Wasn't it Rick Measham who wrote:
>Attached is the POV used to create the also attached PNG file.
>
>The aim is to create a library that will output pie charts as torus 
>segments. The PNG is almost right where I want it.
>
>Except for the rounding of the torus segments. This is all just 
>approximations.
>
>To do it properly, I somehow need to make a torus that is smaller on 
>the inside of the large segmented torus.
>
>Does anyone have any other ideas on how to do this nicely?

A "torus that is smaller on the inside" sounds like a "Dupin Cyclid". 
See the last image on this page:

http://www.econym.demon.co.uk/isotut/builtin2.htm

>ALSO: I would love to make this render a hell of a lot faster, if 
>anyone has any pointers.

Unfortunately, the use of an isosurfaces would be expected to make the 
rendering slower.

Another significant problem would be working out how to set the 
parameters of the Cyclid to get everything to fit correctly.


A different possible approach would be to use a sphere sweep, varying 
the sphere radius as the path sweeps round a circle. Also probably 
slower than a torus.

-- 
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure

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