Is there a way to call the present system time into a pov file? So that I
can use it to show the correct angles of the sun and moon? I think I can do
it using a text program which has a time stamp, but I wonder if POV does
it...

I don't find a reference to it in the help file, and none of the options in
the editor look like it.

Post a reply to this message

Bill DeWitt wrote:
> 
> Is there a way to call the present system time into a pov file? So that I
> can use it to show the correct angles of the sun and moon? I think I can do
> it using a text program which has a time stamp, but I wonder if POV does
> it...
> 
> I don't find a reference to it in the help file, and none of the options in
> the editor look like it.

There currently is no way to access the systems clock. I have thought about
using it to randomize the seed value in a rand statement but it doesn't make
sense to use if unless you want no control over repeatability of a pattern.

You trying to make a scene you can distribute to others that will match the
time in their time zone ? Otherwise why not just type the time in ?

-- 
Ken Tyler

See my 850+ Povray and 3D Rendering and Raytracing Links at:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html

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Too bad, but I will try to automate my text editing program.


Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote :
>
>Otherwise why not just type the time in ?
>


    I was thinking about having my file run minimized on a regular basis and
then updating my wallpaper with the output. I download satellite images all
day and can map them on a globe with Sun and Moon info...

    ...waiting for Dennis in Florida...

Post a reply to this message

Bill DeWitt wrote:
> 
> Is there a way to call the present system time into a pov file? So that I
> can use it to show the correct angles of the sun and moon? I think I can do
> it using a text program which has a time stamp, but I wonder if POV does
> it...
> 
> I don't find a reference to it in the help file, and none of the options in
> the editor look like it.

If you, or someone else, can do some C (or whatever) programming, you
could
use the "Shell-out to Operating System" command in the .ini file, to
call
a program that will write the time info into a file that you will #read
inside
povray script.

Fabien.

Post a reply to this message

Fabien Mosen wrote:
> 
> Bill DeWitt wrote:
> >
> > Is there a way to call the present system time into a pov file? So that I
> > can use it to show the correct angles of the sun and moon? I think I can do
> > it using a text program which has a time stamp, but I wonder if POV does
> > it...
> >
> > I don't find a reference to it in the help file, and none of the options in
> > the editor look like it.
> 
> If you, or someone else, can do some C (or whatever) programming, you
> could
> use the "Shell-out to Operating System" command in the .ini file, to
> call
> a program that will write the time info into a file that you will #read
> inside
> povray script.
> 
> Fabien.

Er. how about something like 'time > time.txt' in DOS/Windoze or 'date >
time.txt' in *n*x.
It won't be very portable though.

Cheers, PoD.

Post a reply to this message

PoD wrote:
 
> Er. how about something like 'time > time.txt' in DOS/Windoze or 'date >
> time.txt' in *n*x.
> It won't be very portable though.

I tought of that, but, afaik, Pov needs comma-separated data, so
the standard dos time output would be unreadable. (but I may
be wrong...)

Fabien.

Post a reply to this message

Use a substr function on the read input. Extract the first two digits
for the hour, next two for minutes.

#declare Time=str(01:23:45am)
#declare H=substr(Time,0,2)
#declare M=substr(Time,2,2)
#declare Hours=strval(H)
#declare Minutes=strval(M)

Something like that anyhow. I'm not sure since I haven't done it,
yet....

Bob

Fabien Mosen <fab### [at] skynetbe> wrote in message
news:37C81C13.5C2798B8@skynet.be...
> PoD wrote:
>
> > Er. how about something like 'time > time.txt' in DOS/Windoze or
'date >
> > time.txt' in *n*x.
> > It won't be very portable though.
>
> I tought of that, but, afaik, Pov needs comma-separated data, so
> the standard dos time output would be unreadable. (but I may
> be wrong...)
>
> Fabien.

Post a reply to this message

This is what I was thinking I would use. The standard notepad in Win98 has a
F5 time stamp that I can automate with one of those shortcut macro programs.
Now if I can just figure out how to get it to do that, then run a specific
POV file and then change wall papers for me.....

    Looks like we are taking a miss with Dennis, I am a little
disappointed...

