I am using the biggest little word in the english
Language,I have no programming experience
whatsoever so IF I follow the tutorials that came
in the documentation will I be able to understand it
so I can become a povray artist too?Right now I am
converting the documentation to word pro so I can print
it out without a lot of wasted space and yes I am putting
the graphics from the tutorial in povray and tracing
them but it has just been cutting and pasting for right
now.

Post a reply to this message

egloria wrote in message <3659aeae.0@news.povray.org>...
> I am using the biggest little word in the english
>Language,I have no programming experience
>whatsoever so IF I follow the tutorials that came
>in the documentation will I be able to understand it
>so I can become a povray artist too?

Well depending on your artistic "eye" ,yes the .docs and practice are all
you need to be all you can be with pov.

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In one word, YES.  There's nothing that isn't covered in the docs,
except perhaps which OS is best or the best modeller to use, but that
comes later...;)

Seriously, once you get a grasp of the language you can do just about
anything, and believe it or not, it actually becomes pretty easy.

-Mike

>  IF I follow the tutorials that came
> in the documentation will I be able to understand it
> so I can become a povray artist too?

Post a reply to this message

The POV language quite easy, once you get the hang of the basic logic.
All the features are discussed in the manual and there are example files for
most of them; but only practice will get you to use them in any innovative way.
Once you are past the very basics, you can learn many useful tricks from the
many POV tutorials available (one good place to get those is
http://twysted.net/tutorials). Using graphical modellers (like Moray or POVLab)
"protects" you from the POV script, but I do not by any means recommend
abandoning the script completely, since modellers never support all the features
of POV.

Margus

egloria wrote:
> 
>  I am using the biggest little word in the english
> Language,I have no programming experience
> whatsoever so IF I follow the tutorials that came
> in the documentation will I be able to understand it
> so I can become a povray artist too?Right now I am
> converting the documentation to word pro so I can print
> it out without a lot of wasted space and yes I am putting
> the graphics from the tutorial in povray and tracing
> them but it has just been cutting and pasting for right
> now.

Post a reply to this message

egloria <lgl### [at] gcentralcom> wrote:
:  I am using the biggest little word in the english
: Language,I have no programming experience
: whatsoever so IF I follow the tutorials that came
: in the documentation will I be able to understand it
: so I can become a povray artist too?

  The povray documentation doesn't explain how to become a good artist. That's
up to you.
  But it surely is the best documentation and tutorial around there. I have
learned everything about povray from it.
  The biggest problem with people that don't know how to use a feature of
povray is not that the documentation is not good, but that they don't read
it at all.

  And btw, MY BIGGEST problem with povray 3.1 is that there's no povhelp
program anymore, and that really PISSES ME OFF! Sorry, I just had to
complain.
  I still can't use the new features of pov3.1 because I DON'T KNOW HOW,
damn it!

-- 
main(i){char*_="BdsyFBThhHFBThhHFRz]NFTITQF|DJIFHQhhF";while(i=
*_++)for(;i>1;printf("%s",i-70?i&1?"[]":" ":(i=0,"\n")),i/=2);} /*- Warp. -*/

Post a reply to this message

Nieminen Mika wrote:

>   And btw, MY BIGGEST problem with povray 3.1 is that there's no povhelp
> program anymore, and that really PISSES ME OFF! Sorry, I just had to
> complain.
>   I still can't use the new features of pov3.1 because I DON'T KNOW HOW,
> damn it!

Why that's just not true. There is documentation for Pov v3.1. The
layout is different but it exists as it did before. It even functions
the way it did in in v3.0x where you can place the cursor over a
keyword, press f1, and the documentation menu pops up giving you a
selection of relevant topics to choose from. I am not happy with the
way it's been structured in a non-scrolling format as it was but the
information is still being supplied. It appears you missed something
somewhere.

