povray.announce.frequently-asked-questions message digest

[Chris Cason] POV-Team Status Report - January 2004 [8058 days 4 hours and 17 minutes ago]

Tue, 30 Mar 2004 09:36:34 GMT

=====================================
POV-Team Status Report - January 2004
=====================================

Dear POV-Ray Community,

Thank you for all of your enthusiastic support for POV-Ray.  It is
because of you that this labor of love continues to exist and grow. As
many of you know, our next release was previously stated to be POV-Ray
3.51.

However, several months ago the POV-Team decided that the changes in
what was then still POV-Ray 3.51 are much more than just a simple bug
fix release. In fact, by that time a few small new features had already
been added and major work on reorganising the documentation had been
completed.  Further, there have been a lot of internal improvements
mostly invisible to users - including a much more comprehensive
abstraction layer between the GUI versions and the core code - which
both increase stability and prepare for the future.

Another important change are the license terms. The license under which
POV-Ray 3.5 is distributed was less than satisfactory in several ways.
First of all, it was difficult to understand for the average user
because it was very long (having been built upon for almost ten years).

Secondly, some companies have in the past managed to find loopholes to
distribute POV-Ray 'for profit' legally, but in ways not at all in the
spirit of the license.

So, for the next release of POV-Ray there is a new license specifically
for end users, which does not attempt (like the previous one) to cover
distribution. We feel this is a logical step because most people who
download POV-Ray only want to use - and not distribute - it, and thus
don't need to see the portions of the license that relate to
distribution (which actually was the largest part of the old one).

There will be separate licenses for all the other means of distribution.
The basic terms of the license have NOT changed. POV-Ray is still free
as always, but now comes with a license everybody can understand easily.

There is more! During the last year the POV-Team was able to contact all
of the major contributors to the code base, and as a result will now be
managing the source code rights under the umbrella of the company
"Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd.". This follows the path many
other open source projects have taken in the past. It offers many
benefits for developers by protecting them against individual legal
issues as well as providing developers with a legally recognised body to
deal with POV-Ray license violations.

Due to the many changes, and also that there are just a few minor new
features in the POV-Ray renderer itself, the POV-Team decided that the
next version will be POV-Ray 3.6. Currently there is no final list of
all the new features, however you may like to note that there are no new
objects, patterns or textures.

The initial public beta versions of POV-Ray 3.6 will be made available
for the individual supported platforms in the next few weeks. At first
the beta version releases will not be simultaneous for all three
supported platforms - this will happen towards the end of the beta
cycle, when all supported platforms are ready for a final release.

There will be, as usual, a final binary release for Windows (95 and
later), Mac OS, and x86 Linux. As always, shortly following the release
of official final binary versions of POV-Ray 3.6, its source code will
be released (unix users in particular may be pleased to learn that there
is an an entirely new build system in place).

Please note that there is no firm schedule for the final release of
POV-Ray 3.6. We have a reputation of releasing very stable software and
intend that to remain so. The final version will be released when we are
happy with it, and not before. We cannot give a date for this!

Also, please understand that at this point we do not wish to be drawn
into discussions about POV-Ray 4.0, as we are concentrating on 3.6 and
do not want distractions.

Sincerely,

The POV-Team

[Ken] News Server Acceptable Use Policy [8296 days 9 hours and 57 minutes ago]

Tue, 5 Aug 2003 03:56:26 GMT

Posted August 5, 2003
---------------------


  POVRAY.ORG News Server Acceptable Use Policy
  --------------------------------------------


  First we would like to remind all of our visitors that this news
server exists first and foremost to offer online support for the
users of POV-Ray. We do this by allowing peer support between users
of the program,  sometimes through direct support from POV-Team
members themselves, or by way of the POV-Ray Technical Assistance
Group. Any other use of this news server is secondary to this goal.

  An added benefit of this news server is that it promotes a sense
of community for our users and we encourage this. We want everyone
who visits here to enjoy themselves. Most of all we want you to be
able to visit the various news groups to learn how to get the most
from using POV-Ray. We enjoy seeing what you people are doing with
our program and it makes it worth our efforts to continue developing
it.

  Below you will find some basic guidelines on how we expect visitors
to this news server to conduct themselves. We are not trying to place
ourselves in a position to tell you what to think, or what to do, but
we do expect you to maintain a reasonable level of acceptable social
conduct when posting messages on this news server.


1.) This has been mentioned before in other announcements on this
    news server but we would appreciate it if you do not post your
    messages in HTML format. Many of our visitors do not have HTML
    compliant news readers. Also, HTML messages consume more server
    resources than do plain text messages. We do not expire messages
    in every group on this server and HTML posts are a luxury we
    cannot support.

2.) We have a number of young people that visit this server. Because
    of this we ask that you keep this in mind before posting messages
    or images of an explicit sexual nature. While nudity is commonly
    used as a form of artistic expression we ask that you present it
    as tastefully as possible if you post images of this type. Use good
    judgment where this is concerned and be aware that children may
    be watching as their parents download images posted on this server.

    You might consider uploading images of a controversial nature to
    your personal web page and provide a link to it from a message
    posted here. This gives people the opportunity to decide if they
    wish to view material of this type at their own discretion.

3.) Please remember that POV-Ray appeals to a wide range of users
    from a global community. These people come from many different
    cultures, ethnic backgrounds, and religious beliefs that may
    differ from your own. We ask that you try to keep this in mind
    and not to post messages that may be considered inflammatory,
    critical, or abusive where others beliefs are concerned.

    Users of this news server may not post messages that could
    reasonably be expected, by today's standards, to cause another
    reasonable person to not want to use or visit this server due
    to a feeling of harassment. Personal attacks, exhibiting
    insulting or abusive behavior, are not an acceptable activity
    on this news server. Likewise, the use of profanity is also
    considered unacceptable.

    Violation of these rules may result in corrective action by
    the News Server Administration. Such action may be a written
    warning, removal of offensive messages at our discretion, or
    for repeat violations, the banishment of the person or persons
    responsible for said violations.

    For the purposes of this news server the News Server Admin.
    is any current member of the POV-Team, and the members of
    the POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group, who have full authority
    to act on behalf of the owner of this news server.

4.) We do not allow SPAM on this news server. We will allow you to
    post announcements of your POV-Ray related web page, utilities,
    or programs that POV-Ray users may find useful. Advertising of
    commercial products or services not related to POV-Ray or the
    3D graphics industry is not allowed under any circumstances.

