On Thu, 08 May 2003 16:01:46 +0200, Christoph Hormann <chr### [at] gmxde>
wrote:
> In most cases the compressed mesh (pcm) toolkit:
>
> http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/1434/pcm.html
>
> should also work for this purpose (although it does not support all mesh2
> features IIRC).

He was probably refering to the fact that many apps outputs their geometry in
mesh2 format which cause problem in reading and operating on data enclosed
there.

ABX

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> You say you need to convert mesh data into a form that POV-Ray can
> read as arrays and the only solution should be to modify POV-Ray?

Not the only solution, I just hoped for an automatic process.

> If your mesh2 file is always in the same basic form
> (i.e. line breaks at the same positions etc.)

It's not.

> In most cases the compressed mesh (pcm) toolkit should also
> work for this purpose (although it does not support all mesh2
> features IIRC).

I'll look into it.

Thanks,
Hugo

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Hugo Asm wrote:
> 
> > You say you need to convert mesh data into a form that POV-Ray can
> > read as arrays and the only solution should be to modify POV-Ray?
> 
> Not the only solution, I just hoped for an automatic process.

It is also not the only solution for automatic processing.  Both solutions
i mentioned can be automatized.

> > If your mesh2 file is always in the same basic form
> > (i.e. line breaks at the same positions etc.)
> 
> It's not.

So you say your program strays in random variations of the output
formatting just to tease users?  Maybe you misunderstood me, i just meant
the output uses

mesh2 {
vertex_vectors {
...

or anything else and not occasionally switches between different
variations like:

mesh2
{ vertex_vectors
{ ...

mesh2{vertex_vectors{...

(and after i thought a bit more about it - even this could be handled by
sed without serious problems).

Christoph

-- 
POV-Ray tutorials, include files, Sim-POV,
HCR-Edit and more: http://www.tu-bs.de/~y0013390/
Last updated 28 Feb. 2003 _____./\/^>_*_<^\/\.______

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> your program strays in random variations of the output
> formatting just to tease users? Maybe you misunderstood

Well, the program I use is Wings3d and it outputs all the vertices / faces /
normals in very long lines. The length varies with the amount of vectors.

There are always more than one way to do a thing. I don't mean to make too
big a point out of this, but I think my idea for the #read directive could
come in handy on several occasions. Very few applications uses the kind of
formatting that POV-Ray needs to read a text file. You're right that
sometimes it would be awfully slow to run a code in SDL, to read and utilise
data from another software. But not always so slow, and from a user
perspective, what is quicker: Running a third program outside POV-Ray to
convert text files, or wait a few seconds for a code in SDL to execute?

I'll try the mesh-compressor, and I could try to find a program that can be
taught how to read any text file, and convert the important data to
something POV-Ray can read. But it's probably difficult to convince a normal
user, that it's not cumbersome, compared to having POV-Ray do it.

Is SDL a programming language? Yes, and we're having fun with it.. I'm not
alone to decide, how to develop SDL, I just tell my own ideas. Let me know
if you think, the feature isn't necessarely crazy, and thanks for listening.

Regards,
Hugo

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Hugo Asm wrote:

> Is SDL a programming language?

In a way. SDL = Scene Description Language. SDL is the term used for the
specific syntax given to the parser.

-- 
Ken Tyler

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> > I've discussed it briefly with the C++ people in
> > charge in the last 3 days but without luck.
>
> With luck

That sounds great. I didn't know for sure how you (among others) reacted
to my post. It seems that I needed a bit more information. I should probably
add that I don't expect a solution right here and now.

> Perhaps access of internal mesh data would be better...

It would indeed be better. It might be possible to extract the data from a
declared mesh2 object. What about the following idea, that avoids adding
new keywords:

#declare MyVertices = array { mesh2 { MyObject } vertex_vectors };


Regards,
Hugo

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Hugo Asm wrote:
> 
> > > I've discussed it briefly with the C++ people in
> > > charge in the last 3 days but without luck.
> >
> > With luck
> 

Could you please specify what posting you are quoting from.  The quoted
text is in none of the references.

Christoph

-- 
POV-Ray tutorials, include files, Sim-POV,
HCR-Edit and more: http://www.tu-bs.de/~y0013390/
Last updated 28 Feb. 2003 _____./\/^>_*_<^\/\.______

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> Could you please specify what posting you are quoting from.
>  The quoted text is in none of the references.

http://news.povray.org/j7hubvghvkrr4g3g1co30pq07ed4ecik50@4ax.com

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Hugo Asm wrote:
> 
> [...]
> 
> #declare MyVertices = array { mesh2 { MyObject } vertex_vectors };

To say it with Thorsten's words:  For suggesting this syntax you deserve
to be shot! ;-)

Of course there is no real danger that anyone would try to implement it
this way but you should really follow my advise not to suggest specific
features when you have no idea about the inner workings.  


BTW:

http://jgrimbert.free.fr/pov/patch/tessel/index.html

Christoph

-- 
POV-Ray tutorials, include files, Sim-POV,
HCR-Edit and more: http://www.tu-bs.de/~y0013390/
Last updated 28 Feb. 2003 _____./\/^>_*_<^\/\.______

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> you should really follow my advise not to suggest specific
> features when you have no idea about the inner workings.

I wanted to move the discussion forward because everyone was getting stuck
in the #read directive, and nobody liked it. My new idea was meant to keep
focus on the purpose; to have access to the mesh2 data, and a line of pseudo

something like this, maybe it could be added to MegaPOV.

Sorry for any inconvenience. But now we all got closer to a possible
solution, I hope.

Regards,
Hugo

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