Nathan Kopp wrote:
> 
> Ron Parker wrote:
> >
> > Patches I have but haven't had the time to add:
> > -----------------------------------------------
> > o Some new and exciting warps from XenoArch: cylindrical, spherical, toroidal,
> >   planar
> > o Some great new lighting patches, also from XenoArch: parallel light_sources,
> >   flexible group-based shadowing and illumination, "masked" lights
> > o Nathan Kopp's updated UV mapping patch, plus his new reset_children warp
> > o Wyzard's new metallic reflection patch
> >
> 
> Is there any info on the web about XenoArch's patches?  I myself just made a
> modification to cylinder lights so that they shoot parallel beams (just a quick
> test of parallel light beams, though... nothing really serious).  I'm also
> interested in the other changes.
> 
> -Nathan Kopp

I've sent syntax docs to Ron. But here are brief (well i intended brief
heh)

Okay First off parallel light sources. Yes you can make cylinder lights
parallel. Without giving too much programming detail, it is basically a
key word applicable to all light sources to make it parallel. Then for
each light/shadow ray cast it uses the point on a plane closest to the
intersection to determine the center of the light. The plane is defined
by a point (location) and a perpendicular (location -> points_at) since
it uses points at parallel must become before the points_at keyword for
normal point lights. For fade lights the distance is determined by
intersection and location.  So parallel fade lights are a little weird.
for area lights only the center of the light is determined by the
closest point on the plane. This is so you can still get soft shadows. 

flexible group-based shadowing and illumination: This is a little more
difficult to explain. You basically can assign light sources to
different groups name them what ever (except none and all, those are
special names all lights are 
in group all and no lights are in none, this is to retain backwards
compatibility)
then you can specify which group illuminates an object. If it doesn't
illuminate 
an object then that object doesn't cast shadows from that light source.
you can also specify a no_shadow group. One use of this is to specify
different indoor
and outdoor fill lights.

"masked" lights :
You can assign a light source an invisible shape (defined by
projected_through). Any light rays must pass though that shape to be
cast. And any object between the light and its projected_through object
doesn't cast shadows. with this you can simulate reflected light
sources. I've heard it called virtual lights also. 

The new warps are basically for mapping 2D patterns (checker/hexagon) 
to cylinders,spheres and tori.

I have intened these patches for Super patch only cause Ron mentioned
one day
that he would like the warps. SO i went to work on that, then i was
doing an image
that needed something like the light_groups so I then added the light
groups.
Then Ron mentioned he wanted a planar warp and in the same convo he
mentioned people wanting parallel lights. Next day i asked him some
questions on parallel lights then he off the cuff mentioned masked
lights. I was just a patching fool that week heh. And in the 3 weeks
since then i belive i've squashed all the bugs.

FYI: I am planning other patches. But i will wait till the current que
is done
for super patch and alter the SP code directly. (besides i need to work
on my artwork and get my portfolio done)

Patches in Planning (these are NOT gaurenteed):
o Motion Blur with blurring only speciffic objects and not
  rendering the scene x times. May incorproate with 
  a kind of keyframe patch for easier animations.
o Faster Media (have no clue how at this moment)
o Glowing Interior, faster then doing it with media.
	
-XenoArch

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