"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> "Samuel B." <stb### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>
> > Btw, what were you using this kind of geometry for?
>
> Originally, I was using it to find the radius of the sphere I needed to subtract
> from a (rounded) box to make a laptop keyboard key.
>
> It's also useful for making any concave "cap" to a cylinder or a box.
>
>
https://news.povray.org/povray.general/message/%3Cweb.643317271ef881ca1f9dae3025979125%40news.povray.org%3E/#%3Cweb.6
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> 317271ef881ca1f9dae3025979125%40news.povray.org%3E
>
> I also needed this, or a variation thereof, to find the center of a very large
> circle in order to model a sheet metal / screen development for making a
> replacement globe for a vintage dual-fuel lantern I have.
>
> Modeling software is great, since you can get the curve you need using the
> actual center, since the entire workspce is virtual, but when laying out such an
> arc IRL, one needs alternative approaches when either the center is inaccessible
> or the radius makes scribing the arc wildly impractical.   There are several
> such ingenious approaches.
>
> - BW

It looks like a good solution, but I must admit I can't quite comprehend a lot
of it. (I will keep trying, though.)

Speaking of solutions, I've been making an effort to not use the trace()
function so much since it just adds more complications when porting to another
context. And I just like knowing how something is done instead of relying on a
'black box' function. (Not that trace() is very black-box in theory, but
figuring out every intersection for every traceable object is not a small task.)

Did you ever post the dual-lantern model? I can't remember if it was you, or
someone else on another forum using Blender. /Somebody/ posted a lantern, that's
all I know!

I keep getting stuck figuring out things like intricate geometry, rendering
efficiency, or some other complicated implementation of things. And then I burn
out any energy I had producing the thing I was after initially! :S Drawing
things is much easier than rendering them. The devil is in the details...
distracting me, I guess.

Sam

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