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From: Bill DeWitt
Subject: SuperPatch: Is it for me?
Date: 20 Jun 1999 11:02:52
Message: <376d029c@news.povray.org>
I am wondering since after 5 years of playing with POV I still feel like
I haven't gotten 1/10 of what is already in POV standard. Although I am a
person of phenomenal intellectual ability, I am not quite as smart as the
average POV Bear, and the worst of my failings are in Math.

    Is there some subjective but overwhelming reason for using this? Because
if it's more to learn, just for a few more features, I already have some
features I could use if I had the time to learn them.


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From: Jon A  Cruz
Subject: Re: SuperPatch: Is it for me?
Date: 20 Jun 1999 14:38:50
Message: <376D3545.4EB7DB27@geocities.com>
Bill DeWitt wrote:

>     I am wondering since after 5 years of playing with POV I still feel like
> I haven't gotten 1/10 of what is already in POV standard. Although I am a
> person of phenomenal intellectual ability, I am not quite as smart as the
> average POV Bear, and the worst of my failings are in Math.
>
>     Is there some subjective but overwhelming reason for using this? Because
> if it's more to learn, just for a few more features, I already have some
> features I could use if I had the time to learn them.

Ummm... It lets you get at more than the first 128 characters in your fonts.

(That's a very minor thing in the scope of the SuperPatch, but may have
application for actual use)


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From: Margus Ramst
Subject: Re: SuperPatch: Is it for me?
Date: 20 Jun 1999 17:52:19
Message: <376D61F5.A77B8FB3@peak.edu.ee>
Bill DeWitt wrote:
> 
>     I am wondering since after 5 years of playing with POV I still feel like
> I haven't gotten 1/10 of what is already in POV standard. Although I am a
> person of phenomenal intellectual ability, I am not quite as smart as the
> average POV Bear, and the worst of my failings are in Math.
> 
>     Is there some subjective but overwhelming reason for using this? Because
> if it's more to learn, just for a few more features, I already have some
> features I could use if I had the time to learn them.

I firmly believe anything more complex than trigonometry should hurt the
healthy human brain. If you can go beyond integral calculus, there is
reason for alarm :)
But while math is a big part of the Superpatch, it's not exclusive.
There is much for the mathematically impaired. My favourite features are
the "interactive" keywords - trace, min_extent and max_extent. These are
unique because they allow you to retrieve information from the scene -
the size of an object, the coordinates of a point at the object's
surface etc. These functions are very easy to learn and have endless
possibilities.
Many other features are equally easy to learn. Some are not. Isosurfaces
still give me uncontrollable fits of anger.

Anyway, I suggest you try it out. You lose nothing in the process.

Margus


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From: Bill DeWitt
Subject: Re: SuperPatch: Is it for me?
Date: 21 Jun 1999 14:06:13
Message: <376e7f15@news.povray.org>
Jon A. Cruz <jon### [at] geocitiescom> wrote in message
news:376D3545.4EB7DB27@geocities.com...
>
> Ummm... It lets you get at more than the first 128 characters in your
fonts.
>
> (That's a very minor thing in the scope of the SuperPatch, but may have
> application for actual use)
>

    Well, maybe there -are- some features I would use...  I don't understand
SOR or matrix, but 'more characters'... I  can grasp that...


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From: Bill DeWitt
Subject: Re: SuperPatch: Is it for me?
Date: 21 Jun 1999 14:12:33
Message: <376e8091@news.povray.org>
Margus Ramst <mar### [at] peakeduee> wrote in message
news:376D61F5.A77B8FB3@peak.edu.ee...
>
> Anyway, I suggest you try it out. You lose nothing in the process.
>

    The last time I tried a patch (the Isosurface from about a year or more
ago), I never used the features and it kept crashing. Does the SuperPatch
have any problems I should be aware of? I seem to recall a few in the last
version that convinced me to wait, but if the POV3.1e version is ready,
maybe those problems are fixed.

    Oh well, if worse comes to worst I can always re-install the standard
POV. That surface detect sounds a lot like collision detection and I have an
Insect.inc that could use it.

    Thanks for your input.


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From: Ken
Subject: Re: SuperPatch: Is it for me?
Date: 21 Jun 1999 14:23:55
Message: <376E82D7.4DA5E3E1@pacbell.net>
Bill DeWitt wrote:

>     Well, maybe there -are- some features I would use...  I don't understand
> SOR or matrix, but 'more characters'... I  can grasp that...

Bill,

  SOR's are very easy to understand. To understand them picture yourself
holding a piece of string between your two hands. Give it some slack and
start spinning it. The outline it produces is a SOR object. In pov you
draw the string with a set of 2D coordinates and the program draws the
lines between them and takes care of spinning it for you to create a 3D
object.
  Defining the 2D points takes a little practice but does not require
any heavy math. It requires more a sense of defining locations in space
than math. The program offers different "spline" types to help you get
smoother curves without having to define a lot of individual points to
achieve the same results.

  The Matrix on the other hand is very heady stuff which go beyond my
own comprehension even after reading several explanations of it. Matrix
equations are taught in advanced math classes so if basic algebra
is your speed then you might not get it either. Don't feel you are a
minority in this regard because you are not. At least with me around
anyway.

-- 
Ken Tyler

mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net


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From: Jeff Lee
Subject: Re: SuperPatch: Is it for me?
Date: 21 Jun 1999 14:30:37
Message: <376e84cd@news.povray.org>
"Jon A. Cruz" <jon### [at] geocitiescom> wrote:
> Bill DeWitt wrote:
>>
>>     Is there some subjective but overwhelming reason for using this?
>
> Ummm... It lets you get at more than the first 128 characters in your fonts.

What do you mean?  I've been using high-bit characters under unmodified
POV-Ray with no problem (except having to use different versions of the
text objects when rendering the same scene under both OS/2 and Windows,
since they use different codepages).


-- 
Jeff Lee         shi### [at] gatenet         http://www.gate.net/~shipbrk/


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From: Ron Parker
Subject: Re: SuperPatch: Is it for me?
Date: 21 Jun 1999 15:14:14
Message: <376e8f06@news.povray.org>
On Mon, 21 Jun 1999 14:12:31 -0400, Bill DeWitt wrote:
>    Oh well, if worse comes to worst I can always re-install the standard
>POV. 

No need.  The superpatch doesn't replace the official version; they can 
both work on the same system.


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From: Steven Jones
Subject: Re: SuperPatch
Date: 22 Jun 1999 04:41:55
Message: <376F4C4F.D5CC098D@tsn.cc>
Does the superpatch have UVPov's photon features?


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From: Ron Parker
Subject: Re: SuperPatch
Date: 22 Jun 1999 09:16:44
Message: <376f8cbc@news.povray.org>
On Tue, 22 Jun 1999 18:41:51 +1000, Steven Jones wrote:
>Does the superpatch have UVPov's photon features?

Not yet.  Nathan's working on putting them together, though.
It's probably a lot of work, especially with the light groups
stuff.


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