    The articles on this server are intended to be local. No news
    servers may take a feed from news.povray.org.    The POV-Team
    claims collection copyright on the contents of our news data-
    base. This is not for any commercial purpose,  but to protect
    the quality of peer support offered here. If posts from  this
    server are fed to USENET,  users on USENET will start attemp-
    ting to join in discussions there. However, as news.povray.org
    does not take a feed from USENET, such postings will never be
    seen on this server. We will not take a feed from USENET since
    doing so would cause us to have to take all of the accompanying
    baggage - namely, spam, spam, and more spam.  At no time has
    this server ever accepted a feed for any of the povray groups
    from anywhere else. They are purely local and will remain that
    way.

5.) Do not attempt to intentionally distribute software containing
    a virus or trojan on this news server. Visitors doing so will
    be expelled. We do realize that some trojans attach themselves
    undetected to a message. We have made every attempt to remove
    them from this server as soon as they were discovered. However,
    intentional distribution of malicious software will not be
    tolerated under any circumstances.

    USE AT YOUR OWN RISK any software, program source code, or POV-Ray
    file you find posted here by visitors to this server. The POV-Team
    cannot assume liability in this regard but will take action to see
    that harmful software is removed in a timely manner once made aware
    of it's presence. We recommend that you run a virus checking utility
    on every executable program you download from this server for your
    own protection.

6.) The views and opinions expressed by visitors to this news server are
    those of the person posting them and do not necessarily reflect the 
    views and opinions of the POV-Team or the News Server Administration.
    Under no circumstances will the POV-Team or the News Server Adminis-
    tration be held accountable for any harm, emotional or physical, to
    anyone caused by the views or opinions expressed by it's visitors.

    You may see individual members of the POV-Team and the POV-Ray TAG
    participating in discussions on this news server. At these times
    their views and opinions are their own unless they officially sign
    their messages otherwise.

7.) Cross-Posting Guidelines

    What is the difference between cross-posting and multi-posting ?

    CROSS-POSTING is when you post a new message to several groups on this
    server at one time by adding additional groups to the message header.
    This method stores one copy of the message on the server and references
    this message for each group it is posted to.

    MULTI-POSTING is when you post a separate message to different groups
    on the news server which have the same message content. This method
    has the disadvantage that it consumes more server space and is not
    considered acceptable by the News Server Administration.

    For the purposes of this server we ask that if you must post the same
    message to more than one group that you use cross-posting as opposed
    to multi-posting. We also ask that if you do find that you must cross-
    post to this server that you do so with moderation. Try to find the
    groups that best fit the content of your message and restrict them to
    just a couple of relevant groups. Additionally, if your news program
    supports it, use the Followup-To: header of your program to restrict
    any replies to your cross-posted message to a single group. This will
    help reduce the clutter on the news server and keep any discussions
    of your message localized to a single group.

    An example would be if you are announcing a new Windows utility that
    you think the POV-Ray community would be interested in. In this case
    it would be acceptable for you to post a cross-posted message in the
    povray.windows group because it is a Windows application and you might
    also announce it in the povray.binaries.utilities group because you
    are announcing a binary executable utility. Cross-posting additionally
    to povray.text.scene-files would *NOT* be appropriate because your
    announcement has no content related to that group.

    The News Server Administration will delete any messages that they
    feel are excessively cross-posted without warning to discourage this
    type of activity. Excessive cross-posting may be considered messages
    that are posted to more than 4 groups at one time and/or they are
    cross-posted to groups that have no bearing on the content of the
    message that is being cross-posted. Multi-posted messages that exceed
    more than 2 groups will not be tolerated and may also be subject to
    immediate deletion.


Except where otherwise noted these are general guidelines and we will
allow for a liberal interpretation of them. We also wish to remind you
that this is a privately owned news server and as such you are considered
an invited guest. By connecting to this news server you are bound to
accept the terms and conditions we set forth. Please act accordingly.


Have fun and thank you for your participation,


POVRAY.ORG News Server Administration.


Posted August 5, 2003
---------------------

[Ken] POV-Ray Questions and Tips (a 'how-to' and 'why'... [8296 days 10 hours and 6 minutes ago]

Tue, 5 Aug 2003 03:47:37 GMT

Greetings,

This message serves to announce that Warp's POV-Ray Q&T page will now be
hosted on the POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group home page.

http://tag.povray.org/povQandT/

The POV-Ray Q&T contains answers to frequently asked questions about POV-Ray
as well as tips and tricks for various things. The collection was originally
compiled and hosted by the POV-Ray TAG member, Warp, as the POV-VFAQ (Very
Frequently Asked Questions!), but will now be maintained collectively by the
entire TAG team.

If you have some question not answered here, don't be afraid to contact the
TAG or ask in the appropriate group of the POV-Ray news server news.povray.org.

If you have suggestions or questions for these pages, please send an email to
one of the POV-Ray TAG members - http://tag.povray.org/#Contact

Cheers,

-- 
Ken Tyler - POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group

[Ken] [Announcement] New POV-Ray Poster Available [8385 days 12 hours and 35 minutes ago]

Thu, 8 May 2003 01:18:55 GMT

May 7, 2003   

  POV-Ray at the International Space Station

  We are pleased to announce the pending availability of our new poster,
  entitled 'Reach for the Stars'. This poster was rendered using POV-Ray
  by astronaut Mark Shuttleworth during his visit to the International
  Space Station last year. More details can be found on our poster page,
  which includes a link to a detailed 'making of', explaining how this
  all came to happen.

  For more information and ordering details please visit -

  http://www.povray.org/posters/

  Sales of this poster go to help support the costs of running povray.org
  and irtc.org.

  Enjoy,

  Ken Tyler - POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group

[Ken] Welcome To The POV-Ray News Groups [8662 days 19 hours and 27 minutes ago]

Sat, 3 Aug 2002 18:27:06 GMT

Posted August 3, 2002


  Welcome to the POV-Ray news groups,


  We encourage all new visitors to read everything in the announcements
group on this server. It details posting guidelines and how to post bug
reports. You will find links to online tutorials, general announcements
related to new version releases, lists of changes between versions, plus
anything else we can think of throwing in there that may help you use
these groups better or find resources related to using POV-Ray. Most of
all we encourage you to have fun here and contribute to the groups when
you can.


New Versions of POV-Ray - Please Don't Ask
==========================================

  One of the most asked questions we hear in the news groups is  - 

  "When will the next version of POV-Ray be released?"

   The answer is that they will not tell you. The POV-Team is a group
of volunteers working on the development of the program in their free
time. They do not like deadlines and will only release a new version
when they have time to finish it. They also need time to ensure they
have the bugs worked out of it and the documentation updated before
releasing it publicly.

