Actually, I have solved the problems in theory, Ken.

Essentially, the splines are written by hand, there is no automation or GUI
to use (yet). The splines are then processed with Chris Colefax's SplineR
macro. Many of the problems encountered modelling with beziers are avoided in
using them as animation paths.

In a non-animation project I have magnified sphere_sweep problems with
bezier_splines to the point that I can now specify performance enhancement
and memory reduction techniques. This project employs hundreds of
bezier_splines, each one requiring a different number of spheres. I plan to
enter the project in this month's IRTC along with all source code.

A small part of the problem could be cured with a bezier-2-catmull converter.
A major part of the problem could be cured with a postscript-2-bezier/catmull
converter. The fixes for the memory overhead and the speed enhancements will
require a serious macro. The sphere_sweep function in POV would require major
revising to take advantage of the performance enhancements. However, with a
really good macro, revising POV's sphere_sweep becomes unnecessary.

The enhancements are definitely worth the effort. I have achieved a 6x speed
increase while reducing the RAM usage to 1/5 on some sphere_sweeps. I should
note that the performance enhancements apply to all types of compound
sphere_sweeps and not just to beziers.

Steve

Ken wrote:

> Steve wrote:
> >
> > I have added 3 more chapters to Advanced POV Animation for Beginners.
> > The chapters deal with the design, creation, revision and employment of
> > complex bezier_splines as animation paths.
> >
> > http://www.puzzlecraft.com/cm/ClockMod.html
> >
> > steve
>
>   Might I presume from this announcement that you have solved you problems
> with using bezier splines in Pov ?
>
> --
> Ken Tyler
>
> See my 700+ Povray and 3D Rendering and Raytracing Links at:
> http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html

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