Chris Huff wrote:

> In article <3a5880ae@news.povray.org>, "25ct" <25c### [at] lineonenet> wrote:
> >      My idea would be for someone to produce a code that 'finds' the
> > centre of these shapes in the render window, and then, by clicking
> > your mouse on the shape, and holding down, just move the shape to at
> > least where you want it to go, rather than taking 30 minutes to get
> > it there in the first place.
>
> What you are looking for is a modeller. POV-Ray is a renderer.

I've used programs like CorelDream3D, Bryce, etc., and they are a PITA as
far as this kind of operation.  My experience is that a little program that
tries to read your mind on these kinds of operations is more headache than
help.  In CD3D, you could describe the object in world or object
coordinates, move the object itself or its center of mass, and it was often
automatically converting the units back and forth without my permission,
especially in rotations.  I wouldn't stop you from trying programs like
Moray or a demo of say Rhino, but if you are trying to avoid all math you
might not be in luck. Furthermore, while I have immense respect for sPatch,
I guess I just "cannot draw with a mouse" and so I find mouse-grabbing
programs don't aid my artistic output that much. Furtherfurthermore, a
measure of my intelligence is that I never got off the ground with Moray and
wasn't ever able to really model much of anything with it.  Povlab OTOH
doesn't work.

In MegaPov, there are advanced functions like trace and min/max_extent that
I have found very helpful in figuring out exactly where a missing object is.
And if I may say so, even when modelling in povray, I've found that a little
more work and discipline up front can avoid "where is my object?" headaches
later--such as deciding up front that my blob character will have feet
bottoms at y=0 and head top at y=10.  Just firing away modelling based on
looks in current window makes for more headaches later.

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