"John Ratcliff" <jra### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> I want to use POVRay to do some pre-computed baked in radiosity solutions.
>
> What I need to be able to do is upload my entire 'game level' into POV Ray but,
> when I render, render only a sub-section of that game world.
>
> Since the 'scene' seems to be a global concept; I'm not quite sure how to have
> it render only a sub-section of the scene.
>
> Could this be done by setting a no-draw material property on the portion of the
> level I want ignored while still having the raytracer take the entire world into
> consideration for shadows, etc.?
>
> I'm brand new to POVRay so forgive the naivete.
>
> Thanks,
>
> John

What you're asking for is very complex.  There is a concrete limit on the size
of a given scene which makes scaling necessary for large scenes, so there's a
trade-off between scope and detail.  I'm not entirely sure what the limit is,
but I know it's there.

As for only rendering part of a scene, you might try combining no_image,
no_reflection and no_shadow which, if I understand correctly, might give you the
effect you're looking for but you have to decide whether or not the effects
you're cutting out are significant enough to consider.

You could try dividing your world into sectors with #if statements:

#if(SECTOR1)

// sector one definitions

#end

and have a global switch block like this:

#declare SECTOR1 = on;

....

you could even separate each sector into its own include file for modularity.

This would certainly limit which sectors are rendered, but I don't know how it
will effect radiosity.

I hope this helps.

A.D.B.

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