On Mon, 14 Jun 1999 21:03:59 +0300, Margus Ramst wrote:
>Ron Parker wrote in message <37651db3@news.povray.org>...
>>
>>I agree, in principle.  But you have to admit that someone who has
>>added their own keywords certainly qualifies as hardcore.  So I
>>guess it's sufficient but not necessary.
>
>I cannot argue with this. However, in my mind the ability to overcome
>certain limitations with nothing but innovative POV code has equal value.
>Not only does that require inventiveness, but also great expertise with the
>program at hand.

Indeed.  I tend to try to avoid patching the source as much as possible, 
too, believe it or not, if I think the current solution is adequate.  For
example, I saw no need for a keyword to auto-tile a texture by flipping
it on all axes when we already had a perfectly serviceable repeat warp.
Then there's that "hexagon-shaped tiles" thread from a while back, and
the perennial "object oriented POV script" thread.  And one I haven't 
weighed in on and will probably catch some flak over... I see no need 
for a replacement for #declare and #local -- If you don't like the extra 
verbiage, write a preprocessor.  I probably wouldn't even have added
the #spline code to the superpatch if I hadn't had the explicit goal of
adding ALL available patches (which I haven't achieved and probably
never will.)

But there are some things you just can't do with POV script, and being 
able to add them to the renderer, or at least understand why that can 
or can't be done (as, for example, you and Ken seem to) is a valuable 
skill for any truly hardcore POV user.

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