X3 Ray Trace

[Susan Jeffery]

Chad,
I have used the Pov ray for a long time, I have been running this raytracer for some time now, and I can say with some confidence, that I can get better quality raytraces in shorter times than I ever could with PovRay. Once you get a basic understanding of lighting, it's easy to get a nice raytrace, and possible to get a stunning raytrace.

It is hard to make an apples to apples comparison. The X3 ray tracer is much more physically based (i.e. realistic) and time ray tracing can depend a lot on your machine.

My everyday computer has little more than a hamster wheel as its power source. So, ray traces can take a fair amount of time on my machine.

The absolute key, for me, in getting a great ray trace from X3 is to set up your lighting correctly. Take the time to light your scene well and the results are astounding. An ounce of set up here is worth a pound of results. Using the material definition tool is a close second place for me in importance for a great ray trace.