In article <3F17B9EE.C33CC1F4@gmx.de>,
 Christoph Hormann <chr### [at] gmxde> wrote:

> 1) Good documentation is the key to successful patches.  This especially
> applies for end user documentation but also to source comments.  I had a
> look at the source and have to say i don't really understand much.  I
> would strongly suggest you at least write something about the used
> techniques, especially how it differs from the isosurface intersection
> method. 

Usually I get a question if the user documentation is unclear. This 
patch is quite similar to existing features, and there's a scene file 
that shows off most of the features.


> I for example don't really understand why this patch is a
> separate object and not a special function for using in isosurfaces (which
> would have a lot of advantages for the user).

I abandoned that approach early on. An isosurface function would make 
many of the optimizations used impossible, make a manually specified 
container object mandatory, etc. Other than those blob2-specific 
optimizations, it probably works very similarly to the isosurface method 
without the evaluate option.


> 2) Most patches that became popular in the past were in a more or less
> 'finished' state.  This does not mean they were perfect but bugs and
> insufficiencies were manageable.  I know this patch is still quite new but
> you have the tendency to leave patches unfinished (i would for example
> have loved to include your 'g' function patch in MegaPOV 1.0).  I have not
> tested this blob2 in detail but you write that there are quite some things
> that need work.

Sphere capped cylinders don't work right, and I haven't really tested 
the box primitive much. It isn't completely optimized yet. Other than 
the multiple textures feature, it is as more functional than the blob 
primitive: sphere and sphere-capped cylinders work fine, as well as 
torus and hard-edged cylinders and cones. I haven't had any crashing 
problems with it.

As for "G": I kind of got stuck figuring out how to have the language in 
the same file as the scene, so it was forced into separate files...which 
was inconvenient. I decided to extend the language a bit more and turned 
it into Amber. I haven't done much work on it, but I haven't abandoned 
it.


> 3) A compiled version for the most important platforms is very important. 
> As i have previously said you are very welcome to offer your patches for
> inclusion in MegaPOV.  Of course there is no new version at the moment
> (you know why) so i understand you are releasing it separately.  Of course
> this is also related to the other points - for inclusion in MegaPOV some
> work on the documentation would be required at least.

I can not do a Windows version or a GUI Mac version. The source code 
should compile on any Linux or Mac OS X machine, it is no harder than 
installing a binary.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

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