Larry Fontaine wrote:
> 
> I've read a lot of posts that say people don't like modellers because
> you can't do multiple rotates etc. Just to let you know, this is what I
> do: I write my source directly in POV. When there's a complex object I
> can't just measure, I use a 2-D metafile drawing program (In my case,
> Micrografx Designer) to draw an orthographic plan of the object. When I
> like my results, I transfer the measurements back to POV. It's also
> great for zooming way in to check tangent lines and such.
> This also allows for a great "cheat" of sorts--if you have a real 3-D
> object sitting in front of you, scan it or photograph it or whatever,
> then bring the picture into your drawing program, draw your curves over
> the pic, delete the pic, and copy the curve measurements into POV
> source.
> The only thing I really can't do well is bezier patches and
> height_fields. Height_fields for things like mountains or whatever are
> fairly easy, but what if I want a height_field that's a perfect
> hemisphere? Anyway, I'll leave you with this idea.
> PS. I've always thought a modeller with hard-code POV on one side and
> the wireframe preview on the other would be great. Then you could use
> the tools, or just change the POV code directly and get instant results.
> And support for multiple transforms and CSG. I've got Visual C++ and
> Visual Basic, so maybe I could make it myself someday...

  There is more to the modeller issue than simply the lack of textual
interface. Scenes created in a modeller are often wire frame only.
When the scene reaches a certain level of complexity all the overlapping
wire frames makes it difficult to visualize all of the elements in the
scene due to clutter.
 Additionally where POV-Ray is concerned there is no one single modeller
that supports every function and option that Pov offers. This limits
your creativity because of the limited support. Another issue is that
many people such as myself are still using small screen monitors. It
is difficult to work in a modelling environment with a small monitor.
There are many other arguments I could go into but the lack of a textual
interface is only one of the issues at hand.

  You will also note a certain amount of Pov snobbery involved with
them that write their pov scenes in a text only environment. Kind
of a "I'm better that you cause I don't need no stinking modelling
program" type or mentality. This of course has about as much validity
as the DOS vs. Windows wars of a few years ago as to which is better
to work in. So I say different strokes for different folks and leave
it at that. Work in whatever environment that makes you the most
productive and ignore any peer pressure you may feel.

-- 
Ken Tyler

See my 850+ Povray and 3D Rendering and Raytracing Links at:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html

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