Fa3ien wrote:

> 
>> But how many people are we excluding by obfuscating the SDL?
> 
> its both possible to have a simple SDL, accessible even to
> beginners, and to have new extended  programming possibilities.
> (and 90% backward compatibility,  too).  That should be
> verified by producing theorical SDL  code for simple situations.

Looking forward to that process. I hope what how the SDL *will* be used 
will be taken into account, not just how it *can* be used. One could 
write very clear Perl or c++, but the languages aren't necessarily used 
that way in practice. I'm as guilty as anyone else. I know maybe 10% of 
Python, but a lot of what I know is the ugly stuff. My Python code would 
be no more instructive to a beginner than that of any advanced Python 
guru. Almost anyone could understand my POV code.

> 
> POV-Ray's current SDL is already a programming language.  There
> are
> loops,

Repeat an instruction several times

> conditional,

Do something if a condition is met

> and functional macros.

Repeat an instruction several times

All basic flow-chart type stuff. Understood clearly by even 
non-programmers. Objects?

> there's much more than meshes in a POV-Ray scene.  If CSG could
> be instanciated, and if we had more programming power (and speed)
> within SDL, we could make images of unprecedented complexity,
> images that couldn't be done with any other app, while not
> requiring extreme skills.

Will these images entice savvy 3D users into exploring POV-Ray? I've 
used POV's scripting and instancing to produce "images that 'couldn't' 
be done with any other app." Here, where 90% of images take a couple 
night's work, mine impress. On CG Talk, they'd be torn apart for bad 
lighting.

The road to "higher" is clearly paved. You could render 10 million CSG 
models, and no CSG-Talk member would be sold on POV-Ray. Create a great 
skin or hair texture and you'll have 'em coming.

> 
> If you look at Gilles Tran's images, you will see that, except for
> pre-made people, cars, and such, everything is done in SDL.

Yes, he used it as it has been intended, to script his scene, not to 
model it.

  -Shay

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