Hmm, it seems that there is a profusion of new patched versions of POV
and MegaPOV out there, from PVPOV to POVMan to the particle_system patch
to the Stochastic Radiosity patch. This is similar to the situation that
led up to the incorporation of all those new features into UVPOV a while
back. I was wondering if anyone is eyeing a macro-mega patch that will
tie all the new features into a single coherent location.

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Dave Dunn <poi### [at] aolcom> wrote:
: I was wondering if anyone is eyeing a macro-mega patch that will
: tie all the new features into a single coherent location.

  Not until 3.5 is out, I think.

-- 
#macro N(D,I)#if(I<6)cylinder{M()#local D[I]=div(D[I],104);M().5,2pigment{
rgb M()}}N(D,(D[I]>99?I:I+1))#end#end#macro M()<mod(D[I],13)-6,mod(div(D[I
],13),8)-3,10>#end blob{N(array[6]{11117333955,
7382340,3358,3900569407,970,4254934330},0)}//                     - Warp -

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In article <3B698214.2C0CFA72@aol.com>, Dave Dunn <poi### [at] aolcom> 
wrote:

> Hmm, it seems that there is a profusion of new patched versions of POV
> and MegaPOV out there, from PVPOV to POVMan to the particle_system patch
> to the Stochastic Radiosity patch. This is similar to the situation that
> led up to the incorporation of all those new features into UVPOV a while
> back. I was wondering if anyone is eyeing a macro-mega patch that will
> tie all the new features into a single coherent location.

Features in MegaPOV+ usually get added to MegaPOV, exceptions being 
features that are still too much in development, such as the 
particle_system patch. There probably won't be a new version of MegaPOV+ 
until the next version of MegaPOV is released.
MegaPOV itself is pretty much frozen, there are no plans to release 
another version until after POV 3.5 has been released.
POVMan, the stochastic radiosity patch, and most of the other patches 
that aren't in MegaPOV have been going through heavy development...any 
version included in MegaPOV would soon be obsolete, and they are usually 
based on MegaPOV anyway.

There may be a much more open development model for POV 4.0, read the 
latest status update for details (http://www.povray.org/3.5-status.html).

-- 
Christopher James Huff - chr### [at] maccom, http://homepage.mac.com/chrishuff/
TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg, http://tag.povray.org/

<><

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Chris:

I know the subject of "when" is pretty much taboo around here, and I
understand why, but this notice is almost a year old.  Would anyone in the
dev group be willing to make an estimate of the status of 3.5 under the
caveat that no one is to hold them to it?   I don't think it's too much to
ask is they think they are 6 months away, a couple months away, a couple
weeks away, any day now, etc.  But if it is, that's OK with me.

Rick



"Chris Huff" <chr### [at] maccom> wrote in message
news:chr### [at] netplexaussieorg...
> In article <3B698214.2C0CFA72@aol.com>, Dave Dunn <poi### [at] aolcom>
> wrote:
>
> > Hmm, it seems that there is a profusion of new patched versions of POV
> > and MegaPOV out there, from PVPOV to POVMan to the particle_system patch
> > to the Stochastic Radiosity patch. This is similar to the situation that
> > led up to the incorporation of all those new features into UVPOV a while
> > back. I was wondering if anyone is eyeing a macro-mega patch that will
> > tie all the new features into a single coherent location.
>
> Features in MegaPOV+ usually get added to MegaPOV, exceptions being
> features that are still too much in development, such as the
> particle_system patch. There probably won't be a new version of MegaPOV+
> until the next version of MegaPOV is released.
> MegaPOV itself is pretty much frozen, there are no plans to release
> another version until after POV 3.5 has been released.
> POVMan, the stochastic radiosity patch, and most of the other patches
> that aren't in MegaPOV have been going through heavy development...any
> version included in MegaPOV would soon be obsolete, and they are usually
> based on MegaPOV anyway.
>
> There may be a much more open development model for POV 4.0, read the
> latest status update for details (http://www.povray.org/3.5-status.html).
>
> --
> Christopher James Huff - chr### [at] maccom,
http://homepage.mac.com/chrishuff/
> TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg, http://tag.povray.org/
>
> <><

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In article <3b70582e@news.povray.org> , "Rick Gutleber" <ric### [at] hiscom> 
wrote:

> I know the subject of "when" is pretty much taboo around here, and I
> understand why, but this notice is almost a year old.  Would anyone in the
> dev group be willing to make an estimate of the status of 3.5 under the
> caveat that no one is to hold them to it?   I don't think it's too much to
> ask is they think they are 6 months away, a couple months away, a couple
> weeks away, any day now, etc.  But if it is, that's OK with me.

