On Thu, 04 Oct 2001 17:06:30 +0200, Disnel wrote:
>>
>> 
>> I'm pretty sure that most plugins for the GIMP are written in Scheme, but
>> I suppose I could be misremembering.
>
>
>Yes, a lot of plugins are in scheme, but there is also possibility to 
>create compiled plugin (for example gimpprint plugin)

But then we come back to the problem of requiring anyone who wants to use
POV to have access to a compiler of some sort, or of creating our own compiler
for plugins.  The first is, IMHO, an unfair expectation given the nature of
most POV users.  The second is a lot of work.  That's not to say it will never
happen, because we are moving in that direction slowly with things like the 
new function evaluation engine in POV 3.5 (here I'm thinking of features of 
the function engine that haven't been made public yet, so you'll have to take
my word for it) but it's not going to happen overnight.

In any case, it turns out that there aren't that many primitives that are
just begging to be added.  Most of the patches collected in MegaPOV fall 
into three categories: 
 - general, widespread changes to the rendering engine (photons, dispersion, 
   light groups, UV mapping) 
 - parser-only changes (most of mine: #ifdef(A[i]), trace, min/max_extent)
 - new textures or variations on old textures (object pattern, crackle)

The only really new primitives are the isosurface and the parametric 
object, and I can't envision trying to implement either of them as a
plugin even if the mechanism for doing so existed.  I certainly can't see
being able to make the changes necessary to make pigment functions if
isosurfaces *were* implemented as a plugin.

Recently, the most-requested features have been more texture-oriented 
things (lighting models, subsurface scattering, blurred reflection) and
more widespread changes (tesselation).  I haven't heard a lot of people
asking for new primitives.

-- 
plane{-z,-3normal{crackle scale.2#local a=5;#while(a)warp{repeat x flip x}rotate
z*60#local a=a-1;#end translate-9*x}pigment{rgb 1}}light_source{-9red 1rotate 60
*z}light_source{-9rgb y rotate-z*60}light_source{9-z*18rgb z}text{ttf"arial.ttf"
"RP".01,0translate-<.6,.4,.02>pigment{bozo}}light_source{-z*3rgb-.2}//Ron Parker

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