Hi,

I guess most must have seen the stunning presentation of the to-come-soon
Pov-Ray3.5 on www.povray.co.uk  . Wonder why nobody is talking about it -
even if many features may already be in Megapov.

What is perhaps more of interest is that, now that the 'semi-mythical
creature' (in Lutz Kretschmar's words, IIRC) has finally come out of
hiding, I've a feeling that many more exciting things will be happening on
the Moray front too. I, for one, am keeping my fingers crossed for a
Moray3.5 (?) with real-time splines, improved 'native'  (Moray mdl, *not*
udo) import of dxf/obj etc. All this keeping the price at the same
reasonable level (Ahem!)

Another of my dreams is smooth 'teaming-up' with programs like Hamapatch,
which could complement it so well. Possibly this might happen soon with the
new 3dWin being developed.Well, I can dream, can't I?

Regards,
-Anoop

Post a reply to this message

> What is perhaps more of interest is that, now that the 'semi-mythical
> creature' (in Lutz Kretschmar's words, IIRC) has finally come out of
> hiding, I've a feeling that many more exciting things will be happening on
> the Moray front too.

[Snippety snip]

I would hope so too, but I remember somebody mentioning previously that 
there was already a feature in Moray 3.3 waiting for POV 3.5 to come out. 
(No, I can't remember offhand what it was/is)

Also, I would hopw that a six month hiatus in website updates would mean 
one of two things : a) Lutz et al have more important things to do aTm, 
like earning a living or,  b) They're too busy working on a POV 3.5 
compatible Moray to think about such things.

I would like to thing b), but from previous comments, I think a) is more 
likely, not that I blame them :)

As far as the new features go, I'm not too excited about them because I 
talk to POV only through Moray and until I can tell Moray to use Sphere 
sweeps (the most interesting new feature IMO) then I'll just keep 
thinking in 3.1g terms...

Bye for now,
    Jamie.

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Hi Jamie,

Jamie Davison wrote in message ...
a) Lutz et al have more important things to do aTm,
>like earning a living or,  b) They're too busy working on a POV 3.5
>compatible Moray to think about such things.

I think you're right: proobably a combo of both - with more emphasis
on 'a': I remember a post from him mentioning something like he's not
getting enough returns from Moray. Probably a lot of users are not
registering. (Here IMHO more CAD-like features would help. Or,
perhaps, restrict the features available for the unregistered
version - like 3dWin does)

>As far as the new features go, I'm not too excited about them because
I
>talk to POV only through Moray and until I can tell Moray to use
Sphere
>sweeps (the most interesting new feature IMO) then I'll just keep
>thinking in 3.1g terms...

Just a suggestion here, if you don't mind (assuming that you don't
already know this - a bit doubtful. Also that I've understood
sphere_sweeps correctly.): Perhaps you could use Hamapatch (&export to
Moray using the sPatch plugin) Hamapatch can use the amloft plugin
(basically made for Animation Master) for stuff like skinning,
extruding_along_path etc to reproduce the sphere_sweep effect (to an
extent).

Another alternative would be softy3d (www.softy3d.com : exports to
megapov/pov/dxf among others).

Hope this helps (and that you haven't already known & rejected this
:-))

Regards,
-Anoop

Post a reply to this message

> >As far as the new features go, I'm not too excited about them because
> I
> >talk to POV only through Moray and until I can tell Moray to use
> Sphere
> >sweeps (the most interesting new feature IMO) then I'll just keep
> >thinking in 3.1g terms...
> 
> Just a suggestion here, if you don't mind (assuming that you don't
> already know this - a bit doubtful. Also that I've understood
> sphere_sweeps correctly.): Perhaps you could use Hamapatch (&export to
> Moray using the sPatch plugin) Hamapatch can use the amloft plugin
> (basically made for Animation Master) for stuff like skinning,
> extruding_along_path etc to reproduce the sphere_sweep effect (to an
> extent).
> 
> Another alternative would be softy3d (www.softy3d.com : exports to
> megapov/pov/dxf among others).
> 
> Hope this helps (and that you haven't already known & rejected this
> :-))

Nope I haven't even thought about it since I'm thinking in 3.1g terms :)

But thanks for the info, I may look at it eventually, although I prefer 
to stay within only one app as much as possible.

Bye for now,
     Jamie.

Post a reply to this message

> Jamie Davison wrote:
>
>> As far as the new features go, I'm not too excited about them because I
>> talk to POV only through Moray and until I can tell Moray to use Sphere
>> sweeps (the most interesting new feature IMO) then I'll just keep
>> thinking in 3.1g terms...
>
> If you feel like tweaking files, you can probably create a sphere sweep in
> MegaPOV and save it as an include file, then use the little-known Moray
> "include" feature to bring the file in. From there it would be a matter of
> changing executables by hitting F9. The only question is if MegaPOV would give
> you a #version error on the main Moray export file. If that doesn't work,
> check out Mike Weber's B-Spline plugin, available in the Moary Plugins section
> of their site. It ibehaves kind of like a sphere sweep, and actually has more
> options in terms of object shapes.

Post a reply to this message

Jamie Davison wrote in message ...

>
>But thanks for the info, I may look at it eventually, although I
prefer
>to stay within only one app as much as possible.

Very understandable since, especially in large & complicated objects,
something invariably gets lost along the way.
Still quite a few in this forum do seem to be using the Rhino-Moray
combo - from all accounts really wonderful if you can afford it.