For this reason *PLEASE* do not ask when the next version will be released.
If they spend all of their time answering this question they will not have
time to work on the next release of the program. When it is time they will
notify you through public announcements on this server and on the POV-Ray
home page - http://www.povray.org.

  We thank you for understanding our position on this matter.


POV-Ray FAQ's and Tutorials
===========================

  Especially useful for both new users and new visitors is a FAQ many of
us have contributed to called POV-Ray Questions and Tips. You will find
almost all of the new user questions you might think to ask about answered
there and it is a valuable resource even for some of the more advanced users.
Although this resource is now bundled with the documentation in POV-Ray v3.5
we will be making regular new additions as the need arises. Because of this
we strongly recommend that you bookmark this site for future reference.

http://www.students.tut.fi/~warp/povQandT/


Other 3D graphics FAQ's of interest may be found by following this link -

http://www.povray.org/resources/links/3D_Magazines_Lists_and_FAQ's/FAQ's/


  For a wealth of online tutorials related to POV-Ray please visit
the tutorial section of the links pages at povray.org by following
this link -

http://www.povray.org/resources/links/3D_Tutorials/POV-Ray_Tutorials/


  For a list of other 3D discussion forums follow this link -

http://www.povray.org/resources/links/3D_Discussion_Forums/



Finding Resources
=================

  If you want resources to use with making scenes or objects with then visit
the links pages at http://www.povray.org. We know of no online resource
anywhere that has as many goodies listed as the http://www.povray.org links
pages do and there is enough free stuff out there you can probably fill most
of your hard drive if you try hard enough. We have provided a search engine
to make finding the resources you are looking for even easier.

  We are always looking for new resources so do not hesitate to contact
Ken Tyler - our official Link Master at mailto:lin### [at] povrayorg if
you think something should be added to the list.

Official POV-Ray links page - http://www.povray.org/resources/links/


Using The Groups
================

*Images Group

  If you want opinions on an image you are working on we have a binaries
image group where you can post an image for critique and get suggestions
from other POV-Ray users. This is one of our most popular groups!
[please read the announcement on posting guidelines for this group]

*Scene-files Groups

  We have a binaries scene files group and a text scene files group.
These are for sharing your source with other people if you choose to
do so. Attachments should go into the binaries groups, and a text
copy and paste into the message body should go into the text scene
files group.
[please read the announcement on posting guidelines for these groups]

*Programming, New Users, Advanced User Groups

  The programming group is for talking about the programming issues involved
with the program and is not for general scene language discussions. These
should be taken to the new users group when you are new and once your skills
advance they can be moved to the advanced users group. Don't be afraid to
ask for help on something you do not understand. Many of the people that
frequent these groups are experienced users of the program and are more than
happy to share their knowledge with others. In many cases someone will provide
you with an answer in less than one day's time.

*The General Group

  The general group is a catch-all group where you may announce your own web
site, for example, or maybe post a URL to a resource that you think others might
be interested in. If you cannot think of an appropriate group to ask a question
in then the general group is a good place to start. The general group is also
where all bug reports should be discussed before posting in the moderated bug
reports group.
[Please read the bug reports message in the announcement group for details.]

*Animation Groups

 We have animation groups both text for discussions on the techniques
of creating animations and the binaries group for posting examples of
your animation work for critique and suggestions by others. Maximum
files sizes posted to the povray.binaries.animations group should be
1 meg or less.
[Oversize files will be removed by the News Server Admins. This is to
help preserve the news server hard drive space]

*Unofficial Patches Group

 There is an unofficial patches group where discussions on using other
peoples modified versions of POV-Ray are held. Unofficial patches are
popular with some users of POV-Ray and you will find that many of the
patches may be added at some later time to the official version of the
program. You might want to keep an eye on this group just to get a
preview of what MAY come later in the official versions.

[Note: There is never a guarantee by the POV-Team that any patch will make
       it into the official version so please do not assume that it will!]

*Off-Topic Discussions

  Then there is the off topic group. There you may find discussions on just
about anything you can imagine. We have become a very friendly community
and are likely to drift in our conversations from time to time. When that
happens we move on over to the off topic group and let it go where it may.
Messages posted in that group expire in 2 week's time so they don't take
up too much space on this server. 

*Other Groups

  Besides the groups detailed above there are other groups that may be of
interest to you. You will find below a complete list of the groups on this
server and what they are to be use for.


List Of Groups On This Server
=============================

  This is a list of the groups on this news server and what they are
to be used for. When posting any message in these news groups try to
pick a group that is appropriate for the message content that you are
posting. Please read the announcements group for details on posting
binary files and the proper method of posting official bug reports to
the bug reports group. Also be sure to read the News Server Acceptable
Use Policy for this server posted in the announcements group.


POV-Ray Specific Groups
=======================

povray.announce.frequently-asked-questions -- The FAQ group.

       New users and new visitors: Go here first!
[Note: posting in the announcement group is not permitted.]

povray.general                -- General discussions about POV-Ray
povray.windows                -- Discussion of the Windows versions of POV-Ray
povray.macintosh              -- Discussion of the Apple Macintosh versions of POV-Ray
povray.unix                   -- Discussion of the Unix versions of POV-Ray
povray.msdos                  -- Discussion of the MS-DOS version of POV-Ray
povray.bugreports             -- Bug reporting area - Moderated
                                 (*See bug reports notice in announcement group)
povray.newusers               -- New user discussion area
povray.advanced-users         -- Advanced user discussion area
povray.off-topic              -- Discussion of off-topics not related to POV-Ray
povray.animations             -- Discussion of animation projects and techniques.
povray.programming            -- Programming with POV (incl. GUI Extensions)
povray.international          -- Non-English discussions about POV-Ray
povray.international.binaries -- See above - binary files only
povray.unofficial.patches     -- Discussion about unofficial patches and versions of
POV
povray.text.tutorials         -- POV-Ray tutorials in text form
povray.text.scene-files       -- Scene files (as long as they're human-readable)
povray.binaries.images        -- Posting of rendered images here is OK
povray.binaries.scene-files   -- POV-Ray scene files (plain text or zipped
attachments)
povray.binaries.utilities     -- POV-Ray utilities and announcements of new programs
povray.binaries.tutorials     -- POV-Ray tutorials in binary form
povray.binaries.animations    -- Animations in binary form
povray.binaries.programming   -- For exchanging of source code in binary form
povray.documentation.inbuilt  -- Discussions about the POV-Ray documentation
povray.documentation.books    -- Discussions on POV-Ray book projects

POV-Ray Beta Testing Groups
===========================

povray.beta-test              -- Beta testing of new versions of POV-Ray
povray.beta-test.binaries     -- Binary files associated with beta testing

Note: The beta groups are only active during public beta testing rounds.
      They will be "read only" at all other times.

