A while back ago; I saw a post (webpage?) I don't really remember where I
saw it, but it was dealing with the level of detail in a scene.  It showed
how to set switches and things like that to control speed of rendering.
Like by changing your detail level you can render your glass objects with a
white pigment, instead, or instead of a complex include file to create a
detailed bike wheel you could use a torus and cylinder instead to save
rendering time while you're working on other details.  Does anyone remember
this post, or where this post is?



Mike Metheny
lon### [at] vtedu
http://loneshepherd.ml.org/

"When one's words are no better than silence, one should keep silent."

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Pov provides built-in test parameters : see "quick color" and "quality
settings" in the pov help for detail.
However, these settings don't simplify the objects themselves, only the
textures (color, reflection etc.) and shadowing.

When working with a big scene involving 1000s of objects, it's a good practice
to create a "test" structure, where complex objects have simple "dummy"
counterparts.

#declare MyObject=union{lots of things here}
//#declare MyObject=box{0,1}
The second "dummy" object (or texture, light_source, media, whatever in fact)
will be commented off for tests.

This is particularly helpful with meshes that take long to parse. If you have
to possibility to have both hi-res and a low-res mesh (like in Rhino or Poser),
you can use the low-res one for tests.

This system can be more sophisticated by creating a Test variable :
#declare Test=0;
...
#if (Test=0)
    #declare MyObject1=union{lots of things here}
    #declare MyObject2=union{lots of things here}
#else
    #declare MyObject1=box{0,1}
    #declare MyObject2=box{0,1}
#end

One last useful trick is to parametrise objects as much as possible. For
instance:
#declare N=100000;
//#declare N=10; (to be commented off for tests)
#declare MyObject=union{
    #while (Count<N)
        ... repeat...
        #declare Count=Count+1;
    #end
}

I hope this helps

Gilles Tran
The Book of Beginnings - Povray Gallery
http://www.mediaport.net/Artichaud/Tran/gtran.en.html

Mike Metheny wrote:

> A while back ago; I saw a post (webpage?) I don't really remember where I
> saw it, but it was dealing with the level of detail in a scene.  It showed
> how to set switches and things like that to control speed of rendering.
> Like by changing your detail level you can render your glass objects with a
> white pigment, instead, or instead of a complex include file to create a
> detailed bike wheel you could use a torus and cylinder instead to save
> rendering time while you're working on other details.  Does anyone remember
> this post, or where this post is?
>
> Mike Metheny
> lon### [at] vtedu
> http://loneshepherd.ml.org/
>
> "When one's words are no better than silence, one should keep silent."

Post a reply to this message