As a new user I have come to the conclusion that most of these tutorials in POV
are either non-existent (website not found) or very out of date. The best
tutorial I have found is at
http://library.thinkquest.org/3285/tutorial/simple.html and it is dated 1996.
That is pretty bad...
Just thought I'd bring this up so that someone out there in POV world can maybe
update a new tutorial guide for those who are newbies. Thank you for your time
and patience :)

~lace~

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"Lace" <lab### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message 
news:web.494084913a7369278b8ae7fd0@news.povray.org...
> As a new user I have come to the conclusion that most of these tutorials 
> in POV
> are either non-existent (website not found) or very out of date. The best
> tutorial I have found is at
> http://library.thinkquest.org/3285/tutorial/simple.html and it is dated 
> 1996.
> That is pretty bad...
> Just thought I'd bring this up so that someone out there in POV world can 
> maybe
> update a new tutorial guide for those who are newbies. Thank you for your 
> time
> and patience :)

Even the tutorial that comes bundled with help that's included in the 
distribution?

Jim

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"Lace" <lab### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message 
news:web.494084913a7369278b8ae7fd0@news.povray.org...
> As a new user I have come to the conclusion that most of these tutorials 
> in POV
> are either non-existent (website not found) or very out of date. The best
> tutorial I have found is at
> http://library.thinkquest.org/3285/tutorial/simple.html and it is dated 
> 1996.
> That is pretty bad...
> Just thought I'd bring this up so that someone out there in POV world can 
> maybe
> update a new tutorial guide for those who are newbies. Thank you for your 
> time
> and patience :)
>
> ~lace~

I'm reading a little between the lines here, but are you maybe talking about 
the 3D Tutorials section of the links collection on povray.org? Or do you 
mean you're Googling?

The tutorial you've linked to above seems ok. Even though it's old I took a 
quick look through it and I couldn't spot anything at that sort of very 
basic level that's really changed. Once you understand the general concepts 
there are quite a few different directions you can take. Are you looking for 
anything specific?

There is a Wiki that's supposed to deal with POV-Ray specific tutorials and 
how-tos, but at the moment it's still showing as being down till further 
notice. Although it didn't have much on it yet, it did have a page on how to 
use basic language contructs, such as loops and the switch statement. It 
also had a page on animation covering stuff I've not seen elsewhere.

Regards,
Chris B.

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"Lace" <lab### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> As a new user I have come to the conclusion that most of these tutorials in POV
> are either non-existent (website not found) or very out of date. The best
> tutorial I have found is at
> http://library.thinkquest.org/3285/tutorial/simple.html and it is dated 1996.
> That is pretty bad...
> Just thought I'd bring this up so that someone out there in POV world can maybe
> update a new tutorial guide for those who are newbies. Thank you for your time
> and patience :)
>
> ~lace~

While the wiki is temporarily down, I think that will ultimately be the best
resource for povray tutorials.  As a newer user, you can be especially helpful
in this by listing things that you found difficult or wish had been explained
better.  I believe, either on one of the talk pages or elsewhere, there is
space set aside for requesting a articles.  Even if your list is just a few
quick notes here or there, it can be very helpful to have them listed as what
should be written about.

-Reactor

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Thank you very much for the responses; first of all the POV-RAY FAQ's are last
dated 2004 and even though the version hasn't changed much, I'm sure that new
users who wish to learn would find this challenging.

In the 1996 tutorial that I am learning from (above link of course) there are a
few minor problems that don't go with the version 3.6 I'm only on the first
page of the tutorial due to the busy schedule at home :) But I will include
them:

***A rotation is a transformation that changes the orientation of an object (the
way that it's facing). Rotations are the most complex of the transformations.
They are specified to POV-Ray by the string rotation <x,y,z>, where x, y, and z
are the number of degrees (not radians) around the respective axis. Consider the
original cube up above. A rotation of <0,0,45> rotates the cube 45 degrees
around the z axis***

(me here, I couldn't get my square to turn on it's axis, I got it to move but
not spin like the picture)

***torus {
  3, 11
  pigment { color Yellow }
  scale <1.5,1,1>
  rotate <-45,0,0>
  translate <0,2,0>
}

This code makes a yellow torus, slightly widened around the x axis, rotated -45
degrees around the x axis and with its center at <0,2,0>***

