I'm having a very disturbing problem.

I'm running povray on windows to develop my files, then I port it to a Linux
cluster to render animations. A Round_Cylinder object works just fine on the
Windows version (3.6) but the exact same file doesnt render the cylinders on
the linux version (also 3.6) with no errors reported at all.

#include "shapes.inc"
object{
        Round_Cylinder(<0,0,0>, <1,0,0>, .005, .005, 1)

        pigment{ rgb <0,0,0>}
        finish{ ambient 0 diffuse .7 specular .7 reflection .7}
    }

As simple as can be. On windows it renders exactly the expected results. On
linux, the cylinders just arent there, an no errors. Of course I checked to
make sure the include file was there, I checked to make sure the code was
being traversed, all ok.

I changed the radii to 5,5 just to blow them up big and see if they turned
up. They did, so huge the camera was inside them (seemed like they were
oriented incorrectly too, but whatever). So I wanted to shrink them slowly
to see what they're doing, I set the radii to .5, .5  and it reported
"degenerate cylinder, base point same as apex point" and aborted (??).  So
I reduced them to .05, .05, and the error went away, but then I'm back to
them not rendering in my scene.

Again, the EXACT .pov file rendered just fine on windows.  Anybody have any
idea what could possibly be the issue here? Its one of those 'make a grown
man cry' things. :-(

Thanks in advance.

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I just tried substituting a regular cylinder, that doesnt work either.

This is part of a union with other objects, but all those objects render
fine.

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space_cadet schrieb:
> I'm having a very disturbing problem.
> 
> I'm running povray on windows to develop my files, then I port it to a Linux
> cluster to render animations. A Round_Cylinder object works just fine on the
> Windows version (3.6) but the exact same file doesnt render the cylinders on
> the linux version (also 3.6) with no errors reported at all.

Please precisely descibe your problem.  No errors but it does not render 
hardly makes sense.

Note if the rounding radius is exactly half of the length of the 
cylinder or the cylinder radius is the same as the rounding radius that 
macro won't work correctly - such cases could be handled in the macro 
but that would unnecessarily slow normal cases.

-- Christoph

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"space_cadet" <poc### [at] grcnasagov> wrote:
> I just tried substituting a regular cylinder, that doesnt work either.

this is rather bizarre.  Sadly, i'm not on Linux right now, but i remember i
once took my time to render some of the sample scenes from povray 3.6 and it
rendered just fine the sample for the round cylinders, round boxes macros.

could be a problem with the command-line parameters?

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Nemesis - they're the same command line parameters I've been using on all my
projects, and everything else in the scene is rendering fine.  Also, it
occured to me I AM using a round_cylinder elsewhere in the code and it does
render fine on the linux. This is insane. (+W640 +H480 -D -UV +AM2 +A0.1
+J0.0)


Christoph - I dont know what else to describe. When I say "no errors" I mean
there's no error reported in the verbose output when it renders. Not even a
warning.  The only thing presenting itself is the lack of these specific
objects when rendered on linux, but they're fine on windows. I know it
doesnt make sense, thats why I'm cracking up. These objects are critical,
and I'm very short on time, and this is the screwiest mystery I've ever
encountered.

I dont know what else to explain.  I just thought maybe someone might know
of a difference between the code for the two platforms, like maybe in the
parser or something, that might give me some clue.

Post a reply to this message

space_cadet schrieb:
> 
> Christoph - I dont know what else to describe. When I say "no errors" I mean
> there's no error reported in the verbose output when it renders. Not even a
> warning.  The only thing presenting itself is the lack of these specific
> objects when rendered on linux, but they're fine on windows.

What is so difficult about:

- posting a minimal scene
- describing what happens when you try to render this scene
- describing what you think is wrong about this

And as said make sure you don't call Round_Cylinder with radius, 
rounding radius and length in a relation that is not supported (see my 
previous post).

-- Christoph

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Christoph Hormann <chr### [at] gmxde> wrote:
> space_cadet schrieb:
> >
> > Christoph - I dont know what else to describe. When I say "no errors" I mean
> > there's no error reported in the verbose output when it renders. Not even a
> > warning.  The only thing presenting itself is the lack of these specific
> > objects when rendered on linux, but they're fine on windows.
>
> What is so difficult about:
>
> - posting a minimal scene
> - describing what happens when you try to render this scene
> - describing what you think is wrong about this
>
> And as said make sure you don't call Round_Cylinder with radius,
> rounding radius and length in a relation that is not supported (see my
> previous post).
>
> -- Christoph

I dont understand. I posted the source code. I described in full what
happens when I render it. I'm out of ideas as to what might be wrong, thats
why I'm posting here. What else are you looking for?

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oops, my bad. In my frustration, I got a bit careless in my checking.  Using
a regular cylinder{} object DOES in fact work and is totally usable for my
project.  And I have NOT in fact used Round_Cylinder elsewhere in the code
successfully on linux (its another regular cylinder that I was thinking
of).

So the original problem stands, that Round_Cylinder and Round_Cylinder ONLY
is rendering fine in my file on windows, but the same file renders everying
BUT the round_cylinder on linux with no errors reported in verbose.

Since I can use cylinder and I need to move on, I'm putting this behind me,
and may revisit later. It is a stupifying situation and I'd like to get to
the bottom of it.

Thanks for any time and attention.

Post a reply to this message

"space_cadet" <poc### [at] grcnasagov> wrote in message 
news:web.45818628f0b8b2e8339b0050@news.povray.org...
> oops, my bad. In my frustration, I got a bit careless in my checking. 
> Using
> a regular cylinder{} object DOES in fact work and is totally usable for my
> project.  And I have NOT in fact used Round_Cylinder elsewhere in the code
> successfully on linux (its another regular cylinder that I was thinking
> of).
>
> So the original problem stands, that Round_Cylinder and Round_Cylinder 
> ONLY
> is rendering fine in my file on windows, but the same file renders 
> everying
> BUT the round_cylinder on linux with no errors reported in verbose.
>
> Since I can use cylinder and I need to move on, I'm putting this behind 
> me,
> and may revisit later. It is a stupifying situation and I'd like to get to
> the bottom of it.
>
> Thanks for any time and attention.
>

If a cylinder of the same size displays correctly, then you should be able 
to identify the cause of the problem by substituting the object definitions 
that will be generated by the macro directly into your SDL. Then you can 
comment out lines of code back until you're just left with the outer 
cylinder definition and work out which piece of the merge is causing your 
distress.

If I've done my arithmetic right then you should be able to replace:

Round_Cylinder(<0,0,0>, <1,0,0>, .005, .005, 1)

with:

merge {
   cylinder {<0,0,0>, <1,0,0>, 0}
   cylinder {<0.005,0,0>, <0.995,0,0>, .005}
   torus {0, .005 translate y*.005}
   torus {0, .005 translate y*.995}
}

and get the same result.
Notice that your parameter settings result in a cylinder of 0 radius and two 
spheres where the major radius of the torus is 0.

If you get down to just
   cylinder {<0.005,0,0>, <0.995,0,0>, .005}
and it still doesn't show, then adjust the settings till it matches 
precisely the cylinder you have that does show.

Hope this helps,
Regards,
Chris B.

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Thanks, Chris. Thats a great idea, and I'll investigate as soon as I can.

If I am able to identify a particular line of code thats the culprit, I'm
still left with why that code would respond differently on the different
platforms.

Just in case this is relevant, on linux I'm running povray 3.6.1 (g++ 3.4.1)

on windows povray 3.6.1c.icl8.win32

Just wondering if that "c.icl8.win32" would include any mods or bug fixes
that might be pertinent to this issue.

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