Did you miss this?

From: "Chris Cason" <newsadmin@-despam-povray.org>
Newsgroups: povray.general
Subject: POV-Ray 3.5 status
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 00:39:18 +1000
Message-ID: <3b6eac1f@news.povray.org>

____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich
e-mail: mac### [at] povrayorg

I am a member of the POV-Ray Team.
Visit POV-Ray on the web: http://mac.povray.org

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Rick Gutleber <ric### [at] hiscom> wrote:
: I don't think it's too much to
: ask is they think they are 6 months away, a couple months away, a couple
: weeks away, any day now, etc.  But if it is, that's OK with me.

  As Chris Cason said in p.general, he estimates that 8 weeks would be a
definitive maximum, and it will most probably be less.
  The program itself is practically complete, aside from minor implementation
details and perhaps a couple of minor bugs which should not take too much time.
  The biggest work right now is getting the documentation and example scenes
complete. The idea is that a public beta should be a complete pack, with
nothing intentionally missing, as if was just a complete release.

  Of course it's impossible to say how much exactly. There can perfectly
happen something which delays it again, who knows? Originally 3.5 was
intended to be ready in the year 2000, but it wasn't such a small job
after all. POV-Ray 3.5 is not just an "official MegaPov"; it has genuine
new features (which include really nice improvements to the WinPov interface)
and some of MegaPov's features have been greatly improved. Those took
unexpected time to make, but IMHO it has been worth it.
  It's great that the team wants a high-quality program, not just a "hacked
up" bunch of patches (which MegaPov mostly is :) ).

-- 
#macro N(D,I)#if(I<6)cylinder{M()#local D[I]=div(D[I],104);M().5,2pigment{
rgb M()}}N(D,(D[I]>99?I:I+1))#end#end#macro M()<mod(D[I],13)-6,mod(div(D[I
],13),8)-3,10>#end blob{N(array[6]{11117333955,
7382340,3358,3900569407,970,4254934330},0)}//                     - Warp -

Post a reply to this message

In article <3b70582e@news.povray.org>, "Rick Gutleber" <ric### [at] hiscom> 
wrote:

> I know the subject of "when" is pretty much taboo around here, and I
> understand why, but this notice is almost a year old.  Would anyone in the
> dev group be willing to make an estimate of the status of 3.5 under the
> caveat that no one is to hold them to it?

Check out the recent discussions in povray.general...just such a post 
was made there yesterday.
Basically, it is currently in pre-beta, and heading toward being ready 
for public beta.

-- 
Christopher James Huff - chr### [at] maccom, http://homepage.mac.com/chrishuff/
TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg, http://tag.povray.org/

<><

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message
news:3b705f32@news.povray.org...
<snip>
> and some of MegaPov's features have been greatly improved. Those took
> unexpected time to make, but IMHO it has been worth it.

Would you care to go into more detail here, or should I just wait and see?
Has radiosity been changed/improved?

All the best,

Andy Cocker

Post a reply to this message

Andy Cocker <big### [at] mariner9fsnetcouk> wrote:
: Would you care to go into more detail here, or should I just wait and see?

  Yes, the team has given permission to talk about 3.5.

  For example functions have been improved in 3.5. You can make functions
returning vectors and you can use splines in functions. You also have
several options (with the dot-operator) to convert a vector to a float
(besides the previous .x, .y and .z) so you can easily use vector functions
in float functions. There are many other improvements as well.
  Another example are the fractal patterns. You don't only have mandel and
julia sets with exponents 2, 3 and 4, but you can, in fact, specify an
exponent up to 33.

: Has radiosity been changed/improved?

  I think some changes have been done (as images look slightly different
when rendered with 3.5 than with MegaPov), but I don't know if any radical
improvements have been made.

-- 
#macro N(D,I)#if(I<6)cylinder{M()#local D[I]=div(D[I],104);M().5,2pigment{
rgb M()}}N(D,(D[I]>99?I:I+1))#end#end#macro M()<mod(D[I],13)-6,mod(div(D[I
],13),8)-3,10>#end blob{N(array[6]{11117333955,
7382340,3358,3900569407,970,4254934330},0)}//                     - Warp -

Post a reply to this message

"Andy Cocker" <big### [at] mariner9fsnetcouk> wrote...
>
> Would you care to go into more detail here, or should I just wait and see?
> Has radiosity been changed/improved?

No.  The major changes have happened to other features, such as isosurfaces,
splines, light groups, and many others.

Plus, there have been lots of bug fixes.

-Nathan

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