(me here, my torus wasn't lopsided it was more of a fat perfect doughnut shape
and I couldn't get it to do anything but sit in the middle ~sigh~)
______________________________________________________________________________

With the rest of it on that page of the tutorial I have completely mastered with
a bit of help from a good POV friend and insomnia. I really want to learn, I'm
not one to give up so easily :)

Post a reply to this message

"Lace" <lab### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> Thank you very much for the responses; first of all the POV-RAY FAQ's are last
> dated 2004 and even though the version hasn't changed much, I'm sure that new
> users who wish to learn would find this challenging.
>
> In the 1996 tutorial that I am learning from (above link of course) there are a
> few minor problems that don't go with the version 3.6 I'm only on the first
> page of the tutorial due to the busy schedule at home :) But I will include
> them:
>
> ***A rotation is a transformation that changes the orientation of an object (the
> way that it's facing). Rotations are the most complex of the transformations.
> They are specified to POV-Ray by the string rotation <x,y,z>, where x, y, and z
> are the number of degrees (not radians) around the respective axis. Consider the
> original cube up above. A rotation of <0,0,45> rotates the cube 45 degrees
> around the z axis***
>
> (me here, I couldn't get my square to turn on it's axis, I got it to move but
> not spin like the picture)
>
> ***torus {
>   3, 11
>   pigment { color Yellow }
>   scale <1.5,1,1>
>   rotate <-45,0,0>
>   translate <0,2,0>
> }
>
> This code makes a yellow torus, slightly widened around the x axis, rotated -45
> degrees around the x axis and with its center at <0,2,0>***
>
> (me here, my torus wasn't lopsided it was more of a fat perfect doughnut shape
> and I couldn't get it to do anything but sit in the middle ~sigh~)
> ______________________________________________________________________________
>
> With the rest of it on that page of the tutorial I have completely mastered with
> a bit of help from a good POV friend and insomnia. I really want to learn, I'm
> not one to give up so easily :)


Was your code completely identical to the doc's code?  I ask because the order
of transformations is significant - applying the same transformations in a
different order *will not* yield the same result.  Rotations occur around the
'universe' axes, not ones local to the shape.  For this reason, I find it
helpful to create an object around the origin, rotate it appropriately, then
translate it into place.

Also, could you post the relevant code (particularly your camera setup if your
code was identical to the above).

-Reactor

Post a reply to this message

>
>
> Was your code completely identical to the doc's code?  I ask because the order
> of transformations is significant - applying the same transformations in a
> different order *will not* yield the same result.  Rotations occur around the
> 'universe' axes, not ones local to the shape.  For this reason, I find it
> helpful to create an object around the origin, rotate it appropriately, then
> translate it into place.
>
> Also, could you post the relevant code (particularly your camera setup if your
> code was identical to the above).
>
> -Reactor


Hi there Reactor,

Here is the above tutorial:
torus {
  3, 11
  pigment { color Yellow }
  scale <1.5,1,1>
  rotate <-45,0,0>
  translate <0,2,0>
}

And here is my copy of the tutorial:

torus {
  3, 2
  pigment {
granite //*as you can see I tweaked the pigment because using {color yellow}
would not work*\\
  scale <1,5,1> //*the 1.5 works just the same as 1*\\
  rotate <-45,0,0>
  translate <0,2,0>
}

}
//*I used the tutorial camera settings*\\
camera {
location <2,5,-10>
look_at <0,0,0>
}
//*My fiance from the POV groups says may there be light so I added more light
than usual :)*\\
light_source {
<0,10,-10>
color rgb <2.0,2.8,2.0>
}

Well this is what I did with the torus. In the tutorial the torus shape looks
lopsided which is really cool but I don't understand why it isn't shaping out
on my end. With the box and trying to rotate it on it's axis, I haven't done
much to it yet but here is the code for that (I kept it just like the tutorial
version for camera position):

camera {
  location <2,5,-10>
  look_at <0,0,0>
}


light_source {
  <10,-10,-10>
  color rgb <1.0,2.0,1.0>
}


box {
  <0,0,0>, 3
  pigment { color rgb <1.0,0.2,1.0> }
  rotate <-45,0,0>
  translate <0,2,0>
}

