RusHHouR wrote:
> So... there are NO ways of converting an object consisting of several shapes
> made in POV-Ray to .obj, .mdl, .3ds, .any-bigger-standard-type-of-mesh? The
> links section is funny. The conversion tools that doesnt have broken links
> hasnt developed since 1998...
> 
> Why, WHY was I decieved to actually trying to learn the basics of this
> program. Its created contents are of no use to anyone outside the POV
> realms... To think I could have spent this time learning 3dsm or maya
> instead... Has anyone else ever had feelings such as these, or am I getting
> like banned now...? :)
> 
> Man, Im just desillusionized or something. Was asked to do some structures
> for a game, which sounded like fun. Then, ummm.... like "what was that
> format again!?" Eh, just forget it...
> 
> Cant some genious just make a pov-scene-to-single-mesh converter program.
> Please.
> 
> Doh! :/
> 

Very strange.  When POV-Ray was first written, there were no .obj, .mdl 
or .3ds formats.  POV-Ray used its own format which developed into a 
sophisticated programming language for scene design.  Because of this 
design, we are able to do amazing things with POV-Ray which can't be 
done with traditional scanline algorithms working on polygon meshes. The 
results can be breath-taking and are IMHO unrivaled in the scanline world.

POV-Ray is what it is.  It models scenes accurately using mathematical 
shapes and procedural textures. In many cases, it isn't possible to 
translate this into polygons and if you try, you lose accuracy.  Combine 
this with the power of the scene development language and you find that 
POV-Ray lets you model things that are almost impossible to model with a 
conventional UI.

If you want to work with a commercial system, go ahead, but the 
commercial systems can't handle the features that POV-Ray supports so 
how can you expect to export from POV-Ray to the other formats?  We make 
no apologies for not being compatible with other programs. Translating 
to those formats is not a matter of translating the data but rather 
translating the mind-set. I can't expect any automated tool to be able 
to handle it.

If you've learned POV-Ray, then you've learned a tremendous amount about 
vectors, matrices, lighting, textures, shapes, transformations, cameras, 
perspective, radiosity, constructive solid geometry, height fields, 
isosurfaces and more.  If you understand POV-Ray, you've already taken a 
huge leap towards understanding other tools.  If you understand the 
other tools, you can still learn a lot from POV-Ray.

David Buck

Post a reply to this message