----------------------------------------------------------------
Some features I would like to see... (2)
----------------------------------------------------------------

As I already wrote, I use POV since v2 and I am always very
happy to see it progress. I am particulary pleased to see
unified patterns for everything (the autonomous halo patterns
in 3.0 surprised me as they were incoherent with the general
evolution - "fixed" in 3.1, cool).

The new media feature is great, as is the interior/texture
separation. Macros and #local are fantastic. But there is no
end to evolution, so here is my second wish list. Some items are
nearly cosmetic, others verge on the impossible.

My first wish-posting was of carefully collected items... I had
thinked for some time about them and thought they were valuable.
In this second list, although there are some forgotten items
from my first posting, many suggestions are very fresh and had
no time to mature... they surely reflect my current 'work' and
I may be the only one interested... be warned.

Features are listed in what I believe is an order of general
interest and 'possibleness'.

* First, and as promised, 'why isn't there an official POV wish
  list / bug fixes, with votes?' (I know the answer: (1) because
  nobody maintain one and (2) because it could be too much stress
  on the pov team :) ).

* Interior-Finish secession permits the usage of (inexistent)
  finish_map. I wait with impatience for:
  finish{ average finish_map{[...

* Passing macro identifiers to macro;

* textures component extraction: e.g. something like
  'texture{my_stone_tex}.normal', for use in macros;

* As suggested in the doc, permanent local identifiers;

* Why so much syntax difference between 2 dimensions vectors (.u,
  .v), 3-4 dimensions vector (.x, .y, .z, .t), rgbft vectors, and
  arrays ? (as you can see, I am very macro oriented);

* In texture_map & co, a way to transform the texture_mapping
  pattern whithout affecting the mapped textures... I can do
  this myself for translate, scale and and rotate - but I can't
  for turbulences directives (example : try making a pattern of
  wavy lines - whith marble and turbulence - and use this kind
  of texture_map{ [0 text1] [.5 text1] [.5 text2] [1 text2]};
  let text1 be checkerboard pattern... it is also afected by the
  turbulence of the including pattern... if you find a direct
  way to avoid this, let me know);

* bounded and clipped light_source;

* distance driven ADC_bailout for lights (in case of many fading
  lights);

* seed-driven crand and jitter;

* emitting surfaces (and media?) for radiosity;

* a pov-programing tutorial (not scenes, but pov itself);

* An object-by-object, light-by-light control of lighting,
  highlights and shadowcasting (e.g. mylight1 casts shadows from
  myobject1, but does not with myobject2, while mylight2 does the
  reverse at the same time). This is not very physical but very
  usefull;

* special and spatial file format for image mapping - e.g. images
  with more equally spaces points for spherical mapping;

* a render-in-time feature :) ... let me explain : set a maximum
  time and (eventually) a maximum quality for a render, let pov
  do a mosaic render (not preview) with priority, adaptative
  subdivision - like an anti-alias that instead of averaging
  pixels stores them in a ever refined image file... yep, this
  could call to a new image file format. You could extend this
  working to animations;

* a totally free camera : let the user define what objects are
  projected on (polygon, cylinder, sphere,...), where rays are
  coming from (from a point or perpendiculary to a line, curve,
  plane, suface), and how the projected image is mapped on the
  plane. A good begining would be images that are'nt centered on
  the projected vanishing point (you can do this already by
  cropping your image - I know).


None of these are requests. It's just a collection of suggestions
and reflections. Once again, I'd like to thank everybody who makes
this outstanding program possible.


Keep it going!


----------------------------------------------------------------
thank you  thank you  thank you  thank you  thank you  thank you
----------------------------------------------------------------

 THANK YOU FOR MAKING POV-RAY

   Sincerely,

   Philippe





----------------------------------------------------------------
   POV INFO
----------------------------------------------------------------
POV-Ray for Windows
Version 3.1.beta.5.watcom.win32 [Pentium II optimised]


----------------------------------------------------------------
   SYSTEM INFO
----------------------------------------------------------------
MS Windows 95 4.00.950 B
IE 4.0 4.711712.6
Pentium Pro 233MHz
64MB RAM

Post a reply to this message