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Robert Dawson wrote:
>
> Greg M. Johnson <gre### [at] my-dejanews com> wrote in message
> news:37E2407B.F551ABC8@my-dejanews.com...
> > Why can't we implement a Sierpinski pattern in povray?
> >
> > As I understand povray, for some of the more mathematically
> > complicated thingies, such as isosurfaces of complex equations and
> > the bozo or Mandelbrot patterns, the complexity of the feature
> > depends on the density of rays hitting it. For example, the
> > computer doesn't have stored the "entire" Mandelbrot set at all
> > magnifications, but merely calculates the pattern at the place where
> > a traced ray hits the object. Thus, there are few practical limits
> > to zooming in (reducing camera angle) to see smaller and smaller
> > regions of the Mandelbrot pattern. Am I right so far?
Yup.
> > It's pretty hard for me to construct a Sierpinski object beyond a
> > half dozen orders of scale. Isn't this just another mathematically
> > complicated thingy that povray can solve procedurally?
> >
> > So why can't we put a Sierpinski pattern in povray?
>
> Undoubtedly, it could be done. However, it could also be done as a
> macro rather easily, and there are so many variuations on the
> Sierpinski theme that a good macro, editable by the user, would be far
> more flexible.
The only problem with the macro is that unless the object created is a
single mesh object, all of the objects created will take up memory.
If an object is defined with recursion in it, it allows the user to
sacrifice speed for the sake of memory. This would allow the user to
plop a couple hundred extremely well-detailed trees into his scene.
They might not render very quickly, but going into the Swap File Tar
Pit tends to put the kibosh on rendering speed as well. As things are,
the user who is memory-conscious can create a tree that fits into one
mesh, and make a bunch of copies of it, rotating and scaling them to
make them look different. Three of my Rusty animations have trees,
and there are actually three different ones, scaled and rotated to give
as much variety as possible.
Regards,
John
--
ICQ: 46085459
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