On the other hand, if your scene script contais some kind of iterative process
or - worse yet - some kind of a physics model (for ex. balls bouncing around),
it is a real pain to have the entire scene processed for every frame. The
calculations would have to go from the beginnig to current state every frame and
the parse time would increase each time.
This can often be handled with I/O functions, of course; but POV's I/O functions
are (with all due respect) a bit cumbersome (for example having to #read all the
identifiers in a file when you only need the last one for a particular frame or
having to manually comma-delimit the list).

Margus

Ken wrote:
> 
> Which makes a lot of sense memory wise. If you have a 200
> frame animation and parsed once you would have to store in
> memory every iteration of the changes in the reflected rays in
> the scene. I would think you would also increase the initial
> parsing time to an uncomfortable level to do the calculations
> for each iteration.. Maybe for one object against a black
> background this penalty wouldn't be too high but what if you
> had several objects moving down a mirrored hallway with 12
> colored lights bouncing off of the objects and the walls of the
> hall ? I shudder to think of the wait.
> Just my thoughts on the subject.
> 
> Ken Tyler

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