----------------------------------------------------------------
Some features I would like to see
----------------------------------------------------------------

I use POV since v2 and I am always very happy to see it
progress. I am particulary pleased to see unified patterns
for everything. The new media feature is great. Macros and #local
are fantastic. But there is no end to evolution, so here is my
wish list, with carefully collected items. Some of them are nearly
cosmetic, others verge on the impossible.


Pure Pov Features (some hard, some easy):

* Syntax to access the existing POV engine root solvers (so I don't
  have to finish this root solving macro :) ). This would be
  great for interpolation and animations;

* Accept .ini options switch in .pov files (so that you can, e.g.,
  adapt different qualities or image formats with switch instructions),
  or pov declarations in .ini files ;

* Calculate images formats (+h and +w) automatically from up and right
  instruction, a Pixel_Ratio switch and either height, width or number
  of pixels ;

* Free a real spline object, declarable, reusable, and if 4d, usable
  for animation paths (by the way, aren't color_map & co some kind of
  spline ?);

* More animation support, e.g. .avi files output;

* Multispline surface generation;

* Add camera sensibility adjustement, with sensibility_map for
  non-linear reaction ; and eventually an auto-sensibilty setting.
  (see Photoshop's Levels command);

* Accentuated character support everywhere: declares, filenames,
  filepath;

* Why are irid_wavelength and number_of_waves global settings and not
  local ones ?

* Blobs: cones component and surface components (triangle would be
  favorite for a begining, with different strength for each vertex);
  also auto-joining option to remove joint swelling;

* Some additional functions (well, I macroed them anyway) :
  fractionnal part, sign, vector str, round to nearest integer and
  A^B notation in place of pow(A,B);

* A real though one (impossible would be a better description) :
  sound-tracing... urgh.



GUI Features:

* A rectangle selection tool to easily set start_row, start_collumn,...

* Searsh and replace in all project files (I mean all files in a
  directory);

* More shorcuts keys (ctrl-o, -shift-o, -w, -z, -shift-s ; ...);

* Please remove (or replace) this disgracefull wavy grayscale
  POV-Ray banner. (But the 3.1 toolbar buttons are much better,
  really good);

* Support for mouse wheel.


Documentation:

* Separate Tutorial(s) and Reference parts;

* The general index is usefull, but I think a
  partial index directing to important sections
  would be much better as a generic opening page.


I know this really is an awfull lot of work.
I want to thank you very much for POV-Ray,
which is really grreeat. Keep it going!


P.S. I had to use 3DSMAX2 - I prefer pov!

----------------------------------------------------------------
thank you  thank you  thank you  thank you  thank you  thank you
----------------------------------------------------------------

 THANK YOU FOR MAKING POV-RAY

 I USE IT ALL THE TIME


   Sincerely,

   Philippe



P.P.S. I am not a regular newsgroup user - if you reply to my
message, I am _very_ unlikely to see it. You can always email me at
phi### [at] hotmailcom

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In article <35cb2a04.0@news.povray.org> , "mdebar" <mic### [at] fundpacbe> wrote:

>----------------------------------------------------------------
>Some features I would like to see
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I use POV since v2 and I am always very happy to see it
>progress. I am particulary pleased to see unified patterns
>for everything. The new media feature is great. Macros and #local
>are fantastic. But there is no end to evolution, so here is my
>wish list, with carefully collected items. Some of them are nearly
>cosmetic, others verge on the impossible.
>
>
>Pure Pov Features (some hard, some easy):
>
>* Accept .ini options switch in .pov files (so that you can, e.g.,
>  adapt different qualities or image formats with switch instructions),
>  or pov declarations in .ini files ;

Please note that not all platforms use ini files directly. The Mac version does not
need them (but supports them), we have a very nice dialog to set *all* options, no
need for stoneage ini files ;-)

>* More animation support, e.g. .avi files output;

This is a good idea - however, avi is oudated and not (very) platform independent. But
again look at the Mac version: QuickTime Movie output, any kind of compression you
might want, from simple indeo to motion-jpeg, to mpeg (if you have an encoder) to
sorensen video high compression anything is available with QuickTime, and you can view
it on MacOS as well as WinDOS 95,98 and NT. And QuickTime is the future base for the
MPEG 4 standard.

>* Accentuated character support everywhere: declares, filenames,
>  filepath;

Well, this would force unicode source files...wouldn't it?

>GUI Features:
WinDOS GUI features :-)

>* A rectangle selection tool to easily set start_row, start_collumn,...

Look at the Mac version, we have got it!

>* Searsh and replace in all project files (I mean all files in a
>  directory);

Still missing in the Mac version :-(

>* More shorcuts keys (ctrl-o, -shift-o, -w, -z, -shift-s ; ...);

Nearly all menu commands are accessible via shortcuts. Windows can be controled by
them as well (scrolling the image, etc).

>  POV-Ray banner. (But the 3.1 toolbar buttons are much better,
>  really good);

:-( The Mac version has no toolbar yet...

>* Support for mouse wheel.

Personally I think its the most stupid invention Microsoft ever made!!!!!

>I know this really is an awfull lot of work.
>I want to thank you very much for POV-Ray,
>which is really grreeat. Keep it going!

:-)

>P.S. I had to use 3DSMAX2 - I prefer pov!