I hope that you can help, it is much appreciated!
Thanks,
Lace

Post a reply to this message

"Lace" <lab### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Was your code completely identical to the doc's code?  I ask because the order
> > of transformations is significant - applying the same transformations in a
> > different order *will not* yield the same result.  Rotations occur around the
> > 'universe' axes, not ones local to the shape.  For this reason, I find it
> > helpful to create an object around the origin, rotate it appropriately, then
> > translate it into place.
> >
> > Also, could you post the relevant code (particularly your camera setup if your
> > code was identical to the above).
> >
> > -Reactor
>
>
> Hi there Reactor,
>
> Here is the above tutorial:
> torus {
>   3, 11
>   pigment { color Yellow }
>   scale <1.5,1,1>
>   rotate <-45,0,0>
>   translate <0,2,0>
> }
>
> And here is my copy of the tutorial:
>
> torus {
>   3, 2
>   pigment {
> granite //*as you can see I tweaked the pigment because using {color yellow}
> would not work*\\
>   scale <1,5,1> //*the 1.5 works just the same as 1*\\
>   rotate <-45,0,0>
>   translate <0,2,0>
> }
>
> }
> //*I used the tutorial camera settings*\\
> camera {
> location <2,5,-10>
> look_at <0,0,0>
> }
> //*My fiance from the POV groups says may there be light so I added more light
> than usual :)*\\
> light_source {
> <0,10,-10>
> color rgb <2.0,2.8,2.0>
> }
>
> Well this is what I did with the torus. In the tutorial the torus shape looks
> lopsided which is really cool but I don't understand why it isn't shaping out
> on my end. With the box and trying to rotate it on it's axis, I haven't done
> much to it yet but here is the code for that (I kept it just like the tutorial
> version for camera position):
>
> camera {
>   location <2,5,-10>
>   look_at <0,0,0>
> }
>
>
> light_source {
>   <10,-10,-10>
>   color rgb <1.0,2.0,1.0>
> }
>
>
> box {
>   <0,0,0>, 3
>   pigment { color rgb <1.0,0.2,1.0> }
>   rotate <-45,0,0>
>   translate <0,2,0>
> }
>
> I hope that you can help, it is much appreciated!
> Thanks,
> Lace


The problem with the first block is that the transformation is applied to the
pigment, not the object.  Correct indentation can help prevent these kind of
mistakes.  Your code is currently like this:

torus {
3, 2
    pigment {
        granite
        scale <1,5,1>
        rotate <-45,0,0>
        translate <0,2,0>
    }
}

I think you meant this:

torus {
    3, 2
    pigment { granite }
    scale <1.5,1,1>
    rotate <-45,0,0>
    translate <0,2,0>
}

Note the placement of the curly braces.


-Reactor

Post a reply to this message

Lace nous illumina en ce 2008-12-12 01:02 -->
> Thank you very much for the responses; first of all the POV-RAY FAQ's are last
> dated 2004 and even though the version hasn't changed much, I'm sure that new
> users who wish to learn would find this challenging.
There have been NO major release since that date, only one minor revision.

> 
There is a tutorial bundeled with the installation. Did you use it?
> In the 1996 tutorial that I am learning from (above link of course) there are a
> few minor problems that don't go with the version 3.6 I'm only on the first
> page of the tutorial due to the busy schedule at home :) But I will include
> them:
> 
> ***A rotation is a transformation that changes the orientation of an object (the
> way that it's facing). Rotations are the most complex of the transformations.
> They are specified to POV-Ray by the string rotation <x,y,z>, where x, y, and z
> are the number of degrees (not radians) around the respective axis. Consider the
> original cube up above. A rotation of <0,0,45> rotates the cube 45 degrees
> around the z axis***
> 
> (me here, I couldn't get my square to turn on it's axis, I got it to move but
> not spin like the picture)
Was your "square" defined at the origin? If not, it was correctly rotated around 
the z axis, making it orbit around the z axis.
The included documentation make it clear that ALL transformations are ALWAYS 
made relative to the origin, or coordinate <0,0,0>.
Also very importent with scale, an object that is not around the origin that get 
scaled will apears to also move.
> 
> ***torus {
>   3, 11
>   pigment { color Yellow }
>   scale <1.5,1,1>
>   rotate <-45,0,0>
>   translate <0,2,0>
> }
> 
> This code makes a yellow torus, slightly widened around the x axis, rotated -45
> degrees around the x axis and with its center at <0,2,0>***
> 
> (me here, my torus wasn't lopsided it was more of a fat perfect doughnut shape
> and I couldn't get it to do anything but sit in the middle ~sigh~)
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> 
> With the rest of it on that page of the tutorial I have completely mastered with
> a bit of help from a good POV friend and insomnia. I really want to learn, I'm
> not one to give up so easily :)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
torus{3,11 // create a torus with a major radius of size 3 and a minor radius of 
size 11, flat on the x-z plane around the y axis. The is no hole as the minor 
radius is larger than the major.
pigment{yellow}
scale <1.5, 1, 1> //stretch it along the x axis by 50%
rotate <-45, 0, 0>// rotate 45 degree around the x axis.
translate <0, 2, 0> // move it up 2 unit parallel to the y axis
}

