POV-Ray 3.6 Released

ehmdjii writes "After a long betatesting-phase the POV-Ray team just released version 3.6 of the popular opensource raytracer. It's been two years since the last version and many bugs have been fixed as well as some changes in the render core. This release concentrates on stability and providing a framework for future re-implementations."

Comments

What this really means ... ;-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahh, I love geek-speak.

This release concentrates on stability and providing a framework for future re-implementations.

Translation:

We know this shit is kind of broken, but we've cleaned it up best we can; here, we've tried to make sense of it; could someone who knows what they're doing maybe come in and rewrite it for us?

;-) (I'm just teasing, of course! :-) POVRay is one of the best rendering systems out there, free or not.)

Woo!

[orangesquid]

Povray, like circleMUD, is one of those software packages whose releases seem to come few and far-between, but are often worth it...

I, for one, welcome our new chrome-sphere-over-checkboard overlords.

You know, a friend of mine, after I installed povray on his machine, asked me, "So, where's the GUI...?" ;)

Awesome!

[PovRayMan]

This is most excellent news as always.

As a long time POV-Ray user (Abuser?) I've kinda fallen off watching the development since the official felt like it slowned after the big 3.1 release. It's nice to see a strong, friendly community surrounding POV-Ray even though it pales in comparison to larger 3d programs. Even so, I still feel that learning how to use POV-Ray is a great introduction to 3d and coding.

In celebration of 3.6, I bring you this lovely scene.

camera{ location <0,5,-10> look_at <0,2.5,0>}
light_source{<10,10,-10> color rgb 1}
plane{y,0 pigment{checker rgb 0, rgb 1}}
sphere{<-5,4,5>,2 pigment{rgb 1} finish{reflection 1}}
sphere{<5,4,12>,3 pigment{rgb 1} finish{reflection 1}}
sphere{<0,1,0>,1 pigment{rgb 1} finish{reflection 1}}

Thank you developers, helpers, users and everyone else within the community. You all help make POV-Ray kick ass to this very day.

Re:Awesome!

[Anonymous Coward]

Awesome! by PovRayMan (31900) on Monday June 14, @04:13AM

... As a long time POV-Ray user ...

I see no evidence to back up this statement.

Re:Awesome!

[nacturation]

It's three balls above a chessboard thing.

Did you really need to render it to get that? :)

Photon speed improvements

[Kippesoep]

Cool! They've changed the speed of light!

Re:Photon speed improvements

[andi75]

Obligatory karma whoring Futurama reference

Cubert: That's impossible. You can't go faster than the speed of light.

Farnsworth: Of course not. That's why scientists increased the speed of light in 2208.

Re:Great, for a free package

[Anonymous Coward]

When they render in POV-Ray as fast as they do in a web browser I'll be impressed.

Specific Vengeance License

[4of12]

Whoah!

Can you imagine pissing off the authors of an open source project so much that they specifically name you in their modified license?!?

This would be akin to a modified GPL version 4,

"whereas, be it known, that all of the aforementioned rights are completely and utterly revoked, in perpetuity for Darl McBride, business associates of Darl McBride, and all his descendents are likewised to be cursed and spat upon, even unto the fourth generation. He shall have no community rights whatsoever, neither shall his name be uttered in any sacred place, nor his handiwork to be exhibited with 100 feet of a sacred place, school nor voting booth....

Re:::shaking head::

[Smallpond]

I saw this in the change log:

Photon speed improvements (Change 1937, 2037)

and I was wondering how they did that.

"c, not just a good idea, its the law!"

Re:Great, for a free package

[Anonymous Coward]

If you want to support this guy, he sells his work through zazzle
Gilles, is that you?