Third-party groups (software that works with POV-Ray)
=====================================================

moray.dos                     -- Discussions about the DOS version of Moray
moray.win                     -- Discussions about the Windows version of Moray
moray.binaries                -- Moray binary files .mdl, .mtx, and others
moray.beta                    -- Beta testing new versions of Moray
povray.3rdparty.povlab        -- A forum for POVLAB users

Groups for the Internet Raytracing Competition (IRTC)
=====================================================

irtc.general                  -- General IRTC discussion
irtc.stills                   -- Discussion about the IRTC stills competition
irtc.animations               -- Discussion about the IRTC animation competition


Message Storage
===============

  Unless we run out of disk space, messages posted here ought to stay
around for a long time. We have dedicated several hundred megabytes to
the groups which should keep them going for some time. The only group
on the server that automatically expires messages is in the off-topic
group. All messages in the off-topic group expire in 14 days. We did
this because discussions in that group are seldom related to POV-Ray
and were starting to take up considerable resources on this server.
The messages in all of the other groups will remain until such time
as we are forced to make room for new messages and will retire older
messages chronologically.


Posting Bug Reports
===================

    There are strict procedures that we ask you to adhere to when posting
bug reports to povray.bugreports (moderated). For this reason we ask you
to carefully read the bug reports posting guidelines announcement in the
announcements group on this server.


-- POVRAY.ORG News Server Administrators


Posted August 3, 2002

[Alan Kong] POV-Ray questions and tips (a 'how-to' and 'why'... [8664 days 8 hours and 38 minutes ago]

Fri, 2 Aug 2002 05:16:05 GMT

Do you have a question about POV-Ray? Check out the "POV-Ray questions
and tips", which is maintained by POV TAG member Warp
<war### [at] tagpovrayorg>. The "POV-Ray questions and tips" covers a wide
range of topics and is often an interesting read, even if you didn't
have a question :)

http://www.students.tut.fi/~warp/povQandT/

-- 
Alan
ako### [at] povrayorg
a k o n g <at> p o v r a y <dot> o r g

[Alan Kong] bug reporting [8686 days 10 hours and 21 minutes ago]

Thu, 11 Jul 2002 03:32:36 GMT

The povray.bugreports group is for the reporting of verifiable bugs,
only. It is a moderated group, hence, improper or unverified bug
reports will not be allowed. It is not for general discussion or
feature requests.

We insist that you first post a description of the problem in
povray.general, so that others may investigate it on their own
systems. 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.

Are you using the latest version of POV-Ray available for your
platform? Check out http://www.povray.org/.

After a discussion in povray.general has determined that a new bug
has indeed been found you may post a properly-worded bug report in
the povray.bugreports group, making sure you include all relevant
information. Please also read the group first, to make sure it has
not already been reported.

Please do not expect a reply from the POV-Team. We are a volunteer
staff and must make efficient use of the time spent on the
development of POV-Ray.

The minimum information to include in your bug report is:

- The version number of POV-Ray you are using, such as 3.1g, 3.5,
etc. You can see this by selecting About from the Help Menu (in
POV-Ray for Windows).

- 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, or unix variant you are running.

- Your system specs; what processor and how much memory.

- A complete description of the problem and what led up to it. It
will make it a lot easier to track down if you can include a scene
file that will enable us to duplicate 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!).

Thank you for your help in ensuring that only verifiable and
reproduceable bugs are reported in povray.bugreports.

-- 
Alan
ako### [at] povrayorg
a k o n g <at> p o v r a y <dot> o r g

[Alan Kong] MS Outlook Express newsgroup settings [9136 days and 30 minutes ago]

Tue, 17 Apr 2001 13:24:13 GMT

If your posted articles (messages) have a habit of 'disappearing' from the
newsgroups when using Microsoft Outlook Express v5.50 (referred to as MSOE
in this article), please check the following settings:

View > Current View > Show All Messages
---------------------------------------
This option can only be specified when a newsgroup or your Inbox is selected
in the Folders pane in MSOE. Keep in mind that the option to show or hide
messages already read can be specified for each group individually.

Tools > Options > Maintenance
-----------------------------
Uncheck "Delete read message bodies in newsgroups"

Uncheck "Delete news messages 'X' days after being downloaded"

  Also of possible interest are settings under:

Tools > Options > Read
----------------------
Uncheck "Mark message read after displaying for 'X' seconds

Uncheck "Mark all messages as read when exiting a newsgroup

Set "Get 'X' headers at a time" to a value high/low enough so that the
messages retrieved are fairly recent threads in case you might wish to
respond to some of them. Try a value such as 250 to 500. Articles posted in
many of these groups can remain on this server for months, if not years.

  Every person may not prefer these settings under MSOE but at least
newsgroup messages should remain visible until otherwise purged. If you have
further questions about MSOE that *pertains* to this news server, please
post a message with a relevant Subject line in the povray.off-topic group.
All other questions about MSOE should be directed toward the software
vendor, Microsoft Corporation.

[Chris C] Administration of this server [9247 days and 4 minutes ago]

Wed, 27 Dec 2000 13:49:49 GMT

This message is official notice that any current member of the POV-Team or the
POV TAG (Technical Assistance Group) has my full authority, as owner of this
server, to act on my behalf in regards to its administration, and in terms of
enforcement and interpretation of the news server Acceptable Use Policy. In
general issues regarding administration will be handled by them as I do not
regularly read these groups. Please direct queries to them, not myself, if at
all possible.

Lists of TAG and team members are in this newsgroup.

-- Chris Cason
   POV-Team

[Chris Cason] POV-Team Status Report - September 1, 2000 [9362 days 2 hours and 24 minutes ago]

Sun, 3 Sep 2000 11:30:19 GMT

==========================================
POV-Team Status Report - September 1, 2000
==========================================

Dear POV-Ray Community,

Thank you for all of your enthusiastic support for POV-Ray.  It is because
of you that this labor of love continues to exist and grow.  As many of
you know, our next release, POV-Ray 3.5, is currently in development, and
POV-Ray 4.0 is planned as a major rewrite of the core of POV-Ray.  We are
providing this status report to let the community know how things are
progressing.  Thank you all again for your support and patience.