Bob Hughes <inv### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
news:37c85008@news.povray.org...
> Use a substr function on the read input. Extract the first two digits
> for the hour, next two for minutes.
>
> #declare Time=str(01:23:45am)
> #declare H=substr(Time,0,2)
> #declare M=substr(Time,2,2)
> #declare Hours=strval(H)
> #declare Minutes=strval(M)
>
> Something like that anyhow. I'm not sure since I haven't done it,
> yet....
>
> Bob
>
> Fabien Mosen <fab### [at] skynetbe> wrote in message
> news:37C81C13.5C2798B8@skynet.be...
> > PoD wrote:
> >
> > > Er. how about something like 'time > time.txt' in DOS/Windoze or
> 'date >
> > > time.txt' in *n*x.
> > > It won't be very portable though.
> >
> > I tought of that, but, afaik, Pov needs comma-separated data, so
> > the standard dos time output would be unreadable. (but I may
> > be wrong...)
> >
> > Fabien.
>
>

Post a reply to this message

Sounds like you also need POV-Ray to start up on it's own. So I guess
that means setting up the Pov file type to be rendered when "run"
somehow. Wish I knew the whole answer myself as it would be
interesting to do.
About Dennis (the hurricane), when I was a kid and lived there near
where you do (Merritt Island and Satellite Beach) it was great to
experience those things but mighty fearful stuff too. I'll never
forget the howling air and turbulent ocean. One time we almost never
got the front door shut after having it open and our neighbors got a
large corrugated pipe slammed into the front of their house. Great
stuff to see, even the "eye", if it weren't for the bad side.

Bob

Bill DeWitt <the### [at] earthlinknet> wrote in message
news:37c86135@news.povray.org...
> This is what I was thinking I would use. The standard notepad in
Win98 has a
> F5 time stamp that I can automate with one of those shortcut macro
programs.
> Now if I can just figure out how to get it to do that, then run a
specific
> POV file and then change wall papers for me.....
>
>     Looks like we are taking a miss with Dennis, I am a little
> disappointed...
>
> Bob Hughes <inv### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
> news:37c85008@news.povray.org...
> > Use a substr function on the read input. Extract the first two
digits
> > for the hour, next two for minutes.
> >
> > #declare Time=str(01:23:45am)
> > #declare H=substr(Time,0,2)
> > #declare M=substr(Time,2,2)
> > #declare Hours=strval(H)
> > #declare Minutes=strval(M)
> >
> > Something like that anyhow. I'm not sure since I haven't done it,
> > yet....
> >
> > Bob
> >
> > Fabien Mosen <fab### [at] skynetbe> wrote in message
> > news:37C81C13.5C2798B8@skynet.be...
> > > PoD wrote:
> > >
> > > > Er. how about something like 'time > time.txt' in DOS/Windoze
or
> > 'date >
> > > > time.txt' in *n*x.
> > > > It won't be very portable though.
> > >
> > > I tought of that, but, afaik, Pov needs comma-separated data, so
> > > the standard dos time output would be unreadable. (but I may
> > > be wrong...)
> > >
> > > Fabien.
> >
> >
>
>

Post a reply to this message

On Sun, 29 Aug 1999 02:40:12 +0930, PoD <pod### [at] merlinnetau> wrote:

>Er. how about something like 'time > time.txt' in DOS/Windoze or 'date >
>time.txt' in *n*x.
>It won't be very portable though.
>
>Cheers, PoD.

This was the first thing that I tried the first time this question was
brought up. Unfortunately the time command expects stdin input. A
simple echo. > time won't work :(

Try this (in a batch file), but first create a file called quote.txt
and only put a " in it. This is untested but should be in the right
direction (the help command won't work for me and I am not sure of the
exact syntax used to concatenate files with the copy command)

@echo off
c:\
cd\
copy command.com temp.tmp
dir temp.tmp > temp.dir
find /i "temp.tmp" temp.dir > temp.tim
copy /a temp.txt /a quote.txt + temp.tim /a + quote.txt /a
del temp.tmp
del temp.dir
del temp.tim
^Z

Then read this temp.txt file in POV and extract the time using the
substr function, as Bob suggests.


Peter Popov
ICQ: 15002700

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Bob Hughes <inv### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
news:37c8ad9f@news.povray.org...
> Sounds like you also need POV-Ray to start up on it's own. So I guess
> that means setting up the Pov file type to be rendered when "run"
> somehow. Wish I knew the whole answer myself as it would be
> interesting to do.