Regards,
-Anoop

Post a reply to this message

Dave Dunn wrote in message <3B9### [at] aolcom>...
>> If you feel like tweaking files, you can probably create a sphere
sweep in
>> MegaPOV and save it as an include file, then use the little-known
Moray
>> "include" feature to bring the file in. From there it would be a
matter of
>> changing executables by hitting F9. The only question is if MegaPOV
would give

That's really interesting - it could allow all sort of stuff (like
landscapes from terragen, organic work from HamaPatch etc. But it
wouldn't display properly, if I'm correct, so maybe a problem
integrating it.
Or, perhaps you could use 'stand-ins'. I remember a previous thread a
few months back, when I was trying out Moray - and I did  have
reasonable success with it. I believe even the tree-plugin does (did?)
something similar.

>> check out Mike Weber's B-Spline plugin, available in the Moary
Plugins section
>> of their site. It ibehaves kind of like a sphere sweep, and
actually has more
>> options in terms of object shapes.

OTOH it doesn't have the options of variable radius which, perhaps,
would be what Jamie is really interested. (Perhaps could be suggested
to him:))
But, using your idea of includes with HamaPatch (incidentally I just
saw - in the last irtc round, the 2nd prize winner - aseafort - used
almost totally sPatch, the predecessor of HamaPatch, and MP0.7!)  we
should be able to get some complicated objects which Moray definitely
cannot do alone (involving, in Rhino terminology, lofting, skinning,
extruding_along_one_rail, extruding_along_two_rails etc) And both
HamaPatch and the amloft plugin are free!

Regards,
-Anoop

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mensaje news:3B9### [at] aolcom...
> The only question is if MegaPOV would give you
>a #version error on the main Moray export file.

To make Moray work together with Megapov, you have to:
1.- Set the path to the Megapov executable in Menu -> render ->
render options -> Povray executable.
and
2.- Edit the file MorayPov.inc (in Moray top folder) and include the line:
 "#version unofficial MegaPOV 0.7;" (without the quotes and with your
version number) between the comments.
You can also make a specific .inc file and have the two options (render
with megapov or with pov depending on the file you choose).
You can select the file in Menu -> render -> render options ->
file to write to every exported PovRay file.

Remember to use the executable according with its .inc file in any case.

If you change the executable path and the inc (to megapov, as an example) in
Moray
and you have povray running, be sure to close povray before doing a render.

It worked for me in my last IRTC entry.

Hope this helps.

Txemi Jendrix
tji### [at] euskalnetnet
http://www.geocities.com/txemijendrix

Post a reply to this message

Thanks, Txemi (although it wasn't meant for me:))
OTOH I *have* used it with just editing the path and didn't seem to
have any problems. Of course  could it be that I didn't get the
benefit of Megapov features without realising. Since I don't really
use Moray (will be as soon as Baier finishes his new plugin and I can
get Moray to interact with other 'complementary' modellers.)
Thanks again and regards,
-Anoop

Txemi Jendrix wrote in message <3b96a639@news.povray.org>...
>

>mensaje news:3B9### [at] aolcom...
>> The only question is if MegaPOV would give you
>>a #version error on the main Moray export file.
>
>To make Moray work together with Megapov, you have to:
>1.- Set the path to the Megapov executable in Menu -> render ->
>render options -> Povray executable.
>and
>2.- Edit the file MorayPov.inc (in Moray top folder) and include the
line:
> "#version unofficial MegaPOV 0.7;" (without the quotes and with your
>version number) between the comments.
>You can also make a specific .inc file and have the two options
(render
>with megapov or with pov depending on the file you choose).
>You can select the file in Menu -> render -> render options ->
>file to write to every exported PovRay file.
>
>Remember to use the executable according with its .inc file in any
case.
>
>If you change the executable path and the inc (to megapov, as an
example) in
>Moray
>and you have povray running, be sure to close povray before doing a
render.
>
>It worked for me in my last IRTC entry.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>Txemi Jendrix
>tji### [at] euskalnetnet
>http://www.geocities.com/txemijendrix
>
>
>

Post a reply to this message

Txemi Jendrix schrieb:
> 

> mensaje news:3B9### [at] aolcom...
> > The only question is if MegaPOV would give you
> >a #version error on the main Moray export file.
> 
> To make Moray work together with Megapov, you have to:
> 1.- Set the path to the Megapov executable in Menu -> render ->
> render options -> Povray executable.
> and
> 2.- Edit the file MorayPov.inc (in Moray top folder) and include the line:
>  "#version unofficial MegaPOV 0.7;" (without the quotes and with your
> version number) between the comments.
> You can also make a specific .inc file and have the two options (render
> with megapov or with pov depending on the file you choose).
> You can select the file in Menu -> render -> render options ->
> file to write to every exported PovRay file.
> 
> Remember to use the executable according with its .inc file in any case.
> 
> If you change the executable path and the inc (to megapov, as an example) in
> Moray
> and you have povray running, be sure to close povray before doing a render.
> 
> It worked for me in my last IRTC entry.
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> Txemi Jendrix
> tji### [at] euskalnetnet
> http://www.geocities.com/txemijendrix

I'm not sure, whether this is still active, my Megapov is not up to
date. But if you deal with GIF-graphics as maps, heightfields or
whatsoever, keep in mind that Megapov doesn't support those. So the
2way-inc-file solution is to be prefered in that case. (read for me :) )

Arne Kleinophorst

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