I am a newbie with what is probably a really stupid question. I would like
to make a text object spin in place. The way I have it written, though, it
disappears after my first frame never to reappear. Could someone enlighten
me?

The following is the relevant part of my file =====

text
{
  ttf          // font type (only TrueType format for now)
  "c:\windows\fonts\verdanab.ttf",  // Microsoft Windows-format TrueType
font file name
  "Hello",   // the string to create
  .75,           // the extrusion depth
  0            // offset
pigment {color Red} finish {metallic brilliance 1 refraction 1} scale .35
translate -.75*x translate 4*y translate -145*z
rotate 0*y
rotate <0,360*clock,0> }


==== Thanks in advance!

Richard Oliver

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James RIchard Oliver wrote:
> 
> I am a newbie with what is probably a really stupid question. I would like
> to make a text object spin in place. The way I have it written, though, it
> disappears after my first frame never to reappear. Could someone enlighten
> me?
> 
> The following is the relevant part of my file =====
> 
> text
> {
>   ttf          // font type (only TrueType format for now)
>   "c:\windows\fonts\verdanab.ttf",  // Microsoft Windows-format TrueType
> font file name
>   "Hello",   // the string to create
>   .75,           // the extrusion depth
>   0            // offset
> pigment {color Red} finish {metallic brilliance 1 refraction 1} scale .35
> translate -.75*x translate 4*y translate -145*z
> rotate 0*y
> rotate <0,360*clock,0> }

For starters, rotate 0*y and refraction 1 are doing you no good. 
Instead of refraction 1, you may want reflection 1 (to turn the object
into a mirror).  Refraction has no effect if the color contains no
transparency.  What does your camera statement look like?  If you are
using standard POV orientation, translate -145*z may be putting the
object behind the camera unless it is really far back.  The real cause
of your problem, in all likelihood, is that you are doing
transformations in the wrong order.  Unless you know what you are doing
and want to move an object, the best order is scale, rotate, translate.
Rotate rotates the object about the point <0,0,0>.  If the object is not
centered at that point, it doesn't spin in place as you want, it
*orbits*.  With that large translation, even if your camera is well
back, even a small rotation may be taking the object out of view. 
Guessing that translate -.75*x is intended to center the text, the
sequence of transformations you probably want is:

scale .35
translate -.75*x
translate 4*y // since you are rotating around y, this is ok.
rotate <0, 360*clock, 0>
translate -145*x

If this doesn't solve the problem write me or repost and include info on
the location of lights and camera or, preferably, the whole file.

Jerry Anning
cle### [at] dholcom

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Jerry Anning wrote:

> scale .35
> translate -.75*x
> translate 4*y // since you are rotating around y, this is ok.
> rotate <0, 360*clock, 0>
> translate -145*x

Oops! Typo!  That should have been:

scale .35
translate 4*y
rotate <0, 360*clock, 0>
translate -145*z // <--z instead of x

Jerry Anning
cle### [at] dholcom

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Jerry Anning wrote:

> Oops! Typo!  That should have been:
> 
> scale .35
> translate 4*y
> rotate <0, 360*clock, 0>
> translate -145*z // <--z instead of x

Did it again!  Try:

scale .35
translate -.75*x // <-- left this out last time
translate 4*y
rotate <0, 360*clock, 0>
translate -145*z

Jerry Anning
cle### [at] dholcom

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