3ee79113@news.povray.org...
> Yeah, that'll work, but what if a person
> receives a scene from someone else that
> hasn't been set up that way and he doesn't
> know how to edit scenes?

I'm presently working on a project with someone who is a Pov-Ray newbie and
I've set up my scenes like this. It works quite well because the switches
are documented and their function is clear. A few scenes in the Pov-Ray demo
directories works that way too and the scenes many of us offer for download
contains this type of switches. It's really a proven technique and a very
efficient way to optimize scene development. I wouldn't call this a
workaround.

>Being able to work around the problem isn't a solution, because expending
the effort for the workaround defeats the  very >purpose of the Quality
setting: to provide an easy way to globally render scenes faster without
having to care about the >scene's content or code.

Do I want a command-line feature that would turn focal blur off or on ? No!
Radiosity was once partially controlled by a quality setting too, and it's
now 100% SDL because that was what actual use demanded. Existing quality
settings are mostly legacy IMHO. There was a time when simple things could
make POV-Ray crawl, so turning off shadows or using quick colors did make a
lot of sense. But today, machines are fast enough, so most of the
time-saving optimizations involve using more or less high settings for
radiosity, interior statements (media and refraction), photons, area lights,
dispersion, focal blur, reflection and the like, and using stand-ins for
"difficult" objects such as large meshes, isosurfaces or very complex CSG.
These features are complex to set up, so optimizing the development of
scenes including them can only be scene-dependent. Don't expect this to be
solved by OpenGL previewing or quality settings.

I really think you're making too much of a previewing problem that doesn't
really exist.
On the other hand, cylindrical lights not working properly with photons is
currently a problem (for me at least, to be solved before Saturday), if
you're interested by some fancy, hardcore coding ;)

G.


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