History and Future

This workshop exists since 1996 at the KHS Gymnasium. Since the first days this workshop was dedicated to using of a 3D rendering program called "POV-Ray". The reason is easy to explain and also important in the future: No other program, which offers a comparable high level to the students, is copyrighted freeware - which student, who may call a computer his own, has enough money left to buy reasonable programs?

In 1996 we were using the POV-Ray version 2.2 . This version allowed at the first time to non-mathematicals an understandable entrance to 3D graphics with computers. The computers (Intel 468) became just fast enough to not overstress an above-average patient student. (A simple sphere fully rendered in 320x240 pixels needed about 10 minutes in these times!)

1997 version 3.0 followed with additional comfortable new features. It was possible to add in "insert menu" some simple templates for basic scenery backgrounds and basic geometric shapes. This made access much easier and possible to each interested student. Beyond it this version used the first time most of the structure elements of object orientated programming languages.

In the meantime creating sceneries with POV-Ray is a big fun already for pupils of class 5 (10 to 11years old)! The esthetical and intellectual fun with this work does not end with the school time. Numberless images are demonstrating this in this gallery of student's images.

The objectives of this workshop

One of the objectives of this workshop is to ease the beginning with this program to pupils of every age. With this program and the templates added to it in this workshop, everyone is able to play with it and learn in an easy way to understand more and more complex things. It is not obvious, but doing this means leaning a programming language (the syntax is identical with C, C++ and Java) just by playing with the possibilities of this wonderful program.

The program, in its original English written form, unfortunately for self-study is a little bit difficult to understand (especially for German students). One of the highest hurdles to take is the missing of a German written description and the fact that most of original templates in the "insert-menu" don't work without fixing important values. You have to find out from English written comments in many uphill tasks, what kind of values you may or must put in the "fix me"-places and what they will do. This hurdle I try to help taking with my descriptions in this workshop. The experience shows that, with a little concentrated help, also pupils by the age of 10 or 11 years are able to come to independent work with this program, just by playing with it.

One of the objectives of this workshop is also to be a forum to meet people with the same kind of interest and to interchange experiences with other computer graphic fanatics. Many little tricks students can learn from each other and sometimes also it's me to take a little profit with me - and may be it's only the fresh and creative carefree attitude of a pupil of 10 or 11 years. Last but not least the workshop has the objective to offer the possibility to present to a larger audience the nice images created by the students with this program. For this may serve the exhibitions in the school buildings and this homepage - may be this will grow higher some day.

A more detailed description of this program and its possibilities and a bigger gallery of images made with this program you can see at the homepage of my wife and me at: www.f-lohmueller.de/index.htm . Look there by "How to do this - POV-Ray Tutorials" and "Raytracing Galleries". Most of my tutorials are downloadable for offline reading.