POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.binaries.tutorials : New doc Server Time
29 Mar 2024 02:07:16 EDT (-0400)
  New doc (Message 1 to 7 of 7)  
From: Fabien HENON
Subject: New doc
Date: 16 Nov 2000 08:12:45
Message: <3A13DE10.435C7DE3@club-internet.fr>
For a try, I have 'converted' the POV documentation into a new form
which I find more readable.
Then again, this is just a beginning, and I have started with the part
which is the hardest to me : Interior and media.

It is not finished yet, but I'd like some feedback to know if it might
be useful to some of you and what improvements can be added.
It works best with Acrobat Reader 4.0 (the one with indexes on the left)

Cheers

Fabien


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Attachments:
Download 'interior.pdf' (119 KB)

From: Pabs
Subject: Re: New doc
Date: 16 Nov 2000 22:15:25
Message: <3A14A31D.A016A794@hotmail.com>
Fabien HENON wrote:

> It is not finished yet, but I'd like some feedback to know if it might
> be useful to some of you and what improvements can be added.

In the ior section you might mention something about negative ior values after
you experiment with them.
--
Bye
Pabs


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From: Fabien HENON
Subject: Re: New doc
Date: 17 Nov 2000 05:42:49
Message: <3A150C9A.AA6A56F0@club-internet.fr>
I'll mention it in the next version.
If I am right, negative ior values give a kind of glow. I definitely have to try
this one again.

Thanks for the comment.




> Fabien HENON wrote:
>
> > It is not finished yet, but I'd like some feedback to know if it might
> > be useful to some of you and what improvements can be added.
>
> In the ior section you might mention something about negative ior values after
> you experiment with them.
> --
> Bye
> Pabs


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From: Christoph Hormann
Subject: Re: New doc
Date: 17 Nov 2000 08:57:21
Message: <3A153940.2F202691@schunter.etc.tu-bs.de>
It looks good for a first try, but i personally don't find it that easy to
read :-)

Some things that i find very good in the official docu and that are
missing in your version:

- fixed width font for code parts
- keywords highlighted in the main text
- cross links in the text

i also miss the complete syntax description like:

INTERIOR:
  interior { [INTERIOR_IDENTIFIER] [INTERIOR_ITEMS...] }
INTERIOR_ITEM:
  ior Value | caustics Value | 
  fade_distance Distance | fade_power Power
  MEDIA...


Of course these are only my personal preferences. 

Christoph

-- 
Christoph Hormann <chr### [at] gmxde>
Homepage: http://www.schunter.etc.tu-bs.de/~chris/


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From: Fabien HENON
Subject: Re: New doc
Date: 17 Nov 2000 16:06:11
Message: <3A158175.51AE17E0@club-internet.fr>


> It looks good for a first try, but i personally don't find it that easy to
> read :-)
>
> Some things that i find very good in the official docu and that are
> missing in your version:
>
> - fixed width font for code parts

Could you explain what you mean ?

>
> - keywords highlighted in the main text

I'll give the dealt-with keywords a different color from the rest of the
text.
Red should stand out.

>
> - cross links in the text

That's something I'll add when it is finished.

>
>
> i also miss the complete syntax description like:
>
> INTERIOR:
>   interior { [INTERIOR_IDENTIFIER] [INTERIOR_ITEMS...] }
> INTERIOR_ITEM:
>   ior Value | caustics Value |
>   fade_distance Distance | fade_power Power
>   MEDIA...
>

That's precisely the point. For a beginner, the complete syntax is
rather
obscure. You don't know what is inside what and what keywords are
allowed.
ie : for the INTERIOR_ITEMS, you have to refer to the INTERIOR_ITEM
below. And if you want to add some media, you have to follow your way
down to the MEDIA_ITEM.
I like the 'tree' shown in the index of Acrobat. It displays the
'parents' and 'children' links : You have to use 'interior' first to be
allowed to use 'media' in an object. 

But then again these statements are mine and mine only.

By the way, this is not meant to replace the official documentation, but
merely an alternative.

>
> Of course these are only my personal preferences.
>
> Christoph
>
> --
> Christoph Hormann <chr### [at] gmxde>
> Homepage: http://www.schunter.etc.tu-bs.de/~chris/


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From: Christoph Hormann
Subject: Re: New doc
Date: 17 Nov 2000 17:54:35
Message: <3A15B72C.7F8313B5@schunter.etc.tu-bs.de>
Fabien HENON wrote:
> 
> >
> > - fixed width font for code parts
> 
> Could you explain what you mean ?
> 

It's very common to do code parts in a non proportional font for better
readability.

> 
> By the way, this is not meant to replace the official documentation, but
> merely an alternative.
> 

Maybe you should consider making it more different from the official docu,
which is mainly designed for reference (apart from the 'beginning
tutorial' section)

Christoph

-- 
Christoph Hormann <chr### [at] gmxde>
Homepage: http://www.schunter.etc.tu-bs.de/~chris/


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From: Peter J  Holzer
Subject: Re: New doc
Date: 18 Nov 2000 20:01:51
Message: <slrn91e5e5.tre.hjp-usenet@teal.h.hjp.at>
On Thu, 16 Nov 2000 14:16:00 +0100, Fabien HENON wrote:
>Il s'agit d'un message multivolet au format MIME.
>--------------DB2B8FB4AEE0A511EF40ABED
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>For a try, I have 'converted' the POV documentation into a new form
>which I find more readable.
>Then again, this is just a beginning, and I have started with the part
>which is the hardest to me : Interior and media.
>
>It is not finished yet, but I'd like some feedback to know if it might
>be useful to some of you and what improvements can be added.
>It works best with Acrobat Reader 4.0 (the one with indexes on the left)
>

Things I like:

  * Different colors for text, code, default values, etc.

  * Sans serif font for text (better for reading on screen, though I
    prefer serifed fonts on paper).

  * The open parentheses which indicates whether the keyword opens a
    block.

Things I don't like:

  * Text is too wide. Keep it to about 2/3 of the page. 

  * Same font for text and examples. I'd prefer examples to be set in a
    fixed-width font (but not Courier, if possible), but at least it
    should be different from text so that you can use the same font in
    the text for short code snippets (alternatively you could use the
    same color).

  * The layout is strange. E.g., on p. 7 the example looks like:

	interior {
	          media {
		         absorption rgb <0.4,0.9,0.7> } }
    
    but it should be either on one line or look like:

	interior {
	    media {
		absorption rgb <0.4,0.9,0.7>
	    }
	}
    
    i.e. consistend indentation and closing parethesis below
    corresponding keyword.

    On p. 9 there are alernatively short and long lines!

  * Missing syntax.

Things I'm not sure about:

  * The yellowish background. It's quite nice on screen, but might cause
    problems with printing (poor contrast, slow printing, high toner
    usage). Most people seem to prefer to print long PDF files.



-- 


| |   | hjp### [at] wsracat      |    -- Lutz Donnerhacke in dasr.
__/   | http://www.hjp.at/ |


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