"Chris B" <nom### [at] nomailcom> schreef in bericht 
news:47d3240f$1@news.povray.org...
>
> "Jaap Frank" <jjf### [at] casemanl> wrote in message 
> news:47d31681$1@news.povray.org...
>> Hi,
>>
>> Recently I stumbled over a link to Chris Bartlett's StairCase macro
>> and downloaded the files.
>> The first example in StairCaseDoc.pov traced happily in about 7s
>> with my AMD Athlon 64 3000+ on Windows XP Home SP2.
>> Because all the examples trace as an animation, I started it with
>> +kfi0 +kff50 in the command line box and went doing something
>> else. After a while I checked the progress and noticed that the
>> tracing was very slow compared to the single trace before.
>> I quickly checked the messages for the first example and good only
>> see a difference in the number of objects :
>> Single trace: 176                Trace time: 7sec
>> Animation:   168                Trace time: 68sec
>> Weird, why is there a difference when everything in the file stays the
>> same?
>
> The 'StairCaseDoc.pov' file is designed to use the animation feature to 
> regenerate all of the 50 different images in the documentation provided 
> with the macros. When you use the animation feature with this file, the 
> SDL uses the frame number to work out which image to generate, then sets 
> the macro parameters for that image. Some of the images contain simple 
> single flights of stairs with a small number of objects, others contain 
> multiple flights of stairs with a very large number of objects. The render 
> time therefore varies a lot from image to image/frame to frame.
>
>> All my animation files are based on clock values and I never
>> noticed any differences in trace time with a single trace or in
>> an animation. However I never used the frame system of POV.
>> In news.povray.org I can't find any reference to such a behaviour.
>
> Even if you just use the clock and don't vary the contents of the scene 
> between frames, the render times for different frames can still vary 
> depending on the proximity to the camera of different objects. For 
> example, a partially transparent or reflective sphere a long way from the 
> camera has less impact on render times than if it's close to the camera 
> and generates additional rays to trace.
>
> Regards,
> Chris B.
>

I'm afraid you miss the point. It's about the same example: number 1. The 
first
is traced with the first line of your StairCaseDoc.pov en the second with 
the
animation option from the second line. They are the same and should trace
equally fast, but with the animation the automatic bounding and the vista
buffer aren't working. You can check that in the statistics (see 
messages.txt).
I've checked the other examples too of coarse and everything stays the same,
no bounding and vista buffer in the animation. Some how they are not
working.

By the way, a very good macro!

Greetings,

Jaap Frank

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