Sincerely,
The POV-Team

----POV-Ray 3.5 Status----

POV-Ray 3.5 is a work that will be somewhat similar to the unofficial
compile known as MegaPov.  POV-Ray 3.5 will be more mature and stable than
MegaPov.

Work on POV-Ray 3.5 is progressing slowly but steadily. POV-Ray 3.5 will
contain many of the features of MegaPOV 0.5a, as described in the lists at
the end of this message. Please be aware that this feature list is
currently FIXED.  Each feature in MegaPov was carefully considered for
inclusion, and there are very good reasons why certain features have been
left out.  We are NOT requesting any discussion about features for 3.5.
Again, this list is FIXED.

The primary work on 3.5 is done, but quite a bit of work remains.  First,
we have a long list of bugs that we need to fix.  Second, some of the
features (such as light groups) are being enhanced and improved.  Third,
documentation still needs to be written. (The MegaPov documentation often
leaves a lot to be desired)  Fourth, the graphical interfaces for our
various supported platforms need to be updated.  Finally, all of this will
need to be packaged together into a final distribution.

----POV-Ray 4 Status----

Work on POV-Ray 4 has not yet begun.  However, there has been some
discussion that we feel is of interest to the community.

First, we have been discussing using a new license for 4.  Various
open-source licenses are under consideration.  We might instead use an
updated version of POVLEGAL.  No conclusions have been reached so far, but
the topic is under discussion within the POV-Team.

Second, we are also hoping to use a much more open development model for
POV 4, with public read access to our source-revision tree.  System
analysis, design, and implementation of POV 4 will be a very large task,
and this is one way we hope to speed it up.  This open development model
would also hopefully provide development releases (snapshots) more quickly
to the power-user community, similar to what MegaPov offers now.

Third, our most recent musings about POV-Ray 4 lean towards a major
reworking of the POV Scene Description Language.  This means that POV 4
may not be fully backwards compatible with old scenes.  If that is the
case, we will plan to provide an official conversion utility that will
convert old scenes into the new syntax, or provide some other means of
importing old scenes.

Finally, the POV-Team is currently not going to be involved in any public
discussion about POV 4.  We need to focus our efforts on POV 3.5.  Only
after the release of POV 3.5 will work on version 4 begin.  The community
can feel free to discuss this topic, but should not expect the POV-Team to
read such discussions at this time.

----POV-Ray 3.5 Feature List----

========================
NO - Not part of 3.5
========================

Blinn "microfacet" highlights
Blurred reflection
Motion Blur
Fast Macros
Post-Processing
Proximity pattern
Square pattern
Triangular pattern
ini_option
Shortcuts for #declare and #local
Reset children (deprecated - use pigment_pattern)
Text Object enhancements
Isoblob
Height of heightfield (deprecated - use trace)
String_encoding (deprecated - Unicode support instead)

========================
YES - These will be in POV 3.5
========================

JPEG image format reading
TIFF image format (reading and writing)
TrueType Unicode support
Parallel lights
Projected_through
Fade_color
Realistic attenuation
Fractal Patterns
Polarical pattern
2-d Vector bug fix
Cylinder Camera Bug Fixes
Light and Media Speed Optimization
Clock keywords
Directive #ifdef (array)
eval_pigment
eval_pattern
Image size keywords
Turbulence vector
vtransform, vinv_transform
Transform Patch
Sphere camera
Circular area lights
Soft shadow (orient)
Light Groups (will be different from MegaPov)
Photons
Conservation of energy for reflection
Metallic reflection
Variable reflection
Media
Isosurface
Mesh2
Triangle texture interpolation
Sphere sweeps
Splines - alternative syntax
Dispersion
Double_Illuminate
No_image, no_reflection
Interior_texture
Layered textures
Crackle types
Blob pattern & pigment
Function pattern
Image Pattern
Object pattern
Cells pattern
Slope pattern
Pigment pattern
Pattern Image Type
UV mapping
Mapping Using Warps
Cutaway Texturing for CSG Difference
Bounds patch
Bug fixes, Optimizations, and other Changes
Normal average bug fix
Normal reflection bug fix
Double-Illumination Bug fix
Noise bug fix (may be different from MegaPov)
Smaller bug fixes
Trace
Radiosity Improvements
Normal bug fix (and all related stuff)

========================
MAYBE
========================

The following features may or may not be included in POV 3.5.  These
features cannot be used in their current state (due to incompleteness, bugs,
or other potential problems), but may be added if time permits us to get
them ready for release.

Solid Triangle Mesh
Rational Bezier
Persistence of Variables
Date functions
Timer functions
Tick function

=========================================

[Ken] POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group Home Page [9507 days 9 hours and 30 minutes ago]

Tue, 11 Apr 2000 04:23:26 GMT

Greetings,

  The POV-Ray TAG now has a home page at povray.org. It can be accessed
by following this link - http://tag.povray.org/

  At this time the page contains details of the purpose of the POV-Ray
TAG and will eventually be adding additional resources for the POV-Ray
community as time permits.

-- 
Ken Tyler - POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group Memeber

[Ken] Cross-Posting Guidelines for news.povray.org [9590 days 4 hours and 23 minutes ago]

Wed, 19 Jan 2000 09:30:48 GMT

Posted January 19, 2000


Cross-Posting Guidelines for news.povray.org


What is the difference between cross-posting and multi-posting ?

CROSS-POSTING is when you post a new message to several groups on this
server at one time by adding additional groups to the message header.
This method stores one copy of the message on the server and references
this message for each group it is posted to.

MULTI-POSTING is when you post a separate message to different groups
on the news server which have the same message content. This method
has the disadvantage that it consumes more server space and is not
considered acceptable by this news servers administration.



 For the purposes of this server we ask that if you must post the same
message to more than one group that you use cross-posting as opposed
to multi-posting. We also ask that if you do find that you must cross-
post to this server that you do so with moderation. Try to find the
groups that best fit the content of your message and restrict them to
just a couple of relevant groups. Additionally if your news program
supports it use the Followup-To: header of your program to restrict
any replies to your cross-posted message to a single group. This will
help reduce the clutter on the news server and keep any discussions
of your message localized to a single group.

 An example would be if you are announcing a new Windows utility that
you think the POV-Ray community would be interested in. In this case
it would be acceptable for you to post a cross-posted message in the
povray.windows group because it is a Windows application and you might
also announce it in the povray.binaries.utilities group because your
are announcing a binary executable utility. Cross-posting additionally
to povray.text.scene-files would *NOT* be appropriate because your
announcement has no content related to that group.


