One question and one remark,

https://www.povray.org/beta/
in "Changes between 3.7.beta.RC2 and 3.7.RC3"

describes the output file caching mechanism.

- I may have missed it or have old docs, but it seems nothing of this is 
in the documentation. The "File Output Options" section may be a good 
spot.

- Is it possible to write the .pov-state file to a different location than 
the current dir? Ramdisc?


Ingo

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hi,

ingo <ing### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> ...
> - Is it possible to write the .pov-state file to a different location than
> the current dir? Ramdisc?

yes.  my '/tmp/' lives in memory and I use:

  $povray foo.pov +o/tmp/foo

or 'output_file_name' in an .ini.


regards, jr.

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in news:web.6093a03922f25cb879819d986cde94f1@news.povray.org jr wrote:

> $povray foo.pov +o/tmp/foo
> 

But that means you also have the final image in ram?

Ingo

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hi,

ingo <ing### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> in news:web.6093a03922f25cb879819d986cde94f1@news.povray.org jr wrote:
> > $povray foo.pov +o/tmp/foo
>
> But that means you also have the final image in ram?

yes.  (and, depending, run the final render w/out a directory)  afaik there's no
mechanism for dealing only with the state file; something like "PreferredTmpPath
= ..." would be a nice feature to have in 'povray.conf'.


regards, jr.

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On 5/6/21 6:37 AM, ingo wrote:
> in news:web.6093a03922f25cb879819d986cde94f1@news.povray.org jr wrote:
> 
>> $povray foo.pov +o/tmp/foo
>>
> 
> But that means you also have the final image in ram?
> 
> Ingo
> 

https://wiki.povray.org/content/Reference:General_Output_Options#Max_Image_Buffer_Memory

set it to zero?

https://wiki.povray.org/content/Reference:General_Output_Options#Resuming_Options

i use -C when i don't care about state file

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On 5/6/21 6:37 AM, ingo wrote:
> in news:web.6093a03922f25cb879819d986cde94f1@news.povray.org jr wrote:
> 
>> $povray foo.pov +o/tmp/foo
>>
> 
> But that means you also have the final image in ram?
> 

The final written image too, yes. I like Ingo typically work on ram 
disk. Everything is faster - if you have the ram for what you are doing 
- and you bang on your physical disk(s) a lot less.

---
I hope Jérôme will double check me here, but there are two types of file 
'disk caching' in play.

An image buffer which is already in ram up to some size (200mb?) which 
can be set larger by option. The image file ends up on disk in one go at 
the end being written from that image buffer.

We have too the continuation state file which I believe is indeed always 
on disk (unless your disk is a ramdisk). Partly, I suspect it's because 
this file is harder to cache in structure. It's software, so yeah, 
expect it could be maintained in ram. It would be another large file in 
memory and for those with limited ram (Raspberry PIs for example) this 
starts to become an issue if you always do it.

An issue with v3.7 is the continue trace cannot be turned off (-cc / 
Create_Continue_Trace_Log=no). This was one of the first things added to 
v3.7+ after v3.7 was released. Would caching that file matter as much if
you could just turn off the state caching altogether as you can in v3.8?

---
I second your thought not enough detail about the caching got into the 
documentation. At least, I've never run across it - those beta change 
notes are there, but that is not where most will look for documentation 
of the output file caching.

Bill P.

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On 5/6/21 7:35 AM, William F Pokorny wrote:
> I second your thought not enough detail about the caching got into the 
> documentation. At least, I've never run across it - those beta change 
> notes are there, but that is not where most will look for documentation 
> of the output file caching.

i do not... y'all were just looking in the wrong place

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On 5/6/21 7:35 AM, Ash Holsenback wrote:
> On 5/6/21 6:37 AM, ingo wrote:
>> in news:web.6093a03922f25cb879819d986cde94f1@news.povray.org jr wrote:
>>
>>> $povray foo.pov +o/tmp/foo
>>>
>>
>> But that means you also have the final image in ram?
>>
>> Ingo
>>
> 
>
https://wiki.povray.org/content/Reference:General_Output_Options#Max_Image_Buffer_Memory

> 
> 
> set it to zero?
> 
> https://wiki.povray.org/content/Reference:General_Output_Options#Resuming_Options 
> 
> 
> i use -C when i don't care about state file

-cc

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On 5/6/21 7:37 AM, Ash Holsenback wrote:
> On 5/6/21 7:35 AM, William F Pokorny wrote:
>> I second your thought not enough detail about the caching got into the 
>> documentation. At least, I've never run across it - those beta change 
>> notes are there, but that is not where most will look for 
>> documentation of the output file caching.
> 
> i do not... y'all were just looking in the wrong place
> 

Perhaps we do disagree. :-) I was aware of the documentation to which 
you pointed us.

I believe our documentation would be better if somewhere it included 
everything in those beta release notes about output file caching - after 
the first paragraph. Those realease notes are well written and clear 
with several useful tips. I believe our documentation today describes 
switches with not enough about implications and use - information in 
those release to release notes.

(And yes, I meant jr where I wrote Ingo...)

Bill P.

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On 5/6/21 7:51 AM, William F Pokorny wrote:
> On 5/6/21 7:37 AM, Ash Holsenback wrote:
>> On 5/6/21 7:35 AM, William F Pokorny wrote:
>>> I second your thought not enough detail about the caching got into 
>>> the documentation. At least, I've never run across it - those beta 
>>> change notes are there, but that is not where most will look for 
>>> documentation of the output file caching.
>>
>> i do not... y'all were just looking in the wrong place
>>
> 
> Perhaps we do disagree. :-) I was aware of the documentation to which 
> you pointed us.
> 
> I believe our documentation would be better if somewhere it included 
> everything in those beta release notes about output file caching - after 
> the first paragraph. Those realease notes are well written and clear 
> with several useful tips. I believe our documentation today describes 
> switches with not enough about implications and use - information in 
> those release to release notes.

isn't that covered in changes.txt and / or revision.txt

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