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From: Chris Cason
Subject: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 17 Aug 2005 06:51:30
Message: <430316b2@news.povray.org>
POV-Ray 3.7.beta.8 is available from http://www.povray.org/beta/.

This beta is currently for the Windows platform only and includes standard,
SSE2, and 64-bit binaries.

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The following features are not supported but will be added prior to release
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  o Radiosity.
  o Dispersion.
  o Mosaic preview.
  o Light and vista buffers. These may replaced with a more efficient system.
  o Ability to choose block size allocated to threads.
  o Windows rerun dialog and statistics.
  o Redirecting text message output to files.

Known issues which will be fixed
--------------------------------

  o There is an issue with media and transparency. See
    <42769324$1@news.povray.org>.
  o The windows editor does not always detect new files as type 'povray'.
  o In many cases speed is not as good as 3.6.
  o Photon support is not yet completed.
  o There are some differences in the way gamma correction works.

Changes between 3.7.beta.7 and 3.7.beta.8
-----------------------------------------

AA buffering restored; AA should be as efficient as version 3.6 now.
Fixed major problem in crackle when using more than one thread.
Reverted to older version of Intel compiler to avoid some optimization bugs.
Added HDR file support (RGBE, as used in Radiance).
Added EXR file support using OpenEXR library (http://www.openexr.org/).
Fixed animation clock jump issue.

  HDR Support
  -----------

  As of this beta POV-Ray now supports two HDR formats for input and output.
  Firstly, .HDR files (as used in Radiance), and secondly, .EXR files (see
  www.openexr.org).

  The OpenEXR format is currently supported in basic form; no options can be
  set and we do not store any additional data such as a thumbnail or camera
  transform. We will add options later on. The EXR reading code should handle
  any valid EXR file, while the writing code currently only creates RGBA data
  in Half format.

  The EXR support is based on OpenEXR (http://www.openexr.org/) from ILM, who
  use it internally for all their film production. The format is flexible; we
  recommend anyone interested in HDR read the introduction that can be found
  at http://www.openexr.com/TechnicalIntroduction.pdf.

  Also at the above site you can obtain a HDR image viewer and a Photoshop
  plugin (Windows and Macintosh) that reads and writes EXR files.

  Please note that POV-Ray does not gamma-adjust the HDR or EXR files; they
  are stored with a gamma of 1.0. The OpenEXR viewer assumes a gamma of 2.2
  so the images will look washed out. The Photoshop plugin allows you to set
  the gamma to 1.0 on loading and thus will work as expected.

  To use HDR input, use file type 'hdr' in your SDL. To write a HDR file,
  specify '+fh'. For EXR use 'exr' and '+fe'.

Changes between 3.7.beta.6 and 3.7.beta.7
-----------------------------------------

New thread-safe random number generator added.
Continue trace support added. See below for details.
Animation support added.
Made render cancellation more responsive when large numbers of threads are
  in use.
Fixed most wrapping problems in windows message display.

  Continue Trace Support
  ----------------------

  The continue trace support has completely changed from the method used by
  past versions of POV-Ray. Previously, various means of attempting to detect
  the rendered and non-rendered portions of an output image file were used to
  determine where to resume rendering, and the pre-rendered portion of the
  image was read from the partially-written output file.

  As of POV 3.7, *no output file is written until the render is complete*.
  It is vital to remember this if you depended on having a partial image
  written for some reason other than POV's internal use. Instead of a image
  file, POV will (providing image file output is turned on) write a render
  state file, which has a name based on the output image file name. For
  example, if POV would write 'sphere.png' as the output file, the render
  state file would be called 'sphere.png.pov-state'.

  This render state file contains the raw floating-point image data that is
  generated by POV, including filter and transmit. It will later on also
  contain other information such as all render options, etc. The data itself
  is stored in an internal format that we may document at a later stage.

  If a render if sucessful, the render state file is deleted and the output
  file written. Note that this order will be changed (the state file should
  not be deleted until the image is written, in case the write fails). We may
  give the option of preserving the state file at some future point.

  If a render is started with the +C option (continue trace), POV will first
  check to see if the output image exists and is of non-zero length. If so
  the render will be skipped. Note that no attempt is (currently) made to
  sanity-check the file to ensure it is a valid image file or of appropriate
  format or size.

  If the output file does not exist, POV will then look for the render state
  file. If found it does a basic sanity check on it then loads the data in it
  and proceeds to render the unrendered portion of the image.

  It is very important to note that the data is stored in the state file in
  'blocks' (the same size as the render blocks that were used when the first
  part of the image was rendered). The size of render blocks can change if
  image resolution changes. Currently the continue code does NOT check for
  this and will simply load what is there. If the render size has changed
  sufficiently enough to change the block size when you run a continued trace
  it is almost guaranteed that you will not get what you expect.

