I just downloaded the beta. Looks very, very nice! :-)

Although, the documentation for the new Mesh2 format seems a bit vague
to me, and I have trouble understanding how I should use it. It just
says:

"6.5.2.4 Mesh2
The new mesh syntax is designed for use in conversion from other file
formats."

Is it possible to have a few hints on how this should be done? I know
very little about other formats, so I don't know which parts that should
go where when I cut and paste between the formats.

However, I must admit, I haven't tried yet, as the whole thing seems
daunting. Even a small file would take an awful long time to convert.

Thanks,
Tom Stone

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Hi

Mesh 2 is usually used when you want to use uv mapping for texture. For
example if I have a Poser figure that I want to use in Pov I export the
Poser file as a .obj file and then use a converter such as 3dwin  to convert
the mesh to Pov,s mesh2 format.  I can't really help much in suggesting Mac
programs that do the same job, perhaps someone else in the group can advise.

Gilles Tran has an excellent tutorial on his Web site:
http://www.oyonale.com

Mick

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Mick Hazelgrove wrote:

> Mesh 2 is usually used when you want to use uv mapping for texture. For
> example if I have a Poser figure that I want to use in Pov I export the
> Poser file as a .obj file and then use a converter such as 3dwin  to convert
> the mesh to Pov,s mesh2 format.  I can't really help much in suggesting Mac
> programs that do the same job, perhaps someone else in the group can advise.

Thanks for the information.

However, there are no such programs on the Mac. And it seems like overkill to
buy and learn how to use a PC, just to occationally be able to use this
feature, so there are no other solutions than to convert it manually.

In all practical aspects, this feature seems platform specific. It would have
been nice to be able to use Poser figures, but hopefully there will be a
solution for Mac users in version 4?

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Tom Stone wrote:

> However, there are no such programs on the Mac.
<snip> 
> In all practical aspects, this feature seems platform specific. It would have
> been nice to be able to use Poser figures, but hopefully there will be a
> solution for Mac users in version 4?

Actually it's more a case of people writing more utilities that support
POV-Ray under Windows than for Mac. If more Mac people would write the
utilities then it would not appear to be platform specific. You can't
fault POV-Ray because 3DWin and Poser aren't supported on a Mac.

-- 
Ken Tyler - POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group

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> > However, there are no such programs on the Mac.

There is a Mac version of Poser.

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Mick Hazelgrove wrote:
> 
> > > However, there are no such programs on the Mac.
> 
> There is a Mac version of Poser.

There you go. Now he just needs to talk a Mac programmer into making
a conversion utility and he will be all set.

-- 
Ken Tyler

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> Actually it's more a case of people writing more utilities that support
> POV-Ray under Windows than for Mac. If more Mac people would write the
> utilities then it would not appear to be platform specific. You can't
> fault POV-Ray because 3DWin and Poser aren't supported on a Mac.

Hello Ken,

No, I'm not blaming POV-Ray. It's a wonderful program which I love dearly.

But this format have always been reserved for PC's since it was created, before it
was included in 3.5.
And I don't think that the creator of 3DWin have any plans to port his software.

I have no problem with platform specific features in POV-Ray, as long as it is
mentioned in the documentation.
Quite the opposite actually. There are a few Mac-specific things that I would like
to see in the mac version, like for example the ability to use Truetype fonts (if
it is technically possible).

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Tom Stone wrote:
> 
> > Actually it's more a case of people writing more utilities that support
> > POV-Ray under Windows than for Mac. If more Mac people would write the
> > utilities then it would not appear to be platform specific. You can't
> > fault POV-Ray because 3DWin and Poser aren't supported on a Mac.
> 
> Hello Ken,
> 
> No, I'm not blaming POV-Ray. It's a wonderful program which I love dearly.
> 
> But this format have always been reserved for PC's since it was created, before it
> was included in 3.5.
> And I don't think that the creator of 3DWin have any plans to port his software.
> 
> I have no problem with platform specific features in POV-Ray, as long as it is
> mentioned in the documentation.

I think you are missing the point here. There is nothing about the mesh2
feature that restricts it to any one platform. The feature works the same
under the Mac OS as it does on any PC OS. If I were to email you a file
with the mesh2 syntax it would render exactly the same on your machine as
it does on my Windows machine. This means it is NOT platform specific and
saying so in the documentation would be misleading.

-- 
Ken Tyler - POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group

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Ken wrote:

> I think you are missing the point here. There is nothing about the mesh2
> feature that restricts it to any one platform.

I probably am missing the point, as I'm not a programmer.
So Mesh2 would have been included even if there were no converters on the PC-platform
either?


> If I were to email you a file
> with the mesh2 syntax it would render exactly the same on your machine as
> it does on my Windows machine.

Yes, I understand. What I'm commenting is that I must get a Windows machine like yours
to be able to use it, and that it would save a bit of frustration if that fact were
included in the documentation.

> This means it is NOT platform specific and
> saying so in the documentation would be misleading.

I guess that I'm a bit off when it comes to proper terminology. English isn't my first
language.
What I'm asking for is some kind of acknowledgement that Mac users can't use the Mesh2
format. As it is now, it looks like all users can use these new wonderful features.
Therefore one start to imagine what can be accomplished, start looking for a good
price
for Poser etc.

But after many, many hours searching through internet (your amazing link collection
was
the first place I looked at), the realization came slowly; there exist no practical
method for me to use this feature, except by cutting and pasting.
I could have been saved all those hours and fantasies with just a few words in the
documentation, like: "No converters exists for Mac". Then I could have accepted it,
forget it and just enjoy all the other features in this wonderful program.

I guess that I could try to write my own converter. I'm not a programmer, but I've
played a little with RealBasic.
Is there any pseudo code for a such converter anywhere? (I can't read C++)

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Tom Stone wrote:
> 
> Ken wrote:
> 
> > I think you are missing the point here. There is nothing about the mesh2
> > feature that restricts it to any one platform.
> 
> I probably am missing the point, as I'm not a programmer.
> So Mesh2 would have been included even if there were no converters on the
PC-platform
> either?

Yes.
 
> > If I were to email you a file
> > with the mesh2 syntax it would render exactly the same on your machine as
> > it does on my Windows machine.
> 
> Yes, I understand. What I'm commenting is that I must get a Windows machine like
yours
> to be able to use it, and that it would save a bit of frustration if that fact were
> included in the documentation.

I would guess that no one has created a conversion program for the Mac
yet because this is the first time that mesh2 has been offered in the
offical version of POV-Ray. It takes a while for people out in the
community to find out what is in the new version of the program and
develop outside utilities for those features.

-- 
Ken Tyler - POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group

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