Unless you chose otherwise at the time of setting up POV, running a .pov
file activates POV-Ray and opens the file. Then the macro program will push
<render>.

> About Dennis (the hurricane), when I was a kid and lived there near
> where you do (Merritt Island and Satellite Beach) it was great to
> experience those things but mighty fearful stuff too. I'll never
> forget the howling air and turbulent ocean. One time we almost never
> got the front door shut after having it open and our neighbors got a
> large corrugated pipe slammed into the front of their house. Great
> stuff to see, even the "eye", if it weren't for the bad side.

    We spent most of yesterday at Port Sebastian watching the edge of the
Hurricane. One of the reasons I asked this question was because I wondered
how far away you can see clouds from... turns out that it is quite far.
Using a correctly scaled earth and correctly located points on the earth, I
was able to see 10 mile spheres from over 150 miles away.

    Using reality to simulate POV I went to the beach. The edge of hurricane
Dennis was clearly visible, but without the knowledge that it was -possible-
to see it I would have just assumed that there were some clouds between me
and it. Having been raised in Florida I can tell when a hurricane is in the
area and for some time before we really felt the wind I was sure I was
seeing the storm.

    I am a hurricane lover and even now that I own property I would rather
have a hurricane than have safety. In fact I have been known to offend
people by expressing the opinion that if a big enough one came we would be
rid of all the condos and might even have a new port down in south Cocoa
Beach.... about where A1A comes back together....>8-}

Post a reply to this message

Peter Popov wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 29 Aug 1999 02:40:12 +0930, PoD <pod### [at] merlinnetau> wrote:
> 
> >Er. how about something like 'time > time.txt' in DOS/Windoze or 'date >
> >time.txt' in *n*x.
> >It won't be very portable though.
> >
> >Cheers, PoD.
> 
> This was the first thing that I tried the first time this question was
> brought up. Unfortunately the time command expects stdin input. A
> simple echo. > time won't work :(
> 
One possibility would be to create response file, which contains
carriage return /newline and direct it as input to time command. I.e.
create text file nl.txt, which contains single newline. Now invoke:
time <nl.txt >time

BTW, if You have NT, then it has /T option, which just ouputs time:
C:\>time /T
16:15

Post a reply to this message

Bill DeWitt wrote:

>     Using reality to simulate POV I went to the beach. The edge of hurricane
> Dennis was clearly visible, but without the knowledge that it was -possible-
> to see it I would have just assumed that there were some clouds between me
> and it. Having been raised in Florida I can tell when a hurricane is in the
> area and for some time before we really felt the wind I was sure I was
> seeing the storm.
> 
>     I am a hurricane lover and even now that I own property I would rather
> have a hurricane than have safety. In fact I have been known to offend
> people by expressing the opinion that if a big enough one came we would be
> rid of all the condos and might even have a new port down in south Cocoa
> Beach.... about where A1A comes back together....>8-}


 Sometime around 1978/79 I was setting up mobile homes in Colorado and
Wyoming. One early afternoon on a hill over looking Cheyenne Wyoming I
saw what looked like a column of smoke rising on the other side of town.
We were setting up a new 65' double wide mobile home on a custom lot.
As we watch another column of smoke dropped out of the clouds !!?
We watched as 5 more columns of smoke dropped out of the sky in a
matter of 4 minuets time with 7 all told visible at once.
 They were of course tornados forming from a major hail storm system
parked right over the town. I looked over at my co worker and pointed
out that we were on an exposed ridge, setting up large 15 ton empty
unanchored boxes, and that I was getting the heck out of there. He
agreed and we drove 50 miles south to where we lived and called it a
day. On the way home we ran through two hail storms the worst of which
had hail a bit larger that golf balls and it was like trying to drive
on a road covered with marbles of that size. I thought we were going
off the road a couple of times.
  Upon returning the next day we did not have to worry about finishing
the set up as the two halves of the trailers were scattered across 4
acres of field and smashed about as flat as if they had been run over
by a freight train. I can truely appreciate the power of major storm
systems but I'm also smart enough to get out of their way despite my
own fascination with them. I hope you too are as smart as I have been
and know when to run like heck when the time comes : )

-- 
Ken Tyler

See my 850+ Povray and 3D Rendering and Raytracing Links at:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html

Post a reply to this message

Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote :
> I hope you too are as smart as I have been
> and know when to run like heck when the time comes : )
>

    Sorry to disappoint you, I am one of those nuts who hide from the
evacuation cops. I've tried to surf in 115 mph winds (never did make it out
past the break). Me and my Lovely Wife sat out the last one on Cocoa Beach
when she was 7 months pregnant. We lived on Orlando Ave (which is two blocks
from the beach) and got 100 mph winds.