  The News Server Administration will delete any messages that they
feel are excessively cross-posted without warning to discourage this
type of activity. Excessive cross-posting may be considered messages
that are posted to more than 4 groups at one time and/or they are
cross-posted to groups that have no bearing on the content of the
message that is being cross-posted. Multi-posted messages that exceed
more than 2 groups will not be tolerated at all and may also be
subject to immediate deletion.

We thank you for understanding our position in this matter.


News Admin.

[Ken] Official announcement: Team Changes [9637 days 10 hours and 59 minutes ago]

Fri, 3 Dec 1999 02:54:28 GMT

Here is the current POV-Team roster. As we have added some new members recently
(and Chris Young has gone into semi-retirement), this list is being posted to
avoid any public confusion.

Team Coordinator:
  Chris Cason

POV-Team members (note: being a member does not imply being a developer) :
  Thomas Baier
  Dale Brodin
  Alexander Enzmann
  Thorsten Froehlich
  Mark Gordon
  Alan Kong
  Nathan Kopp
  Lutz Kretzschmar
  Nathan O'Brien
  Ron Parker
  Anton Raves
  Erkki Søndergaard
  Tim Wegner
  Chris Cason

Semi-retired members
  Chris Young

-- Chris Cason
   POV-Team Co-ordinator

[Ken] Official announcement: POV-Ray Technical Assista... [9637 days 11 hours and 1 minute ago]

Fri, 3 Dec 1999 02:52:48 GMT

For some time now, we on the POV-Team have been aware that users would like
better communication with us, for technical support, suggestions, development
issues (i.e. custom patches), and so forth.

  Unfortunately it has been nearly impossible to provide this simply due to
the fact that there are so many users. We are only a small group and want to
be able to dedicate our spare time to POV-Ray itself, rather than support.

  This, it appears, has left some people with the (incorrect) opinion that
we just don't care ; that we don't want to hear from them, that we don't
want their patches or suggestions.

  This is not so. The problem is quite simply that with so many users, the
ambient noise level is too high. We have alleviated the problem a little by
encouraging peer support on our private news server ; however, we have now
come to the conclusion that we ought to do even more about it.

  There is a solution to this problem.

                          Introducing the POv-Ray T.A.G.

  The POV-Ray TAG (short for Technical Assistance Group, and just TAG for short)
is a group of users who are known to the POV-Team and in whom we place a certain
amount of trust. They are users who have shown a genuine desire to help others
as shown by their activities on the POV news server. They have a fairly good
knowledge of POV-Ray and attend the news group regularly.

  TAG members are not members of the POV-Team. But they are, however, an official
conduit between us and the outside world. They have direct access to all members
of the POV-Team. They have the right to speak on our behalf on the POV news server
and on any official mailing lists that we set up for this purpose. Not everything
they say will be official ; only when they sign it as such. They can still act
'themselves' and have their own opinions at all other times.

  TAG members will keep an eye on postings and the user community in general,
and bring to our attention any issue that they, in their opinion, ought to be
answered by the POV-Team. The relevant team member(s) will then either answer
the question privately, so that the TAG members can then answer it on our
behalf in the public forums, or if it is appropriate the POV-Team member will
answer it personally to the original author.

  The POV-Team hopes that this system - which allows official communication to
flow between the public and ourselves far more easily than it has in the past -
will further promote the growth of POV-Ray by making us more accessible than it
had been physically possible in the past.

The founding TAG members are (in no particular order) -

  Ken Tyler
  Margus Ramst
  Chris Huff
  Warp (Nieminen Juha)
  Peter Popov
  Chris Colefax

-- Chris Cason
   POV-Ray Team Co-ordinator

[Alan Kong] Where can I post my binary or text file? [9802 days 20 hours and 47 minutes ago]

Sun, 20 Jun 1999 17:06:34 GMT

Put simply, a binary is any file that is not a plain text file. For our
newsgroup purposes, the following are examples of binary files:

- JPEGs, or other graphic file formats,

- HTML-encoded text (many people who follow our newsgroups use
  newsreaders that cannot automatically read HTML posts without
  launching an external Web browser. Please post plain text messages or,
  at least a combination of plain text and HTML),

- any executable file,

- any other file that is sent as an attachment to a posted message, even
    if it is readable text. This includes POV-Ray scene (.pov) files
    sent as message attachments.

For the sake of newsgroup organization we ask that you post binary
attachments to the appropriate groups, such as:

- images to "povray.binaries.images",

- animations to "povray.binaries.animations",

- program utilities to "povray.binaries.utilities", and

- any attached scene files, whether text or binaries, to
     "povray.binaries.scene.files".

Simple POV-Ray (.pov) scene files, text include files, and text macros
may be 'cut and pasted' into the body of your message and posted in the
group "povray.text.scene.files". Please be reasonable and don't paste a
10mb mesh include file into the body of a message :) If your scene
source needs to be this large then you might consider providing a .url
so that people may download it from a remote location.

If you post an image to a binary group and then decide to provide the
scene source (due to overwhelming demand), post the source in the
appropriate binary (for attachments) or text (when your source is typed
or pasted into the body of your message) group and make a reference to
your posted image in the subject line.

Please consider converting 24-bit bitmap images, such as targas and
Windows .bmp, to JPEG (.jpg) file format which uses a compression
algorithm to reduce the file size considerably. This conserves space on
the news.povray.org server for everyone.

Animations can be of various popular file formats such as Windows .avi,
.fli, MPEG, or Apple QuickTime, but one should consider that some
animation formats may not be viewable on all platforms and therefore may
not reach as wide of an audience. Again, using an available compression
scheme with your animation program will benefit all who use this server
by conserving disk space.

  Thank you all for your consideration and happy raytracing!
-- 
Alan
--------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.povray.org - Home of the Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer
news.povray.org - where POV-Ray enthusiasts around the world can get
together to exchange ideas, information, and experiences with others
--------------------------------------------------------------------

[Ken] Povray.Binaries.Utilities Files Resource List [9872 days 3 hours and 51 minutes ago]

Mon, 12 Apr 1999 10:03:10 GMT

List compiled on 04-11-1999


    Greetings,


    This is a list of utilities that are publicaly available to
 the users of Pov-Ray. The files listed here are available in the 
povray.binaries.utilites
newsgroup.

    I put this list together to make it easier to find what programs here are
 available for that group. This saves you from having to download the messages
 for that group and then wade through all of the announcements, comments,
 replies and requests for utilities.

    I have included the newserver link for each file. Also I provided the date
 it was posted and by who in case you would like to visit the message for more
 information and to read the replys from other users about the utilities listed
 here.

