"Dre" <and### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

> So much POV to learn, so little time!

Not a day goes by that I don't learn something new as well, some new trick that
POV-Ray is capable of, or some new 'understanding.' The best way to learn
is...practice, practice, practice.  ;-) And to read these newsgroups, of
course--they are a real fountain of knowledge.

I remember the trace command being difficult to fully understand as well, when I
first tried to use it. (In fact, a newsgroup query may have helped *me* at the
time.) And that Norm thing had me guessing too--until I finally
realized that the value (the vector) that's placed there--with #declare norm =
<0,0,0> --is just to set it up, as a kind of 'place-holder.' (In fact, the
vector can contain *any* three values.) Then, when trace() is used or called, it
RETURNS an *actual* vector (a directional vector again!) found at the traced
point, and loads it into 'norm', replacing the temporary values--which can then
be used elsewhere in the scene. The documentation describes some of this, but in
a roundabout way, not completely clear. (Which is unfortunate, because trace is
an *extremely* valuable and fun tool!) So don't feel bad about your temporary
lack of understanding.

Ken

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