would be more easily seduced to participate in) a more dynamic challenge.
>
> John

Hi Chris,
As I mentioned before, I would be very happy to help out in any capacity.
Please email me, so we can discuss what is truly needed to make the irtc
continue on another ten years. I have Web programming background, and
would be willing to make a long term commitment to supervising the
operation of the contest.

Darin Bottner
dbo### [at] eastsoundsuitescom

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"Chris Cason" <del### [at] deletethistoopovrayorg> wrote in 
message news:45c076e4@news.povray.org...

<snipped but read>

     Chris, I'm truly sorry that I haven't replied any sooner to your 
suggestions. Personally, I think they are really good suggestions, but at 
the moment, I'm really confused as to what is happening with the IRTC, and 
to be honest, I'm really confused by the whole thing. It's like the pot of 
gold at the end of a rainbow - you can see the rainbow, but when you get to 
where you 'think' the end is, there's no pot of gold. (I've actually done 
that as a kid with a beautiful full colour range rainbow, (as I know it now, 
I didn't back then)).  ---> Disappointed.

     You want to show your 'hard-worked-on' image or animation, (which I'm 
getting into now), as a piece of 'art' within 'these' groups. Yes, you can 
post your image/animation elsewhere, but that's then segregated from here 
and you have to go physically look for it and hopefully have that account or 
create one to do so. (Even though we all might have to create an account for 
the new comp).

    My main point of this reply is that everyone is left in limbo 'now', 
which is why I'm doing what I'm doing with the help and suggestions of 
others - I really and sincerely hope this is ok with you Chris. When I 
create this new site (and if I have to at all), I would feel more 
comfortable with your blessing. (It seems as though you are not getting the 
answers that you want too).

     ~Steve~



> -- Chris

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