This test should clarify if it is possible to render images of large crowds of people using povray.
The Method used here is already optimized for memory saving.
see: http://www.fitzel.ca/dart/crowds/crowds.html

Install povray beta:

mkdir povray-test && cd povray-test
wget http://www.povray.org/redirect/www.povray.org/beta/source/povray-3.7.0.beta.34.tar.bz2
tar xvzf povray-3.7.0.beta.34.tar.bz2
cd povray-3.7.0.beta.34
wget -c http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/boost/boost/1.40.0/boost_1_40_0.tar.bz2?use_mirror=mesh
tar xvjf boost_1_40_0.tar.bz2
cd boost_1_40_0
./bootstrap.sh
./bjam
cd ..
export BOOST_ROOT=/root/povray-test/povray-3.7.0.beta.34/boost_1_40_0
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/root/povray-test/povray-3.7.0.beta.34/boost_1_40_0/stage/lib/
apt-get install libpng12-dev
apt-get install libjpeg62-dev
apt-get install libtiff4-dev
./configure COMPILED_BY="yourname <your@mail>"
make