I've noticed this effect with animations before as well.  As far as I know
this is unique to windows, but don't quote me on that.  I think it has
something to do with windows and its memory management, but I don't know.
Pov doesn't keep variables alive between frames.  That was the main reason
for adding the file reading and writing ability.  If you are using pov for
windows, and you really don't want to install pov 3.1, you can still do
reads and writes to files through a few tricks with stream redirection.  You
can probably find more info on that somewhere on this news server, otherwise
I can post a quick explanation or example.

Ken

Greg M. Johnson <"gregj56590:-)"@aol.com> wrote in message
<361CF888.6A9B2D3E@aol.com>...
>Does POV-Ray initialize all variables between frames?  Can any variable
>declarations made at the "end" of the processing of one frame be
>available at the beginning of the next frame?  Does information "build
>up" and make the last frame render more slowly than the first?
>
>The implications are twofold:
>1. In planning a flocking animation, I would want data from one frame
>available to the next. I could avoid installing POV 3.1, with its read &
>write capabilities, if there were some other way to let data hang
>around.
>2. I'm currently making a 250 frame animation.  The render time near the
>beginning was 18 minutes/ frame.  Each frame takes progressively longer,
>and at frame 170, I'm up to 27 minutes per frame. The October 15th IRTC
>deadline is fast approaching!  While it's possible that more complex
>effects exist at the end of the animation, I am wondering if I might be
>able to finish this whole thing more quickly if I were to stop and start
>the whole thing again at the current frame.
>
>____________________
>Greg M. Johnson
>http://members.xoom.com/gregjohn
>
>

Post a reply to this message