Chris B wrote:
  > I just did a very small test using command line options "+kfi0 
+kff10 +sf5
> +ef6" in 3.6 and it did what I expected.


I'm doing it via an .ini file.  Perhaps it is treating it differently?


> The only thing I can think of to check (sorry if it's obvious) is that you 
> are adding the subset settings as well as leaving the frame settings in the 
> ini file 

Nope.  This is how I setup my .ini file:

Initial_Frame=1
Final_Frame=1200
Initial_Clock=0
Final_Clock=1
Subset_Start_Frame= 820
Subset_End_Frame=900

As I mentioned to Stephen, this appeared to start the animation at frame 
~1100.   I'm thinking that maybe it's a problem with the way I calculate 
a lot of stuff.  Rather then using "clock", I use "final_frame" and 
"frame_number" for many calcs.  Perhaps the when I call "final_frame" 
when subsets are in use, Pov is returning "Subset_End_Frame" instead?

Bryan

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Bryan Heit <bjh### [at] NOSPAMucalgaryca> wrote:
> Chris B wrote:
>   > I just did a very small test using command line options "+kfi0
> +kff10 +sf5
> > +ef6" in 3.6 and it did what I expected.
>
>
> I'm doing it via an .ini file.  Perhaps it is treating it differently?
>
>
> > The only thing I can think of to check (sorry if it's obvious) is that you
> > are adding the subset settings as well as leaving the frame settings in the
> > ini file
>
> Nope.  This is how I setup my .ini file:
>
> Initial_Frame=1
> Final_Frame=1200
> Initial_Clock=0
> Final_Clock=1
> Subset_Start_Frame= 820
> Subset_End_Frame=900
>
> As I mentioned to Stephen, this appeared to start the animation at frame
> ~1100.   I'm thinking that maybe it's a problem with the way I calculate
> a lot of stuff.  Rather then using "clock", I use "final_frame" and
> "frame_number" for many calcs.  Perhaps the when I call "final_frame"
> when subsets are in use, Pov is returning "Subset_End_Frame" instead?
>
> Bryan

Put this line or similar into your pov file.
#debug concat ("frame_number = ", str(frame_number, -3), "/n")

and

Debug_File=C:outputpathdebug.txt

In your ini file. This will give you the actual Frame numbers in the file
debug.txt in your specified path. You might be able to work out what is
going wrong. The debug statement combined with concat and str can be very
useful fot faultfinding.

Stephen

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"Bryan Heit" <bjh### [at] NOSPAMucalgaryca> wrote in message 
news:441ecf45$1@news.povray.org...
>  I'm thinking that maybe it's a problem with the way I calculate a lot of 
> stuff.  Rather then using "clock", I use "final_frame" and "frame_number" 
> for many calcs.  Perhaps the when I call "final_frame" when subsets are in 
> use, Pov is returning "Subset_End_Frame" instead?
>
> Bryan

I think you're right. 'final_frame' does seem to come up with the last frame 
of the subset being rendered rather than the value set using the Final_Frame 
option setting (Which seems to conflict with the POV-Ray documentation).

Regards,
Chris B.

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Chris B wrote:
> I think you're right. 'final_frame' does seem to come up with the last frame 
> of the subset being rendered rather than the value set using the Final_Frame 
> option setting (Which seems to conflict with the POV-Ray documentation).


I've ran a few tests and this is exactly the problem.  When you declare 
a "Subset_End_Frame" povray will return that value when you call 
"final_frame" in a .pov file.

Bryan

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Bryan Heit <bjh### [at] NOSPAMucalgaryca> wrote:
> Chris B wrote:
> > I think you're right. 'final_frame' does seem to come up with the last frame
> > of the subset being rendered rather than the value set using the Final_Frame
> > option setting (Which seems to conflict with the POV-Ray documentation).
>
>
> I've ran a few tests and this is exactly the problem.  When you declare
> a "Subset_End_Frame" povray will return that value when you call
> "final_frame" in a .pov file.
>
> Bryan


There is a command used in the ini file that is called this. The same as
+EFn in the command line.  If you try to send the value to #debug then you
get an undeclared identifier, error.

