"Tim Nikias" <JUSTTHELOWERCASE:timISNOTnikias(at)gmx.netWARE> wrote:
> but if the area where the rays are
> shot were concave instead of flat, and every point's normal would point
> towards the camera, I think that the horizontal lines should stay
> horizontal, and the vertical lines vertical, with no distortion whatsoever.

A concave surface will result in curved horizontals. The distortion would be
minimal as far as perspective goes, but the only way it would lok vorrect
would be if the display survace were equally curved.

When thinking about this, I like to imagine that you are looking THROUGH the
final image. if the final image is based on a curved survace, the only way
to see the undistorted image again would be through a curved image.
Transparent graph paper helps, too.

What I *think* you want is the two-point perspective control I was asking
about earlier. 3D is *about* distortion... without it, the images would not
look real at all. The idea is to create a point at wich the viewer can look
at the image and the distortion of the image is the _same_ as the
distortion of the real world on thier eye, thus looking like a window into
another world, rather than just a distorted picture.

Look into two-point perspective. If you figure out how to control it in
POV-Ray, you can just put the second point further away. This will reduce
distortion. The only issue with the technique is that it also reduces depth
(i.e. the squares of a checkered plane will start more squished on the
depth axis).

Hope this helps (some),

-S
5TF!

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