   The provided link should allow you to download the file without having to
 open the newsgroup. You may open it online with an external viewing program
 or save it to disk for later evaluation. Please keep in mind that the link
 will not take you to that message and it will only download the file that
 was attached to the original message. If you feel that you want to read the
 original message then you will need to navigate to the binaries.utilities
 newsgroup and find it as you would any other messages posted here.

   This list starts with the oldest utilities first and concludes with the
 most recently posted utilities at the bottom of the page.



 This list has been presented to you by: 

 Ken Tyler - an all around nice guy.

 I may be contacted at: tyl### [at] pacbellnet 

   If anybody out there feels that I am performing a useful service to
 the Pov-Ray community by spending the time to compile and make these
 lists available I would like to hear from you. Anybody ?


------------------
Beginning of list:
------------------


--
* A pov include file that will measure the length of a text string
Size 2.7k by Eric Freeman. Posted on 1-29-1998

text-sizer.pov
news://news.povray.org/34d0f78e.0%40news.povray.org?part=1.2


--
* Digital Series v1.02a tga to avi animation file conversion program
Win 95/NT posted bt Timothy A. Grub on 01-12-1998

digitalseries_102.zip
news://news.povray.org/34B9D3EC.5E667830%40neta.com?part=1.2


--
* Tree making utility. This program, written in Perl, will create a
povray file containing a tree object. There are no controls or options
and is a dos command line program that must be used with windows running.
The tree type that it creates has no leaves but it does make a very
tall and well formed tree suitable for many applications. The output
is variable so each tree it creates will be different each time you
execute it.

tree.pl - pearl script:
news://news.povray.org/34AFC03A.354F3EEB%40sampo.creighton.edu?part=1.3

tree.exe - the executable:
news://news.povray.org/34AFC03A.354F3EEB%40sampo.creighton.edu?part=1.4

You can preview a image of the files output here:
news://news.povray.org/34AFC03A.354F3EEB%40sampo.creighton.edu?part=1.2


--
* Tga to animated gif creator. Inputs .tga file and outputs animated
gif file. By Alan McFarlane posted on 04-17-1998 There are two files
you need to download for it to work properly.

anim-100.zip
news://news.povray.org/6h8pl0%24ata%241%40oz.aussie.org?part=1.2

csdpmi4b.zip
news://news.povray.org/6h8pl0%24ata%241%40oz.aussie.org?part=1.4


--
* WinAxe - a small program that will allow you to make an axe shaped
weopon or tool for Pov. Posted by Denjoir on 04-22-1998.

WinAxe.zip
news://news.povray.org/353EC92C.315649FA%40ssvec.org?part=1.2


--
* UpRight a small utility that will load an image file and allow you to
output an up and right value for the camera statement. I am unable to
understand it's purpose from the description so will leave that to you
to discover for yourself.
Posted by Denjor on 05-24-1998

upright.zip
news://news.povray.org/3568C24C.EDB0459F%40ssvec.org?part=1.2


--
* AVI2MPG - a program that will convert your .avi animation files to
.mpg animation files. A freeware based program posted by aardvarko
on 05-30-1998. Size about 200k

avi2mpg1.zip
news://news.povray.org/6ks71t%241mg%241%40oz.aussie.org?part=1.2


--
* A centered text utility. Posted by PoD on 06-01-1998

tt-pov.exe
news://news.povray.org/3572FD9B.72E7%40merlin.net.au?part=1.2


--
* Cylindrical Height Field include file. Requires Tmpov a patched
version of Pov-Ray. This file will allow you to wrap a HF object
fully or partly around a cylindrical shape. Posted by Jerry Anning
on 08-29-1998.

Hfwrap.inc
news://news.povray.org/35E88C48.94A83F03%40dhol.com?part=1.2


--
* tga2df3 - is a small utiliy that will read .tga image files and create a
df3 binary density file for use in Povs new density file format functions.
It is especialy usefull in the media feature for controlling the shape and
density of media in special ways. Pov has a new interpolation type added to
take advantage of this function. The new interpolate syntax is interpolate
type 1 which is trilinear interpolation. The source code for this file is
attached as text to the body of the message. If you want the source you
will have to locate the message yourself.  Posted by PoD on 09-04-1998.

tga2df3.exe
news://news.povray.org/35F04A5B.4C90%40merlin.net.au?part=1.3


--
* Color Map - a full featured utility to make color maps for your
pigment statements. Posted by Kevin R on 09-15-1998.

colormap.zip
news://news.povray.org/35FE4B90.DCE496A4%40aol.com?part=1.2


--
* Solar Position Include file. This file calculate the suns position
for a given date, time , and place on earth. Also includes a sundial
for testing and familiarizing your self with the file.
Posted by ingo on 09-21-1998.

sunpos.inc
news://news.povray.org/36069c50.0%40news.povray.org?part=1.2


--
* Imprint - a post animation processing tool. This utility will imprint a
series of image files with your name, logo, or what ever using transperent
alpha channels for smooth blending. It is a good alternative to adding text
to your animation wihtout having to try to accuratly position your text in
the pov file and keep it oriented with the direction of the cameras look
at point. Posted by Lewis Sellers on 11-11-1998

imprint009.zip
news://news.povray.org/36069c50.0%40news.povray.org?part=1.2


--
* Pallet tool for Windows. this small utility can be added to the tools
window in the windows version of Pov. It is your basic windows type
color picking menu. When you close the app it automaticaly copies the
color you choose into the windows clipboard. You can then paste it
directly into a pigment or color map statement in the form of rgb
<1.000,1.000,1.000>. I use this when I just can't find the correct shade
or hue of color I am looking for plus it is nice to have it executed from
inside Pov-Ray instead of leaving to fire up a different program outside
of Pov. Posted by Welgan on 11-24-1998

This is a direct download from his site. It was active as of 04-10-1999

pal2pov.zip
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/brbi/povutil/pal2pov.zip


--
* QBasic files - A small collection of QBasic source files related to 3d.
They are mostly object generating files and a handfull of special 3d
terrain like sources. I gathered these together from several different
resources plus they have been improved upon or rewritten by me to bring
them up to date with later versions of Pov. Posted by Ken Tyler on 01-03-1999

basfiles.zip
news://news.povray.org/368F8A3A.BA826F87%40pacbell.net?part=1.2


--
* A small include file to generate particles. It is able to fill various
types of shapes (sphere, cone, cube, cylinder + custom volumes) You can
use any object as a particle. It includes a few sample files. Posted by
Gemelli David on 01-05-1999.

particul.zip
news://news.povray.org/3691D3D2.809DEAD7%40imerir.asso.fr?part=1.2


--
* Tree include maker. This was written as a windows front end
to a macro that genrates trees. The original macro is available
on this server in teh povray.text.scene-files posted by Giles Tran.
This little utility makes it easier to set all of the paramaters
need for the include file to word. Posted by Spider on 01-08-1999.