Ken Tyler

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Ken wrote:

> Nieminen Mika wrote:
>
> >   And btw, MY BIGGEST problem with povray 3.1 is that there's no povhelp
> > program anymore, and that really PISSES ME OFF! Sorry, I just had to
> > complain.
> >   I still can't use the new features of pov3.1 because I DON'T KNOW HOW,
> > damn it!
>
> Why that's just not true. There is documentation for Pov v3.1. The
> layout is different but it exists as it did before. It even functions
> the way it did in in v3.0x where you can place the cursor over a
> keyword, press f1, and the documentation menu pops up giving you a
> selection of relevant topics to choose from. I am not happy with the
> way it's been structured in a non-scrolling format as it was but the
> information is still being supplied. It appears you missed something
> somewhere.
>
> Ken Tyler

In support ov my previous post I just copied this from the v3.1
docs concerning the use of the New with Pov v3.1 function "Media"


Previous:Density Maps and Density Lists   Main Index
Next:AtmosphericEffects

Multiple Density vs. Multiple Media

It is possible to have more than one media specified per object and it
is legal to have more than one density per media. The effects are quite
different. Consider this example:

  object{MyObject
    pigment{rgbf 1}
    interior{
      media{
        density{Some_Density}
        density{Another_Density}
      }
    }
  }

As the media is sampled, calculations are performed for each density
pattern at each sample point. The resulting samples are multiplied
together. Suppose one density returned rgb<.8,.8,.4> and the other
returned rgb<.25,.25,0>. The resulting color is rgb<.2,.2,0>. Note
that in areas where one density returns zero, it will wipe out the
other density. The end result is that only density areas which overlap
will be visible. This is similar to a CSG intersection operation. Now
consider

  object{MyObject
    pigment{rgbf 1}
    interior{
      media{
        density{Some_Density}
      }
      media{
        density{Another_Density}
      }
    }
  }

In this case each media is computed independently. The resulting colors
are added together. Suppose one density and media returned rgb<.8,.8,.4>
and the other returned rgb<.25,.25,0>. The resulting color is
rgb<1.05,1.05,.4>. The end result is that density areas which overlap
will be especially bright and all areas will be visible. This is similar
to a CSG union operation. See the sample scene
scenes/interior/media/media4.pov for an example which illustrates this.

Previous:Density Maps and Density Lists   Main Index
Next:AtmosphericEffects

Ken Tyler

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 24 Nov 1998 02:07:40 -0800, Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote:
>Nieminen Mika wrote:
>
>>   And btw, MY BIGGEST problem with povray 3.1 is that there's no povhelp
>> program anymore, and that really PISSES ME OFF! Sorry, I just had to
>> complain.
>>   I still can't use the new features of pov3.1 because I DON'T KNOW HOW,
>> damn it!
>
>Why that's just not true. There is documentation for Pov v3.1. The
>layout is different but it exists as it did before. It even functions
>the way it did in in v3.0x where you can place the cursor over a
>keyword, press f1,
>[...]

it sounds like you're using Windows and he's using DOS.  The DOS povhelp
program is indeed gone, but someone was going to revive it; check 
.programming (I think) for info on this.

Post a reply to this message

Ron Parker wrote:

> On Tue, 24 Nov 1998 02:07:40 -0800, Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote:
> >Nieminen Mika wrote:
> >
> >>   And btw, MY BIGGEST problem with povray 3.1 is that there's no povhelp
> >> program anymore, and that really PISSES ME OFF! Sorry, I just had to
> >> complain.
> >>   I still can't use the new features of pov3.1 because I DON'T KNOW HOW,
> >> damn it!
> >
> >Why that's just not true. There is documentation for Pov v3.1. The
> >layout is different but it exists as it did before. It even functions
> >the way it did in in v3.0x where you can place the cursor over a
> >keyword, press f1,
> >[...]
>
> it sounds like you're using Windows and he's using DOS.  The DOS povhelp
> program is indeed gone, but someone was going to revive it; check
> .programming (I think) for info on this.

  Oh ! If that's the case I apologize for my presumed statements.

Ken Tyler

Post a reply to this message

Nieminen Mika wrote:

>   And btw, MY BIGGEST problem with povray 3.1 is that there's no povhelp
> program anymore, and that really PISSES ME OFF! Sorry, I just had to
> complain.
>   I still can't use the new features of pov3.1 because I DON'T KNOW HOW,
> damn it!

If you do not have the documentation for the new features in
Pov v3.1 due to you using the dos version I will volunteer to
copy and paste the passages detailing the new features into
a text formated file for you. May take a couple of days but
I can understand your frustration if this is the case.