Changes between 3.7.beta.5a and 3.7.beta.6
------------------------------------------

Fixed quadric bounding problem.
Fixed CSG merge problem.
Made numerous other changes to speed up code, should be closer to v3.6.1 now.

Changes between 3.7.beta.5 and 3.7.beta.5a
------------------------------------------

Fixed bug reported in <428de855@news.povray.org> re:sunsethf.pov.
Worked around SMP bug in trace related to lighting code altering lightsources
  during render.

Changes between 3.7.beta.4 and 3.7.beta.5
-----------------------------------------

Fixed a photon building issue that caused progressive slowdown.
Fixed scattering media problem reported in <427ca163@news.povray.org>.
  (This also fixes <427c0121@news.povray.org>).
Parser now honors Split_Unions and Remove_Bounds options.
Fixed lathe artifacts bug reported in <427c0f95@news.povray.org>.
Fixed no_image and no_reflection issues reported in
  <427c1900@news.povray.org>.
Fixed area light orient issue reported in <427c14ef@news.povray.org>.
Fixed issue where a new clip statement would overwrite a previous one rather
  than appending to it.
Fixed speed issue with quadrics by reverting to old bbox calculation method.
Fixed a swathe of memory leaks.

Changes between 3.7.beta.3 and 3.7.beta.4
-----------------------------------------

Fixed indexed PNG alpha problem reported in <42765ef3$1@news.povray.org>.
Fix area light problem reported in <427a3fa5$1@news.povray.org>.
Fixed crash during trace of lathe reported in <42796797@news.povray.org>.
Improved handling of cancel/pause render.
Fixed max_trace_level calculation and display (see
  <42769105@news.povray.org>).
Fixed image memory leak.
Fixed speed issues reported in <42769f6d@news.povray.org>.
Fixed shadow problem mentioned in <42769f6d@news.povray.org>.
Fixed sphere_sweep bug reported in <42773e51@news.povray.org>.
Fixed 'inverting pre-declared union' crash reported in
  <42769b59@news.povray.org>.
Fixed focal blur issue.
Fixed omnimax camera bug reported in <42775c1b$1@news.povray.org>, plus
  several other related camera issues.
Fixed facets pattern crash reported in <42773fab$1@news.povray.org>.

Changes between 3.7.beta.2 and 3.7.beta.3
-----------------------------------------

Partial render (start col/row etc) now works
Fixed CSG merge issue reported in <42645c3b@news.povray.org>.
Added warning and better progress reporting to photons.
Some hollow media fixes.
Re-enabled alpha display in render window for windows port.
Fixed alpha bug reported in <web.426402d627a031d914107e060@news.povray.org>
Fixed no_image bug from <web.426402d627a031d914107e060@news.povray.org>
Changed default bounding threshold back to 3 as per v3.6.
Fixed alpha inversion bug in BMP, Targa, and PNG file reading/writing.
Fixed crash mentioned in <42689685@news.povray.org>.
Fixed noise generator default issue reported in <426898db@news.povray.org>.
Fixed irid problem reported in <42680b39@news.povray.org>.
Fix for area light problem from Massimo Valentini.
Made quick_colour work as it should.

Changes between 3.7.beta.1 and 3.7.beta.2
-----------------------------------------

CSG should now work properly
Problem with too many recursions when rendering shadows fixed
I/O restrictions should now work
Fixed recursion bug in renderer
Initialise photon variables
Restore ability to open error file in editor (note: column number not always
  correct).
Fixes no-display crash
Fixes image closing bug
Tweak to some radiosity local vars
Fixes rendering area bug
Fixes AA method 2 brightness issue
Add output file type '+FB' (bmp).
Add 'bmp' token to parser.
Fix for BMP reading.
File output defaults to on.
Fix render quality options output.
Change references to 'CPU(s)' to 'thread(s)'.
Update render time output to include fractional seconds.
Fix crash reported in <4263125b@news.povray.org> and one related bug.

Intentional changes for POV-Ray 3.7
-----------------------------------

The version directive and command-line setting no longer provide compati-
bility  with most rendering bugs in versions prior to POV-Ray 3.5. However,
compatibility with the scene language is provided for scenes as old as POV-
Ray 1.0 just as in all previous versions of POV-Ray. Nevertheless, we
strongly recommend you update scenes at least to POV-Ray 3.5 syntax if you
plan to use them in future versions of POV-Ray.

This version uses multi-threaded rendering by default. The ability to render
in more than one thread is primarily of use to those users who have SMP
machines (i.e. more than one CPU). There have been reports of benefits for
users of hyperthreading systems, particularly with higher thread counts (e.g.
16 threads).

