Charles C wrote:

> 
> Note: There seems to be something in both 3.6 & 3.7 beta which kicks in an
> error "Parse Error: Identifier expected, incomplete function call or spline
> call found instead."  The line in question may look something like #local
> Spline_A = Array_of_Splines[Ctr]; or be a line calling a macro using a
> spline identifier as one of the parameters.  It will work many times over
> in a loop, but may fail at some repeatable time during the overall parsing.
> Repeatable IF it's on the same machine.  Adding something like #local
> dummy_var = 97981316123; either inside or outside the loop seems to affect
> whether the render will get through parsing.  I'm always happy to see the
> Render Cleanup Warning about the experimental status of splines because
> that means it's made it through.
> 
> 
Yes. That is the error that drove me crazy with my spider web images. 
And I was also using both the techniques you mention, passing a spline 
to a macro, and storing spline definitions as arrays.  And as you say, 
the stoppage would appear capriciously, though always at the same place 
until I changed something about the code, adding a #debug for instance, 
or changing the seed value for the random number generation. 
Furthermore, since I was trying to make different variations of webs I 
was running the scene file from an ini file repeatedly by using the 
animation feature so as to begin with a different random seed each time 
(based on the clock value). The scene would parse fine through many 
repetitions before finally failing.  I was not able to produce the error 
in isolation by using just the macro call or the array storage. 
Further, my current version uses both these techniques in combination 
and I have run it through several hundred iterations with a stoppage. 
But if I add further complexity, a second set of splines stored as an 
array, for instance, then the error recurs.

I suspect it is something about the splines-stored-as-arrays that is the 
problem because of the fact that adding random lines of script will 
sometimes "solve" it or cause the stoppage to happen in a different 
place.  I also had this problem when I was doing my POVCOMP entry.  My 
solution then, if I remember correctly, was to write the multiple spline 
definitions to include files then call them in dynamically.

I use MegaPov 1.1 which is based on POV-Ray 3.6.1

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