Ken Tyler

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 24 Nov 1998 05:50:53 -0800, Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote:
>Nieminen Mika wrote:
>
>>   And btw, MY BIGGEST problem with povray 3.1 is that there's no povhelp
>> program anymore, and that really PISSES ME OFF! Sorry, I just had to
>> complain.
>>   I still can't use the new features of pov3.1 because I DON'T KNOW HOW,
>> damn it!
>
>If you do not have the documentation for the new features in
>Pov v3.1 due to you using the dos version I will volunteer to
>copy and paste the passages detailing the new features into
>a text formated file for you. May take a couple of days but
>I can understand your frustration if this is the case.

There is documentation in a text file, but the old povhelp program that
handled hypertext, paging, and other cool features is gone.

Post a reply to this message

Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote:
: If you do not have the documentation for the new features in
: Pov v3.1 due to you using the dos version I will volunteer to
: copy and paste the passages detailing the new features into
: a text formated file for you. May take a couple of days but
: I can understand your frustration if this is the case.

  I thank you, but the problem is not getting the documentation itself,
but getting the online popup documentation that I had in pov3.0. I copied
the povhelp program and the pov3.0 documentation to the pov3.1 directory
so I can use that, but that doesn't help with the new features.
  Maybe I'll just print the documentation, so I can use the paper version,
although it's not as handy as the popup help. But at least it's definitely
much more handy than a big text file.
  I hope that the guy making the povhelp for 3.1 gets it done some day. I
will be thankful forever.

-- 
main(i){char*_="BdsyFBThhHFBThhHFRz]NFTITQF|DJIFHQhhF";while(i=
*_++)for(;i>1;printf("%s",i-70?i&1?"[]":" ":(i=0,"\n")),i/=2);} /*- Warp. -*/

Post a reply to this message

I don't know much about povhelp's features, but if easier browsing is wat you're
after, you might try downloading the HTML docs and use the Lynx browser to read
them. It doesn't support graphics, but at least the hypertext is there.

Margus

Nieminen Mika wrote:
> 
>   I thank you, but the problem is not getting the documentation itself,
> but getting the online popup documentation that I had in pov3.0. I copied
> the povhelp program and the pov3.0 documentation to the pov3.1 directory
> so I can use that, but that doesn't help with the new features.
>   Maybe I'll just print the documentation, so I can use the paper version,
> although it's not as handy as the popup help. But at least it's definitely
> much more handy than a big text file.
>   I hope that the guy making the povhelp for 3.1 gets it done some day. I
> will be thankful forever.
>

Post a reply to this message

Margus Ramst <mar### [at] peakeduee> wrote:
: I don't know much about povhelp's features, but if easier browsing is wat you're
: after, you might try downloading the HTML docs and use the Lynx browser to read
: them. It doesn't support graphics, but at least the hypertext is there.

  It's not just the easy browsing, but the popup feature, ie. when I edit
the scene for example with qedit and then place the cursor over a
keyword and press alt-esc then the povhelp pops up with the help about
that keyword; this works because the povhelp stays resident in memory as
a TSR and pressing alt-esc (or whatever you have configured) activates it.
You can also copypaste easyly code from the povhelp to the editor. This
makes povhelp, IMHO, one of the best dos-programs ever made.
  I have tried lynx for dos, but it really doesn't help my problem.

-- 
main(i){char*_="BdsyFBThhHFBThhHFRz]NFTITQF|DJIFHQhhF";while(i=
*_++)for(;i>1;printf("%s",i-70?i&1?"[]":" ":(i=0,"\n")),i/=2);} /*- Warp. -*/

Post a reply to this message

A good way to learn is to examine the source of the sample files and the
tutorials, render them, then go in and edit just one thing and see what
happens.   Read the docs, then experiment with one keyword or another to
see what it's supposed to do.

Oh yes, if you're shaky on geometry and algebraic math, you _might_ want
to get a couple of textbooks and run thru the areas you're unclear on.
With POV, math helps.

egloria wrote:

>  I am using the biggest little word in the english
> Language,I have no programming experience
> whatsoever so IF I follow the tutorials that came
> in the documentation will I be able to understand it
> so I can become a povray artist too?Right now I am
> converting the documentation to word pro so I can print
> it out without a lot of wasted space and yes I am putting
> the graphics from the tutorial in povray and tracing
> them but it has just been cutting and pasting for right
> now.

--
 george erhard
 microsoft certified system engineer
 http://home.pacbell.net/dcnblues

 remove "nospam" from domain when replying

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