You can render in only one thread by using the '/THREADS 1' switch in the
Windows version. Note that parsing and photon building will only use one
thread no matter how many are specified. However photon scenes will benefit
from multiple threads once photon building has completed.


Post a reply to this message

From: Raf256
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 17 Aug 2005 07:10:48
Message: <bhibt2-rah.ln1@raf256.com>
Chris Cason <430316b2@news.povray.org> Wednesday 17 of August 2005 12:18

> This beta is currently for the Windows platform only and includes
> standard, SSE2, and 64-bit binaries.

Any chances for linux binaries or code of the beta versions?

-- 


Post a reply to this message

From: Nicolas Calimet
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 17 Aug 2005 09:17:27
Message: <430338e7$1@news.povray.org>
> Any chances for linux binaries or code of the beta versions?

	No, sorry.  Please read again Chris' answer about this matter here:

http://news.povray.org/povray.general/thread/%3C4278cb12%40news.povray.org%3E/

	- NC


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 17 Aug 2005 11:34:05
Message: <430358ed@news.povray.org>
When I use antialiasing method 2 with the sse2 version of beta.8,
it crashes. Method 1 works ok.

-- 
                                                          - Warp


Post a reply to this message

From: Chris Cason
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 18 Aug 2005 15:23:50
Message: <4304e046$1@news.povray.org>
Warp wrote:
>   When I use antialiasing method 2 with the sse2 version of beta.8,
> it crashes. Method 1 works ok.

fixed, thanks.

-- Chris


Post a reply to this message

From: Mike Raiford
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 22 Aug 2005 12:45:36
Message: <430a0130@news.povray.org>
Chris Cason wrote:
> Warp wrote:
> 
>>  When I use antialiasing method 2 with the sse2 version of beta.8,
>>it crashes. Method 1 works ok.
> 
> 
> fixed, thanks.
> 
> -- Chris

Don't know if this is related, but:

When attempting to render a scene with focal blur, POV-Ray crashes, even 
a super minimal scene:

camera {
     location <0,.5,-5>
     look_at 0
     blur_samples 5000
     aperture .02
}



-- 
~Mike

Things! Billions of them!


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From: Thorsten Froehlich
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 22 Aug 2005 13:02:44
Message: <430a0534$1@news.povray.org>
Mike Raiford wrote:
> Don't know if this is related, but:

Only if you happen to be using AA method 2.

	Thorsten


Post a reply to this message

From: Mike Raiford
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 22 Aug 2005 13:26:06
Message: <430a0aae$1@news.povray.org>
Thorsten Froehlich wrote:
> Mike Raiford wrote:
> 
>> Don't know if this is related, but:
> 
> 
> Only if you happen to be using AA method 2.
> 
>     Thorsten

This crash happens regardless the AA method. I was using method one 
initially, but just checked with no AA and still crashes.

-- 
~Mike

Things! Billions of them!


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From: gregjohn
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 22 Aug 2005 14:30:01
Message: <web.430a1945a50f64ba40d56c170@news.povray.org>
Chris Cason <nos### [at] deletethispovrayorg> wrote:
> POV-Ray 3.7.beta.8 is available from http://www.povray.org/beta/.
>

Is this process a hint that you're ultimately working on a truly GPL'able
version of povray?  Are yall progressively rewriting sections of code?

The reason I'm asking is that I've been doing some advocacy to get povray
included in some linux distros. I've already seen one case where someone
has misinterpreted the povray license.

The point is that if things are going to change "soon", meaning months
rather than years, I may just put my feet up.

----
Greg M. Johnson


Post a reply to this message

From: Thorsten Froehlich
Subject: Re: POV-Ray v3.7.beta.8 available.
Date: 22 Aug 2005 14:51:00
Message: <430a1e94$1@news.povray.org>
gregjohn wrote:
> Is this process a hint that you're ultimately working on a truly GPL'able
> version of povray?

At no point did the POV-Team ever publicly state that we would release a 
rewrite of POV-Ray under the GPL - to the contrary (search in the newsgroups 
yourself, please).  And there are no plans whatsoever to do anything like 
that for POV-Ray 3.7.  It has clearly been stated in the beta newsgroups 
what features POV-Ray 3.7 contains and it should be really clear that we 
will *not* be rewriting all of POV-Ray.  It has always been made clear that 
the version number of a fully rewritten version of POV-Ray will be 4.0 and 
not some "minor" version number change like 3.7 :-)

> The reason I'm asking is that I've been doing some advocacy to get povray
> included in some linux distros. I've already seen one case where someone
> has misinterpreted the povray license.

Then those who "misinterpreted" it clearly are unable (or unwilling?) to 
read or comprehend plain and simple English :-(  There is little one can do 
about such problems with a license written in English ;-)

	Thorsten


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