+---------------------------------------+
|       POV-Ray Matrix Calculator       |
|              Version 1.1              |
|                                       |
|  Copyright(C) 2000 by David Fontaine  |
+---------------------------------------+

PLEASE READ THE FILE LICENSE.TXT BEFORE
USING.


FEATURES:
- Standard translate, scale, and rotate
  transforms
- Shearing
- Arbitrary axis rotation and scaling
- Linear matrix transforms
- Cut and paste code to and from POV-Ray
- Undo and Redo up to 50 levels
- Floating-point roundoff correction


FOR A DESCRIPTION OF ANY OF THE BUTTONS
AND THEIR FUNCTION, PAUSE THE MOUSE OVER
THE BUTTON TO RECIEVE A TOOLTIP.


LEGAL DATA FORMAT:
When entering data in the dialog boxes,
entries must be in the following format:
     [-]n[.n][e[-]n]
  - The case of the 'e' in scientific
    notation does not matter.
  - Multiple negatives -will- be read
    properly.
  - Any characters other than numbers,
    '.', '-', 'E' or 'e' will be skipped.
    This allows for comma separators.
    Multiple decimals or e's are invalid.


COPY AND PASTE FORMAT:
To copy a matrix into POV, just hit the
copy button and POV code is placed on the
clipboard.
When pasting, just highlight the matrix in
POV and copy it. THE FIRST CHARACTER IN
THE CLIPBOARD MUST BE THE "m" OF "matrix"
FOR THE PROGRAM TO BE ABLE TO READ IT.

--
David Fontaine   <dav### [at] faricynet>   ICQ 55354965
Please visit my website:  http://davidf.faricy.net/

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Just one question:
  What's the difference between making a series of rotations, scales and
translates in your program or in povray?

  Well, parsing a matrix may take a couple of milliseconds less than parsing
10 transformations, but does that matter?

  Note: I'm not saying that your program is not good. It sounds like fun.

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

Post a reply to this message

Warp wrote:
> 
>   Just one question:
>   What's the difference between making a series of rotations, scales and
> translates in your program or in povray?
> 
>   Well, parsing a matrix may take a couple of milliseconds less than parsing
> 10 transformations, but does that matter?

I've yet to use the calculator, but I think it could have, at least,
a pedagogic purpose for those who wants to understand matrices.

Fabien.

Post a reply to this message

Warp wrote:

>   Just one question:
>   What's the difference between making a series of rotations, scales and
> translates in your program or in povray?

Shearing is the best use of matrices I think. To do it with normal tranforms
takes some trig. But it also writes more compact code if for some reason you
want something like
object { ... translate ... scale ... rotate ... translate ... }
(maybe you want to an object to be scaled and rotated about a point other than
the origin and then move it into place...)
Of course, version 1.0 was next to useless without the paste-to-POV ability. :-/

And yes, I have used shearing on several occasions.

>   Well, parsing a matrix may take a couple of milliseconds less than parsing
> 10 transformations, but does that matter?

No.

>   Note: I'm not saying that your program is not good. It sounds like fun.

Hmm, my main purpose in writing it was to familiarize myself with VB...

--
David Fontaine   <dav### [at] faricynet>   ICQ 55354965
Please visit my website:  http://davidf.faricy.net/

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> And yes, I have used shearing on several occasions.

Me too, see the image in p.b.i
:-)

Post a reply to this message

David Fontaine <dav### [at] faricynet> wrote:
: Shearing is the best use of matrices I think.

  How do you make shearing in your program that is easier to use than using
a matrix transformation in povray?

: To do it with normal tranforms
: takes some trig.

  Yes, but you can use a matrix as well.

: But it also writes more compact code if for some reason you
: want something like
: object { ... translate ... scale ... rotate ... translate ... }

  What's the advantage of the compact code?
  A matrix transformation is a lot harder to read and understand than a series
of other transformations.
  And besides, you'll probably want to modify some of those transformations.
In matrix form that's pretty complicated.

: (maybe you want to an object to be scaled and rotated about a point other than
: the origin and then move it into place...)

  I don't see the problem here.

translate -LocalOrigin
transformations
translate LocalOrigin

  And that's a lot easier to read and understand than a matrix transformation.

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

Post a reply to this message

David Fontaine wrote in message <39A1A722.156763F1@faricy.net>...
>THEN DON'T USE IT!!!

OK, I WON'T!!!

Seriously, I love little VB programs (it was my 'first' language).

Maybe you could include a sample .pov file to demonstrate,
for those of us who are 'matrix challenged'.

Keep up the good work,

Peter Warren
Proud Povray user since 1996

Post a reply to this message

Peter Warren wrote:

> Seriously, I love little VB programs (it was my 'first' language).

My first was QBasic, but any form of Basic is nice and intuitive,
high-level, and doesn't bother the user with dynamic memory
considerations. For serious programming I use C (I've still to learn
much C++), but this is a small app and is hardly CPU or memory
intensive. Of course C and C++ are not that great when it comes to
pointers; it is theoretically possible to make a language that
automatically handles all of that...

> Maybe you could include a sample .pov file to demonstrate,
> for those of us who are 'matrix challenged'.

Hmm, I wouldn't really know what to put in it, it seems that the
calculator itself is fairly explanatory that a matrix simply stores
whatever object tranformations you want. Anyone who wants an explanation
of the matrix' functionality can visit my own or VanSickle's page.

> Keep up the good work,

Major thankies!

--
David Fontaine   <dav### [at] faricynet>   ICQ 55354965
Please visit my website:  http://davidf.faricy.net/

Post a reply to this message

Sorry if I was being callous, but it seems to me that if someone saw
benefits to not using it, logically they would not use it, and it is
more a matter of personal preference what someone would do.

--
David Fontaine   <dav### [at] faricynet>   ICQ 55354965
Please visit my website:  http://davidf.faricy.net/

Post a reply to this message

I apologize if I sounded a bit rude.
  My intention was not to underestimate your work nor diminish the value
of your program.
  The problem is mainly that I'm a bit too perfectionist. When someone
announces a new utility, patch, include file or whatever, I always ask
to myself:

  - What is the purpose of this new utility? What is it made for?
  - What does this new utility do that may be useful to me?
  - Does it do something not possible or very hard to do with the existing
    tools?

  If I can't find any satisfactory answer to any of those questions, I begin
to ask why this utility has been done. Does it serve any practical purpose
or is it just made for fun, but without any real use for people?

  When someone announces a new utility I like sincerity in the announcement.
That is, if what the programs does can be made easily with existing tools,
it would be nice if that was mentioned.

  Again, I apologize if I offended you in any way.

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

Post a reply to this message