Stephen

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"Stephen" <mca### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message 
news:web.44200d0120875604b1b469160@news.povray.org...
> Bryan Heit <bjh### [at] NOSPAMucalgaryca> wrote:
>> Chris B wrote:
>> > I think you're right. 'final_frame' does seem to come up with the last 
>> > frame
>> > of the subset being rendered rather than the value set using the 
>> > Final_Frame
>> > option setting (Which seems to conflict with the POV-Ray 
>> > documentation).
>>
>>
>> I've ran a few tests and this is exactly the problem.  When you declare
>> a "Subset_End_Frame" povray will return that value when you call
>> "final_frame" in a .pov file.
>>
>> Bryan
>
> You have lost me on this. Are you declaring your own "Subset_End_Frame"?
> There is a command used in the ini file that is called this. The same as
> +EFn in the command line.  If you try to send the value to #debug then you
> get an undeclared identifier, error.
>
> Stephen
>

I think he means that when you set the Subset_End_Frame in the ini file that 
the value you set it to is displayed in the message stream when you use the 
debug command in POV-Ray to display the final_frame preset variable. The 
same happens when you use the command line option +EFn to set the subset end 
frame.

The documentation says that the final_frame variable available at run-time 
in the SDL will contain the value set using Final_Frame, but from my tests 
this doesn't seem to be the case if a subset end frame is defined.

I rendered the following two frames and got the following results from the 
debug commands:

// Command line options  +kfi0 +kff10 +sf5 +ef6

camera { location <0,2,-2> look_at 0 }
light_source { <-5,30,-10> 1 }

#debug concat("Final Frame  : ",str(final_frame,3,3),"\n")
#debug concat("Initial Frame: ",str(initial_frame,3,3),"\n")
#debug concat("Frame Number : ",str(frame_number,3,3),"\n")


// Rendering frame 5 of 6
//
// Final Frame  : 6.000
// Initial Frame: 5.000
// Frame Number : 5.000


// Rendering frame 6 of 6
//
// Final Frame  : 6.000
// Initial Frame: 5.000
// Frame Number : 6.000

Not what I would have expected from the documentation.

Regards,
Chris B.

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"Chris B" <c_b### [at] btconnectcomnospam> wrote:

> Not what I would have expected from the documentation.
>

Oh! Dear. I should read questions properly.
You are right, I can see this being a problem.

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I've found a relatively easy work-around.  All you need to do is declare 
you're own variable within the .pov file which stores the total number 
of frames in the animation.  Then you simply call that variable, instead 
of "final_frame".  It gets around the bug in the Subset commands, but is 
yet another variable I have to remember to change as I alter the 
animations...

thanx for your help guy's

Bryan

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Bryan Heit <bjh### [at] NOSPAMucalgaryca> wrote:
> I'm using povray for windows, version 3.6, 32-bit.  I've started getting
> into some very large animations (1500+ frames per scene).  As I result
> I've been having splitting my animations into chunks and rendering each
> chunk on a different computer.

I have seen problems in the log files as well, like "rendering frame 400 of
50"
But i had no actual problems with it.

I think i had exactly the same situation: rendering lot's of frames on
multiple comuters. I wrote a povray file that when run, generates
dos/windows batch files, each with a povray render commend for a single
frame, like: +SF195 +EF196

it's here:
http://news.povray.org/povray.text.scene-files/thread/%3Cweb.43ee7ee69367b201a8399d8d0%40news.povray.org%3E/

all you need a shared folder on the windows network that can be used form
all PC's.

on the "master" i run a batchfile that repeatedly runs the master.pov. it
keeps track of the status of all render nodes using a text file. if it
detects that a node as completed it's frame, a new render command for that
node is generated.
Each node repeatedly copies its render commands from the shared folder, runs
them (i.e: starting povray) and returning the resulting image to the shared
folder.
The nice thing is that all computers are finished at the same time, even if
the used computers are very different and/or some parts of the animation
render faster than other parts.
It works upto 10 pc's (shared folder limit of WinXP) but it's unlimited if
the shared folder is on a win98 or windows server computer.

later i made a special version of master.pov, called copy.pov. instead of
sending render commands, it makes "copy povray files form shared
directory"-commands, effectively updating the povray-code on each node.

It also calculates the average render time per frame, and displays some
stats and the expected ETA, so you know when everything will be rendered.
I think the ETA calculation uses a get_time function that is only available
in the megapov version, so you may need to disable that part of the code.

have a look. If you try it and have any problem with it, let me know.

jaap.

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Jaap wrote:
> I think i had exactly the same situation: rendering lot's of frames on
> multiple comuters. I wrote a povray file that when run, generates
> dos/windows batch files, each with a povray render commend for a single
> frame, like: +SF195 +EF196

Looks like it would work, except that many of the computers I'm using 
are not networked together (or even connected to a network in some 
cases).  A lot of the computers I am using are ones at work - I set them 
up to run overnight and collect the rendered frames in the AM.

Bryan

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