Okay, now that 3.5 is final, I'm curious what patches (if any) people 
have planned (and by planned, I mean "yay, the source code to 3.5, now I 
can finally add this!", not "one of these days, I might start work on".) 
Will there be another MegaPOV-style release with the new code, and if 
so, what can we look forward to seeing in it?

-Xplo

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Xplo Eristotle <xpl### [at] infomagicnet> wrote:
> Will there be another MegaPOV-style release with the new code

  I think this question has been asked about 100 times, and the answer has
always been the same.

-- 
#macro N(D)#if(D>99)cylinder{M()#local D=div(D,104);M().5,2pigment{rgb M()}}
N(D)#end#end#macro M()<mod(D,13)-6mod(div(D,13)8)-3,10>#end blob{
N(11117333955)N(4254934330)N(3900569407)N(7382340)N(3358)N(970)}//  - Warp -

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Warp wrote:
> Xplo Eristotle <xpl### [at] infomagicnet> wrote:
> 
>>Will there be another MegaPOV-style release with the new code
> 
> 
>   I think this question has been asked about 100 times, and the answer has
> always been the same.

Well, I've only asked it twice now that I can recall, so I must not be 
the only one wondering about it. That makes me not feel so bad for 
asking. ;)

I don't recall anyone actually answering the other questions, though. 
I'm starting to think that the answer must be, "of course we're going to 
release an unofficial version, but it'll be exactly like the official 
version since we don't really have any plans to add anything." I'd hoped 
that now that there was a final release people would be more inclined to 
let us know what they're working on. But have it your way.. I'll take 
the hint and shut up now. :P

-Xplo

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AFAIR, Nathan has clearly said something like "the next version of MegaPov
will not be done until POV-Ray 3.5 is released". I think that statement
is quite unambiguous.
  Personally I have considered a 3.5-based MegaPov simply obvious. I can't
even understand why anyone doubts if one will be done.

-- 
#macro N(D)#if(D>99)cylinder{M()#local D=div(D,104);M().5,2pigment{rgb M()}}
N(D)#end#end#macro M()<mod(D,13)-6mod(div(D,13)8)-3,10>#end blob{
N(11117333955)N(4254934330)N(3900569407)N(7382340)N(3358)N(970)}//  - Warp -

Post a reply to this message

3d2c432c@news.povray.org...
>   Personally I have considered a 3.5-based MegaPov simply obvious. I can't
> even understand why anyone doubts if one will be done.

Actually it's not that obvious... Before Ron Parker and Nathan Kopp invested
a lot of their time to create what was first known as the Superpatch and
then Megapov, patching was a very scattered effort. For instance, few people
knew about the isosurface patch before Megapov became widely known, even
though it had been around since 1996 (and the iso patch already had macros
and other goodies). While creating 3.5 patches will certainly be a very
lively activity, merging patches into a usable product is a totally
different story. Someone will have to appoint him/herself Megapov manager
and do what Ron and Nathan did before (which includes tasks not-so-loved by
programmers, like user support and writing documentation), before they
became Team members.

G.

--

**********************
http://www.oyonale.com
**********************
- Graphic experiments
- POV-Ray and Poser computer images
- Posters

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Gilles Tran <tra### [at] inapginrafr> wrote:
> Actually it's not that obvious...
[snip]

  You may be right. However, if MegaPov could be a testbed for pov4, it
might perfectly be that Nathan will still develop it. Of course I'm just
conjecturing here.
  I'm sure that many people miss features like glows and motion blur. :)

-- 
#macro N(D)#if(D>99)cylinder{M()#local D=div(D,104);M().5,2pigment{rgb M()}}
N(D)#end#end#macro M()<mod(D,13)-6mod(div(D,13)8)-3,10>#end blob{
N(11117333955)N(4254934330)N(3900569407)N(7382340)N(3358)N(970)}//  - Warp -

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message news:3d2c4d66@news.povray.org...

>   You may be right. However, if MegaPov could be a testbed for pov4, it

Is that likely? From what I understand, pov4 will not just be pov3.5 + new
stuff, but a complete re-write.

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Gilles Tran wrote:
> 
> Actually it's not that obvious... Before Ron Parker and Nathan Kopp invested
> a lot of their time to create what was first known as the Superpatch and
> then Megapov, patching was a very scattered effort. For instance, few people
> knew about the isosurface patch before Megapov became widely known, even
> though it had been around since 1996 (and the iso patch already had macros
> and other goodies). While creating 3.5 patches will certainly be a very
> lively activity, merging patches into a usable product is a totally
> different story. Someone will have to appoint him/herself Megapov manager
> and do what Ron and Nathan did before (which includes tasks not-so-loved by
> programmers, like user support and writing documentation), before they
> became Team members.

I completely agree.  For the patches contained in megapov i think it would
be good to have some discussion which patches would be good to be adapted
to POV-Ray 3.5 as they are (like glows, fast macros etc.) and which should
probably be reconsidered because of new functionality in 3.5 (like
displace warp -> function warp etc.) Adapting the patches would be good to
be coordinated somehow, otherwise different people will start to adapt
different patches according to their personal needs.

There is one very good thing about megapov that it formed certain
standards like separating the patches with #ifdef's and the common
documentation.  For the problem of documentation i suggested agreeing on a
common standard without the necessity for the patches to be combined in
one 'megapov' version, see:

news://news.povray.org/3CBAF2B1.F2AD79E2%40gmx.de

Some other standards are now forced by the new licence (like the '#version
unofficial' checking).

Christoph

-- 
POV-Ray tutorials, IsoWood include,                 
TransSkin and more: http://www.tu-bs.de/~y0013390/  
Last updated 30 Jun. 2002 _____./\/^>_*_<^\/\.______

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Tom Melly <tom### [at] tomandlucouk> wrote:
> Is that likely? From what I understand, pov4 will not just be pov3.5 + new
> stuff, but a complete re-write.

  Complete rewrite doesn't mean that new features (eg. motion blur or glows)
couldn't be added to it. MegaPov is an excellent place to develop and
polish this kind of features.

-- 
#macro N(D)#if(D>99)cylinder{M()#local D=div(D,104);M().5,2pigment{rgb M()}}
N(D)#end#end#macro M()<mod(D,13)-6mod(div(D,13)8)-3,10>#end blob{
N(11117333955)N(4254934330)N(3900569407)N(7382340)N(3358)N(970)}//  - Warp -

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In article <3d2b6e25@news.povray.org>,
 Xplo Eristotle <xpl### [at] infomagicnet> wrote:

> Okay, now that 3.5 is final, I'm curious what patches (if any) people 
> have planned (and by planned, I mean "yay, the source code to 3.5, now I 
> can finally add this!", not "one of these days, I might start work on".) 

Well, I've been waiting for 3.5 to finish up the glow, proximity 
pattern, and particle system patches. I'm also going to play with a 
surface curvature pattern, the portal pigment, and maybe blurring 
algorithms.


> Will there be another MegaPOV-style release with the new code, and if 
> so, what can we look forward to seeing in it?

It has been officially stated that MegaPOV would not just die once 
POV-Ray 3.5 was released. However, it has been hinted that there might 
be a more open development model for POV-Ray 4.0, a separate "MegaPOV" 
project based on 3.5 might be redundant.
See the message "POV-Team Status Report - September 1, 2000" in 
povray.announce.frequently-asked-questions.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <chr### [at] maccom>
POV-Ray TAG e-mail: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
TAG web site: http://tag.povray.org/

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