Chris Huff wrote:

> If you have a few features to request, then go ahead and request them!
> One of the reasons features are not added is that nobody says they want
> them. You way there are other things you would consider more important
> than syntax streamlining, what are they? You mention clouds, oceans,
> fur, etc but didn't really give much information on what you want to see.

Before we had many people doing patches, the common idea was to not
bother the pov-team with feature requests (and the pov-team is very shy,
for good reasons) and, in fact, most of what have appeared in the development
of pov were very logical improvements. The other problem is that
non-programmers can't tell what's possible from what isn't and may be afraid
to look silly.

Want some ideas ? I've got a trunk full of them...

Clouds : we don't have presently a good system to make them.
Apart the old bozo/granite method (which works
very well sometimes), the 2 current methods (media and multiple planes)
share the same problems : they take ages (forget about using them in large
resolution pictures), may look grainy and they're basically scene-dependent.
These methods have led to impressive pictures but they're very difficult to set
up.
However, I'm pretty sure that something like a cloud
pattern with its specialized parameters would do (think of the brick pigment).
It wouldn't need to interact with the environment (only with the light position

and color) and we wouldn't be able to fly through.
But it would be enough for all the scenes that needs a realistic sky background

that doesn't look too much painted over.
Of course, it would come with cloud structures (cumulus, cirrus etc.),
variable fluffiness, and maps for the most common cloud effects
(white bright clouds, storm clouds, sunset clouds,  silver lining etc), and it
could be animated. Several cloud layers could be added.

Ocean and water : some on-the-fly height-field generation would do, provided it

gives the proper aspect of a 3D ocean surface. Add a foam and spray ability
too...
It could be animated.

Tree generation : if someone has a PhD about this, it should be possible
to create a general purpose tree growth model (Cf PlantStudio for a general
purpose
plant model) whose parameters could be stored in text files (and provided
with the general pov distribution). There would be a tree fonction that would
call
the model parameters and be fed some variables :
tree("oak",age,season,wind, trunktexture,leaftexture, randomvalue)

Look at AMAP for instance
http://www.cirad.fr/produits/amap/genesis/genesisen.shtml
Pov would then generate a mesh, but like in Nathan Kopp's implementation
of radiosity and photon map, you could save the optimized mesh between
sessions.

Other stuff :
- a specialized pattern for dirty walls and concrete. There's no way to
properly
add marks and splotches in a way that doesn't seem regular (unless you use
image_maps, or add layers and layers and layers)
- a way to project a pigment on a particular spot of an object (some sort of
decal ;
to do this with pov now it's necessary to cut out the part, apply the pigment
and reinsert the part)
- a improved brick pattern, that would allow for not-so-square bricks not
fouled up by turbulence
- a snake scales pattern (used directly, or through uv mapping)
- a cracks pattern (there's one in Leveller)

Hmmm. I guess that's enough wishful thinking for tonight !

G.

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