Hi all,

I haven't posted here in quite a while, although I
continue using and thinking about POV-Ray.

Some of you might want to update your kill files.

I always get a giggle out of the "Stop posting photographs
to this newsgroup!" line. Corny but effective.
It also raises an issue that, at times, bothers me. Because
of POV-Ray's amazing capabilities to make incredibly 'real'
images, this quest for reality, at times (IMHO) can
become all consuming. Even though I don't have the skills to
make a high quality realistic image, it can become
quite intimidating. As the power of pov grows I worry that
less experienced and less talented (I count myself in the latter)
users could fall by the wayside. I believe that any pov user,
no matter how inexperienced or capable, has the potential
to offer something to all of us.

Personally, I want to discover the unique qualities and potentials
pov offers, realistic or not. And also figure out more stuff in the
math department, but that's another story.

Don't get me wrong. I love pov realism. I've seem images and
textures that have made me want to drool.

I posted an image at P.B.I. ("It looks like a photograph")
 It's a trace of a photo by a famous artist.

What I was trying to do with this image, obviously, was to make
a ray tracing of a photograph. Reality three times removed.
A photo may look 'real' but it is not; why should
a tracing of a photo look like the photograph?
Just as a photo can inform a subject and show us a new way to
see, so to can a ray tracing inform it's subject; whether that
subject is a reality, a photograph, a painting, a chemical
molecule or a space ship.

I've read many threads over the years titled along the lines
of "Is ray tracing an art?" Obviously, the answer is yes. But
it is up to us (the collective ray tracers') to make it so.
Plus it can be just so much damn fun.

Of course, all this might just be me rationalizing my lack of
Pov Prowess, my tendency to leave things unfinished and an
annoying bent to spout off pretensiously:)

thanks for listening to my somewhat disjointed ramble,

Peter Warren
Proud Pov User Since 1996

p.s. One of the great joys in my life is the inspiration I get
     from everyone that participates in the pov newsgroups.
     I would be remiss in not mentioning Ive's Vermeer image and Tim's
     WorldBowl pic. Thanks guys!
p.p.s. [Obligatory  P O V  3 . 5  I S  W A Y  R A D  ! ! !
       comment goes here.

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Peter Warren wrote:
> ... SNIP ...
>
>p.s. One of the great joys in my life is the inspiration I get
>     from everyone that participates in the pov newsgroups.
>     I would be remiss in not mentioning Ive's Vermeer image and Tim's
>     WorldBowl pic. Thanks guys!

Hey, thanks! I always get that nice and cozy
feeling when someone mentions me and my "work"/art
in such a positive way, and even negative is
sometimes nice...
(I just remember that IRTC-Entry Loneliness, my
image entitled "2 Lonely" (the one with the pills)
had one comment like: "This kind of pictures should
be forbidden!" I liked that...)

But, this topic should be put to off-topic, cause we're
not talking pure POV-Code... ;-)

So head there and look for title "Tims Response 2 Too reel"

Tim Nikias

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