    I have also been known to chase tornados.

Post a reply to this message

Bill DeWitt wrote:

>     I have also been known to chase tornados.

Chasing tornados is one thing. Having them chase you is an altogether
different story !

To keep it on topic I have tried modelling a tornado and have as yet not
even come close to getting it right. Even made an animation of one once
but it is difficult to control the shape and not have it look artificial.
Anyone else try this and have success ? I could post the anim if anyone
is interested.

-- 
Ken Tyler

See my 850+ Povray and 3D Rendering and Raytracing Links at:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html

Post a reply to this message

Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote :
>
> To keep it on topic I have tried modelling a tornado and have as yet not
> even come close to getting it right. Even made an animation of one once
> but it is difficult to control the shape and not have it look artificial.
> Anyone else try this and have success ? I could post the anim if anyone
> is interested.

    Oooo...  Tornado modeling......

    It's no wonder I never get anything done, I keep stopping to try
something else!

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On Sun, 29 Aug 1999 14:03:57 GMT, pet### [at] usanet (Peter Popov)
wrote:

>On Sun, 29 Aug 1999 02:40:12 +0930, PoD <pod### [at] merlinnetau> wrote:
>
>This was the first thing that I tried the first time this question was
>brought up. Unfortunately the time command expects stdin input. A
>simple echo. > time won't work :(

This works:

echo | more | time | find "Current"

I didn't invent this one myself; I picked it up from some "101 hints
for Windoze" article many years ago.

Post a reply to this message

Okay, something that might help (seems all right) is being posted at
the p.t.s-f group, thanks to Ron P. for his command line to retrieve
"current" time. I had forgotten all about that little gem gleamed from
the masses of DOS stuff I have.

Bob

Bill DeWitt <the### [at] earthlinknet> wrote in message
news:37c76da2@news.povray.org...
> Is there a way to call the present system time into a pov file? So
that I
> can use it to show the correct angles of the sun and moon? I think I
can do
> it using a text program which has a time stamp, but I wonder if POV
does
> it...
>
> I don't find a reference to it in the help file, and none of the
options in
> the editor look like it.
>
>

Post a reply to this message

Bob Hughes <inv### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
news:37c9bd22@news.povray.org...
> Okay, something that might help (seems all right) is being posted at
> the p.t.s-f group, thanks to Ron P. for his command line to retrieve
> "current" time. I had forgotten all about that little gem gleamed from
> the masses of DOS stuff I have.
>

    Thanks! That works. I modified the batch file to self exit and called it
from the pov ini file and am now almost completely automated.

    If only the rest of the process worked as well...

Post a reply to this message

Well, I haven't had much luck calling POV-Ray to render and then
render a second time without error. Something about running
pvengine.exe (Win) instead of povray.exe (DOS) I think. A Ini file
can't be included on the command-line apparently. I was going to do it
all by using the batch file via Task Scheduler, which it does so fine
on one run only and using what Ini was previously set already, then it
does nothing on the second run. Other than that I've got a expensive
looking PC clock checker.

Bob

Bill DeWitt <the### [at] earthlinknet> wrote in message
news:37ca7b83@news.povray.org...
>
> Bob Hughes <inv### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
> news:37c9bd22@news.povray.org...
> > Okay, something that might help (seems all right) is being posted
at
> > the p.t.s-f group, thanks to Ron P. for his command line to
retrieve
> > "current" time. I had forgotten all about that little gem gleamed
from
> > the masses of DOS stuff I have.
> >
>
>     Thanks! That works. I modified the batch file to self exit and
called it
> from the pov ini file and am now almost completely automated.
>
>     If only the rest of the process worked as well...
>
>

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