Are there any plans for a P3-optimised compile of POV-Ray?

Or, even better, can POV-Ray make use of the new P3 instructions (I
suppose it can, because they're supposed to accelerate 3d computations).

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I think the 3D features you mention are intended for games etc etc, POVray
is hardly going to benift for faster triangle processing.

Rick

Jurica Lovakovic <jur### [at] gmxnet> wrote in message
news:3778BA8E.7F2BE79E@gmx.net...
> Are there any plans for a P3-optimised compile of POV-Ray?
>
> Or, even better, can POV-Ray make use of the new P3 instructions (I
> suppose it can, because they're supposed to accelerate 3d computations).

Post a reply to this message

Jurica Lovakovic <jur### [at] gmxnet> wrote:
: Are there any plans for a P3-optimised compile of POV-Ray?

: Or, even better, can POV-Ray make use of the new P3 instructions (I
: suppose it can, because they're supposed to accelerate 3d computations).

  You are completely free to make your own P3-optimized compile.
  There even might be some compilers to do that...

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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Jurica Lovakovic wrote:

> Are there any plans for a P3-optimised compile of POV-Ray?

> Or, even better, can POV-Ray make use of the new P3 instructions (I
> suppose it can, because they're supposed to accelerate 3d computations).

	That is game 3D. It has nothing to do with rendering 3D. They
increase the speed of manipulating pre-rendered objects in games.
Things like POV-Ray should work faster on RISC machines but I am
unaware of a comparison tests on them. 

-- 
<blink>-------please--don't-----------------</blink>

http://www.giwersworld.org/artsii/

Finally up on 99/06/22 updated 06/28

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Matt Giwer wrote:
> Jurica Lovakovic wrote:
>
> > Are there any plans for a P3-optimised compile of POV-Ray?
>
> > Or, even better, can POV-Ray make use of the new P3 instructions (I
> > suppose it can, because they're supposed to accelerate 3d computations).
>
> That is game 3D. It has nothing to do with rendering 3D. They
> increase the speed of manipulating pre-rendered objects in games.
> Things like POV-Ray should work faster on RISC machines but I am
> unaware of a comparison tests on them.
The basic 3D operations are the same, like matris and vector operations.
And if I  remember right the p3 have instructions just for those kind of
operations. But to use them would require a rewrite of the matris and vector
code used in povray, i't can't be done by just setting the compilator to
'P3 optimize'. Anyway, to rewrite the code shouldn't be too hard but I don't
think the speed increase would be very big.

/Anders

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On Wed, 30 Jun 1999 11:46:13 +0200, Anders Haglund wrote:
>
>Matt Giwer wrote:
>> Jurica Lovakovic wrote:
>>
>> > Are there any plans for a P3-optimised compile of POV-Ray?
>>
>> > Or, even better, can POV-Ray make use of the new P3 instructions (I
>> > suppose it can, because they're supposed to accelerate 3d computations).
>>
>> That is game 3D. It has nothing to do with rendering 3D. They
>> increase the speed of manipulating pre-rendered objects in games.
>> Things like POV-Ray should work faster on RISC machines but I am
>> unaware of a comparison tests on them.
>The basic 3D operations are the same, like matris and vector operations.
>And if I  remember right the p3 have instructions just for those kind of
>operations. But to use them would require a rewrite of the matris and vector
>code used in povray, i't can't be done by just setting the compilator to
>'P3 optimize'. Anyway, to rewrite the code shouldn't be too hard but I don't
>think the speed increase would be very big.

Unfortunately, as with 3DNow! before it, the SSE instruction set is 
single-precision only.  Most of the math in POV is double-precision, 
and with good reason.


Chapter 9)

   9.1. OVERVIEW OF THE STREAMING SIMD EXTENSIONS

   The Streaming SIMD Extensions introduce new, general-purpose, floating-point 
   instructions, that operate on a new set of eight 128-bit SIMD floating-point 
   registers. This set enables the programmer to develop algorithms that can 
   finely-mix packed, single-precision, floating-point and integer using both 
   Streaming SIMD Extensions and MMX instructions respectively.

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On 30 Jun 1999 10:52:09 -0400, par### [at] fwicom (Ron Parker) wrote:
>

>Chapter 9)
>
>   9.1. OVERVIEW OF THE STREAMING SIMD EXTENSIONS
>
>   The Streaming SIMD Extensions introduce new, general-purpose, floating-point 
>   instructions, that operate on a new set of eight 128-bit SIMD floating-point 
>   registers. This set enables the programmer to develop algorithms that can 
>   finely-mix packed, single-precision, floating-point and integer using both 
>   Streaming SIMD Extensions and MMX instructions respectively.

I'm impressed by all these technical quotes you have been using
recently. (There was one about the Microsoft compiler as well.) Tell
me one thing, do you have all these memorized?   :)

Later,
Glen

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On Wed, 30 Jun 1999 21:27:26 GMT, Glen Berry wrote:
>I'm impressed by all these technical quotes you have been using
>recently. (There was one about the Microsoft compiler as well.) Tell
>me one thing, do you have all these memorized?   :)

No, just good references.  I have the Intel Developers' Insight website on 
3 CDs, including all of the tech ref books.  Absolutely free from Intel, they 
even pay the shipping.  Get yours today.

The VC6 quote came from the readme in the service pack, which is ensconced on 
the network fileserver here.

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On 30 Jun 1999 17:44:35 -0400, par### [at] fwicom (Ron Parker) wrote:

>No, just good references.  I have the Intel Developers' Insight website on 
>3 CDs, including all of the tech ref books.  Absolutely free from Intel, they 
>even pay the shipping.  Get yours today.

I have a few older copies of those CDs myself. They *are* packed with
helpful information. I've heard that Intel will even ship some of its
documentation in book form, free of charge. I haven't tried that yet,
but I probably will in the near future. Paper documentation still has
some advantages over CD-ROM.

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Glen Berry wrote:
> 
> On 30 Jun 1999 17:44:35 -0400, par### [at] fwicom (Ron Parker) wrote:
> 
> >No, just good references.  I have the Intel Developers' Insight website on
> >3 CDs, including all of the tech ref books.  Absolutely free from Intel, they
> >even pay the shipping.  Get yours today.
> 
> I have a few older copies of those CDs myself. They *are* packed with
> helpful information. I've heard that Intel will even ship some of its
> documentation in book form, free of charge. I haven't tried that yet,
> but I probably will in the near future. Paper documentation still has
> some advantages over CD-ROM.

  Most IC manufacturers will provide free literature, cross reference
guides, and data books to engineers upon request. My bookshelves and
for that matter my desk top are buried by them.  Many also provide
free application notes for specific IC's usualy obtainable online or
through faxback systems. If you really wanted to see the architecture
and application data for the P-III they probably have the data online
somewhere. See my bookmarks for links to companies that provide this
data free of charge such as Motorola and National Technologies.

Note: I have never personaly obtained free data from Intel and their
      policies may differ from my own experience with other reputable
      IC and component manufacturers.

-- 
Ken Tyler

mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net

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