The name suggests this is the right group. But is it?

I am a complete newbie to POV-Ray...as in, have been at it for a couple 
of weeks now (and haven't been doing much else).

Need some hand-holding from the pros. I've been through most of the 
documentation with POV...where do I look next? How do I go further? 
Also, I do not have a programming background...does that restrict me in 
using POV, or can I hope to pick up all that's needed on the way?

ANY help would be welcome!

Regards,

Rishi

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Rishi wrote:
> The name suggests this is the right group. But is it?
> 
> I am a complete newbie to POV-Ray...as in, have been at it for a couple 
> of weeks now (and haven't been doing much else).
> 
> Need some hand-holding from the pros. I've been through most of the 
> documentation with POV...where do I look next? How do I go further? 
> Also, I do not have a programming background...does that restrict me in 
> using POV, or can I hope to pick up all that's needed on the way?
> 
> ANY help would be welcome!
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Rishi

Welcome.

Have you looked at and run the example scenes included with the 
installation?
Great place to start.

Another good place to look is the IRTC
www.irtc.org

In later years the practice fell off because files got
quite large, but in earlier years people included their source
code.  You can learn a lot of good stuff from there
Also look in p.b.scene-files for example code

Probably best to move from objective to objective

There are four basic concerns:
scene building.
modelling
texturing
lighting

Most people are distracted early on by modelling, but the real action is 
in the texturing, lighting, and scene building. Try to cycle through and 
improve each of these areas in gradations. Try especially to learn as 
much about texturing as soon as possible.

Ask questions here.

You need to know or learn something of the mechanics of programming 
because POV does rely on a scripting interface.  But in no way do you 
need to be a hardcore programmer to use POV-Ray.  Many of us come from 
an arts background and we take great delight in referring to our SDL 
(Scene Description Language) script as "code", just to annoy the real 
programmers here ;)

Post a reply to this message

> The name suggests this is the right group. But is it?

Yup!

> Need some hand-holding from the pros. I've been through most of the
> documentation with POV...where do I look next? How do I go further?

Have you tried the tutorials in the documentation? If you haven't, I would
suggest doing them - and actually following along on your own. When
something interests you, leave the tutorial and experiment with it.

If you really understand most of the documentation, then I'd suggest that
you let your creativity guide you. I'm sure you can find more tutorials
online, but if you haven't already done so, what you should really do is
attempt a small project. Decide what it is that you want to create, and use
the knowledge you've gained over the last couple of weeks to create it.
Along the way you may discover that you don't know how to do something you
want to do; when this happens, you can go back to the documentation and if
that doesn't help, ask for help here.

I make this suggestion because the documentation really contains just about
all there is to know about POV-Ray. Anyone who understands it has all of the
technical knowledge they need to use POV-Ray. The rest is learning how to
use it *well*, and that can really only be achieved through practice.

If you've already made an image - or if not, then when you do so - consider
posting it in povray.binaries.images and asking for comments; you can use
the feedback you get to either improve the image or start a new, better one.
Don't forget to post your own take on the "reflective sphere on a checkered
plane" cliche. =)

> Also, I do not have a programming background...does that restrict me in
> using POV, or can I hope to pick up all that's needed on the way?

A programming background helps when creating complex scenes, but you should
be able to learn all you need to know through the documentation.

In summary: just start making stuff and deal with problems as you come
across them.

 - Slime
 [ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

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Jim Charter wrote:
> Rishi wrote:
> 
>> The name suggests this is the right group. But is it?
>>
>> I am a complete newbie to POV-Ray...as in, have been at it for a 
>> couple of weeks now (and haven't been doing much else).
>>
>> Need some hand-holding from the pros. I've been through most of the 
>> documentation with POV...where do I look next? How do I go further? 
>> Also, I do not have a programming background...does that restrict me 
>> in using POV, or can I hope to pick up all that's needed on the way?
>>
>> ANY help would be welcome!
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Rishi
> 
> 
> Welcome.
> 
> Have you looked at and run the example scenes included with the 
> installation?
> Great place to start.
> 
> Another good place to look is the IRTC
> www.irtc.org
> 
> In later years the practice fell off because files got
> quite large, but in earlier years people included their source
> code.  You can learn a lot of good stuff from there
> Also look in p.b.scene-files for example code
> 
> Probably best to move from objective to objective
> 
> There are four basic concerns:
> scene building.
> modelling
> texturing
> lighting
> 
> Most people are distracted early on by modelling, but the real action is 
> in the texturing, lighting, and scene building. Try to cycle through and 
> improve each of these areas in gradations. Try especially to learn as 
> much about texturing as soon as possible.
> 
> Ask questions here.
> 
> You need to know or learn something of the mechanics of programming 
> because POV does rely on a scripting interface.  But in no way do you 
> need to be a hardcore programmer to use POV-Ray.  Many of us come from 
> an arts background and we take great delight in referring to our SDL 
> (Scene Description Language) script as "code", just to annoy the real 
> programmers here ;)

Hi,

Thanks a lot for the advice. Will follow it RELIGIOUSLY. Hopefully will 
be back with some images to impress you guys in a couple of weeks ;)

Rishi

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