Your translation is relatively small, so, it won't show much.
Replace it with: translate<0, 20*clock, 0> and render with +kff9

You also can replace the rotation with:
rotate<180*clock, 0, 0> and the animation will make it visibly rotate.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
EVERYTHING HAS A GENDER

You may not know this but many nonliving things have a gender...

Ziploc Bags are Male, because they hold everything in, but you can see right 
through them.

Post a reply to this message

Lace nous illumina en ce 2008-12-13 01:21 -->
>>
>> Was your code completely identical to the doc's code?  I ask because the order
>> of transformations is significant - applying the same transformations in a
>> different order *will not* yield the same result.  Rotations occur around the
>> 'universe' axes, not ones local to the shape.  For this reason, I find it
>> helpful to create an object around the origin, rotate it appropriately, then
>> translate it into place.
>>
>> Also, could you post the relevant code (particularly your camera setup if your
>> code was identical to the above).
>>
>> -Reactor
> 
> 
> Hi there Reactor,
> 
> Here is the above tutorial:
> torus {
>   3, 11
>   pigment { color Yellow }
>   scale <1.5,1,1>
>   rotate <-45,0,0>
>   translate <0,2,0>
> }
> 
> And here is my copy of the tutorial:
> 
> torus {
>   3, 2
>   pigment {
> granite //*as you can see I tweaked the pigment because using {color yellow}
> would not work*\\
>   scale <1,5,1> //*the 1.5 works just the same as 1*\\
>   rotate <-45,0,0>
>   translate <0,2,0>
> }
It's usualy beter to scale, THEN apply the pigment.
torus{3,2 scale{1,5,1}pigment{granite}
rotate<-45,0,0>translate 2*y}
> 
> }
> //*I used the tutorial camera settings*\\
> camera {
> location <2,5,-10>
> look_at <0,0,0>
> }
> //*My fiance from the POV groups says may there be light so I added more light
> than usual :)*\\
> light_source {
> <0,10,-10>
> color rgb <2.0,2.8,2.0>
> }
Very bright and slightly green.
> 
> Well this is what I did with the torus. In the tutorial the torus shape looks
> lopsided which is really cool but I don't understand why it isn't shaping out
> on my end. With the box and trying to rotate it on it's axis, I haven't done
> much to it yet but here is the code for that (I kept it just like the tutorial
> version for camera position):
> 
> camera {
>   location <2,5,-10>
>   look_at <0,0,0>
> }
> 
> 
> light_source {
>   <10,-10,-10>
>   color rgb <1.0,2.0,1.0>
> }
> 
> 
> box {
>   <0,0,0>, 3
>   pigment { color rgb <1.0,0.2,1.0> }
>   rotate <-45,0,0>
>   translate <0,2,0>
> }
> 
> I hope that you can help, it is much appreciated!
> Thanks,
> Lace
> 
> 
> 
> 
Your box have 1 corner at the origin, the other at <3,3,3>.
Any rotation and scaling will leave the corner at <0,0,0> in that exact same 
location.
If you want it to rotate around it's center, then:
box{-1.5,1.5 ... translate 3.5*y}
Will make a box of the same dimention centered around the origin, and now, the 
rotations are made around it's center.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
You know you've been raytracing too long when you prefer bald romatic partners, 
because they're easier to model.
John VanSickle

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