WinTree.zip
news://news.povray.org/36964C37.DD25C166%40bahnhof.se?part=1.2

--
* RGB equivalents of wavelength colors include file. A small
include file that will return the physicaly correct color for
a given wavelength of light. Posted by Jerry Anning on 

Wavecols.inc
news://news.povray.org/36A95F11.BE1808BB%40dontspamdhol.com?part=1.2


--
* WinTrees 2 a second version of the last tree creator.
Adds extra functionality and has been optimized to work
better. Posted by Spider on 01-25-1999.

WinTree.zip
news://news.povray.org/36ACEF8C.602BD8A5%40bahnhof.se?part=1.2


--
* Curtains include file. A simple include file to make window
curtains. Posted by Gemelli David on 02-01-1999.

curtain.zip
news://news.povray.org/36B5B33E.8A96A4B%40imerir.asso.fr?part=1.2


--
* Twister include file. Creates twisted forms and has some nice
special features to experiment with. Posted by Peter Popov
on 02-01-1999.

twister.zip
news://news.povray.org/36b5b0bf.68698812%40news.povray.org?part=1.2


--
* Frame Average utility. Will read in a series of images and return
an image tht is the avarage of each of those read in. Useful for
adding motion blur and similar effects. Posted by Peter Popov
on 02-06-1999

average,.zip
news://news.povray.org/36c604de.6161368%40news.povray.org?part=1.2


--
* Poly hedral.inc An include file that generates comon polyhedra
objects as well as tesselated poly hedra

polyhedral.zip
news://news.povray.org/36c8c2b5.0%40news.povray.org?part=1.2


--
* SoftText - a utility that produces nicely rounded and beveled
text for Povray. Posted by Rudy Velthuis on 02-2-1999.

softtext.zip
news://news.povray.org/36d158e6.0%40news.povray.org?part=1.2


--
* Digital Elevation Maps DEM's to targa converter for Pov-Ray HF's
and bump amps. Posted by Anthony Bennett on 02-26-1999.

dem2tga.zip
news://news.povray.org/36D702F5.C4B16BE1%40panama.phoenix.net?part=1.2


--
* Mesh extrusion macro. This one is a little more difficult to explain
than the rest of the utilities. What it does is take a predfined set of
2D points and extrudes them along a predefined path to create a 3D mesh
object. Picture drawing a circle on a piece of paper. This is the shape
you define for the first part. If you could then draw a line from the
center of the circle to your nose and pull the circle off the paper you
would have a cylinder shaped object. That is the basics of this macro
file will do and it can be power tool for creating uniquely shaped
objects. File posted by Gilles Tran on 03-01-1999

Extsplin.pov
news://news.povray.org/36DA5710.AE11034F%40inapg.inra.fr?part=1.2


--
The full description left by the author for this next one:

* Attached is life.zip, a method of playing Conway's life with POV-Ray,
admittedly a pointless utility, but I thought it looked sorta cool.
Posted by S.R. Hall on 03-05-1999

life.zip
news://news.povray.org/36e07392.0%40news.povray.org?part=1.2


--
* The latest version of the Tree macro file is now available and contains
features which add user definable leaf types, improved control over the
structure of the tree, a small include for bark and leaf textures, added
a feature to incorporate roots at the bottom of the tree, outputs the
parsed tree to a text file, plus will return the size of the tree to
the screen when the parsing is finished so you know the scale of the
tree object for better control of the placement.
Posted by Gilles Tran on 01-01-1999.

Note: Spiders WinTrees will not work with this version but an update is
      planned in the near future.

maketree.zip
news://news.povray.org/3703A50E.92D91768%40inapg.inra.fr?part=1.2


--
* Blob Man include file. This was designed to make it easy to learn
how to use the inverse kinematic animation features in Moray.
Posted by peter Huoston on 04-09-1999.

blbman10.zip
news://news.povray.org/370dd5bb.0%40news.povray.org?part=1.2



-----------
End of list.
-----------




-- 
Ken Tyler

mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net

[Ken] Graphics, Animation, Graphics-Printing FAQ Links [9933 days 1 hour and 59 minutes ago]

Wed, 10 Feb 1999 11:55:07 GMT

02-10-1999



Graphics, Animation, Graphics-Printing FAQ Links


This a list of graphics related links that you might find useful.

You will find links to image file formats - manipulation tools,
animation file formats - manipulation tools, and a printing FAQ.


-------------------
IMAGE PRINTING FAQ
-------------------
Computer-generated image printing FAQ by Coridon Henshaw

http://www.myna.com/~gcircle/csbh/printingfaq.txt


---------------------------
IMAGE and ANIMATIONS FAQ's
---------------------------


1.) alt.binaries.pictures - FAQ, parts 1 - 3 General and OS Specific

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/pictures-faq/part1/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/pictures-faq/part2/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/pictures-faq/part3/index.html


2.) comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing - FAQ parts 1-2

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/raytrace-faq/part1/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/raytrace-faq/part2/index.html


3.) JPEG Image Compression - FAQ, parts 1 - 2

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq/part1/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq/part2/index.html


4.) Graphics and Avi - FAQ

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/avi-faq/index.html


5.) Graphics and File Formats - FAQ, parts 1 - 4

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/fileformats-faq/part1/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/fileformats-faq/part2/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/fileformats-faq/part3/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/fileformats-faq/part4/index.html


6.) MPEG - FAQ, parts 1 - 9

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part1/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part2/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part3/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part4/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part5/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part6/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part7/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part8/index.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part9/index.html

More information about MPEGS can be found at:

http://mpeg.org


7.) Graphics and Animation - FAQ

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/animation-faq/index.html


8.) Graphic Utilities' Site & Version - FAQ

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/utilities-faq/index.html


Everything you ever wanted to know about colors and more...
Charles Poynton - Color technology Gamma and Color - Faq

http://www.inforamp.net/~poynton/Poynton-colour.html




Authored by:

Ken Tyler


mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net


If you know of something that should be added to this list
please feel free to contact me.


Copyright ownership, and distribution information may be found in
the individual FAQ's listed. I'm not responsible for the content of
the faq's nor will I assume responsibilty for any mistakes contained
therein. - Ken Tyler