I hate WinDOS, I will *always* prefer my Mac! :-)


Thorsten

____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich
e-mail: Tho### [at] csicom

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In article <35cb2a04.0@news.povray.org>, mic### [at] fundpacbe says...
>

>
>P.S. I had to use 3DSMAX2 - I prefer pov!
>

You're my friend !  The truth finally comes up !

Fabien.

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Thorsten Froehlich wrote:
> 
> In article <35cb2a04.0@news.povray.org> , "mdebar" <mic### [at] fundpacbe> wrote:


> >* Accept .ini options switch in .pov files

... or allow setting of POV parameters in the .ini file.
This would allow POV source to be prepared with options for 
drafts and final renders beyond the options offered by
the quality setting.
---------------------------
> >* More animation support, e.g. .avi files output;

I suspect with the new GUI extension support, it will be possible
for third parties to produce such a function without perturbing
the core POV code.

---------------------------

> > (GUI stuff omitted)

The GUI is quite nicely done.  However, as there already exist good
programming
editors (EMACS on UNIX, GWD Edit ($20) on Windows), and an amazing quantity
of good image viewers, I think "keep it simple" is a good approach to follow
with GUI's.


Dan

-- 
http://www.flash.net/~djconnel/

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Thorsten Froehlich wrote:

> >* Support for mouse wheel.
>
> Personally I think its the most stupid invention Microsoft ever made!!!!!

You don't have to like it, the fact that others like it should be enough to create a
need for such support.
Personally I use it all the time since I find it the most useful feature they ever
invented (the only problem is they don't support it consistently yet).


> >P.S. I had to use 3DSMAX2 - I prefer pov!
>
> I hate WinDOS, I will *always* prefer my Mac! :-)


Why should you hate it if you do not use it ?
Why simply because Microsoft, which is a big monopoly and highly disliked for that and
their bad manners (I agree with these statements), well why should we spit on it ?
There are also some good things with Microsoft and I use them happily. One of the good
things is - because of the monopoly situation - wide access to many users with support
for only one platform (I know it does not help breaking the monopoly, but as a first
development
stage windows is the best bet).

Cheers,
Al.

--
ANTI SPAM / ANTI ARROSAGE COMMERCIAL :

To answer me, please take out the Z from my address.

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["mdebar" <mic### [at] fundpacbe>]
|   for animation paths (by the way, aren't color_map & co some kind of
|   spline ?);

More like a polyline. They use linear interpolation.

-- 
A penny for your thoughts.
Mine are more expensive.

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Fabien Mosen wrote:
1> 
1> In article <35cb2a04.0@news.povray.org>, mic### [at] fundpacbe
1says...
1> >
1> 
1> >
1> >P.S. I had to use 3DSMAX2 - I prefer pov!
1> >
1> 
1> You're my friend !  The truth finally comes up !
1> 
>

Although we all love pov here, you can't deny that 3dsMAX2 is a much
more powerful program. Its rendering is getting better all the time and
it has tons of features...maybe pov is easy to use.. but it's still a
hobbyist tool. I use it, and i accept things as they are.


 Fabien.

-- 
	====================  Sulfugor ============================
  remove "spamkiller" from sul### [at] aeispamkillerca
  Web den: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/3930/index.htm
  grafx  :
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/3930/grafx.htm              
   
	"The stars that saw the birth of our ancestors shall watch
	our descendant's last steps on Earth ..  " 
                                      -AT THE GATES(RIP)

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In article <35CB959B.CF90ED4D@bigfoot.com> , Alain CULOS <ZAl### [at] bigfootcom> 
wrote:
>Why should you hate it if you do not use it ?

I have to use it (at work) and I don't like it! I have found more bug in it then in
the MacOS also I use the MacOS for much more demanding (and dangerous = debugging)
tasks and WinDOS with MS Office mostly, e.g. try the following: Connect an Access
datbase with a Word document, now open the Word document with the database still open.
Word will try to open the database again and again and you end up (if you don't stop
it) with as many Access applications (not able to read the database because another
Access opened it) as you memeory, harddisk and processor will take. Who creates such a
stupid system (yes, it is causing the problem!) that tried to open the file over and
over again but never has the idea to check if it is already open!


Thorsten


____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich
e-mail: Tho### [at] csicom

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Do you really think this is the place for religious discusion?


Doug Partridge
~
~

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I think the mouse's wheel is the most excellent invention Microsoft has made
(hey, at least it works, which is more than I can say for some of their
products!).  I use it with 3D Studio MAX R2 all the time.  It saves a huge
amount of time.  You can even program it within MAX to do functions called
"Strokes".  You can zoom, pan, activate a viewport, start a rendering,
change an object's properties, add a modifier, activate the home grid, align
an object, toggle the animation mode, align two normals, constrain a
transformation to an axis, cycle selections, delete an object, start a
MAXScript, toggle the dual planes and the list goes on and on and on and
on...  I'm not trying to be bossy or anything, all I'm saying is that some
people have a use for it while others don't, and that's fair.

By the way, MAX's raytracer is SLOOOOWWWW!!!!!!!!  POV-Ray's is still the
best raytracer I've seen, and it's worth $5500 less!  So I'm not trying to
put down POV-Ray either (just thought I'd make that clear!).

--
Lance Birch
http://come.to/the.zone
Remove the smiley to e-mail.

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