Hi,
  I've always used the official version of Povray for Linux (which is 3.1g I
think...), which doesn't feature the iso-surface...  I think it's moray that has
the isosurface, plus many other useful things...  Is it official enough to trust
it? I mean, does the iso-surface algorythm makes errors? If I make a gigantic
picture, is there any problem?

Any suggestion/hint on the subject very appreciated!

Thanks,
  Simon
-- 
+-------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Simon Lemieux           | http://www.666Mhz.net            |
| Email : Sin### [at] 666Mhznet |        Povray and OpenGL Gallery |
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Simon Lemieux wrote:
> 
> Hi,
>   I've always used the official version of Povray for Linux (which is 3.1g I
> think...), which doesn't feature the iso-surface...  I think it's moray that has
> the isosurface, plus many other useful things...  Is it official enough to trust
> it? I mean, does the iso-surface algorythm makes errors? If I make a gigantic
> picture, is there any problem?
> 

No, Moray is a graphical modeller for Windows which uses POV as the renderer.
What you're thinking of is MegaPOV. I'm not sure how "official" it has to be for
you to trust it; the isosurfaces are certainly functional, but there is no
guarantee that the next official version of POV will incorporate or maintain
backwards compatibility with any of its features (although it will indeed
support isosurfaces in some form or another).
The isosurface algorithm will produce good quality results in most cases, if you
know how to use it. Gigantic pictures may or may not be a problem, depending on
the complexity of your isosurface.

One place to find Linux source and binaries for MegaPOV 0.7 is
http://members.home.net/ceckak/mpov07

-- 
Margus Ramst

Personal e-mail: mar### [at] peakeduee
TAG (Team Assistance Group) e-mail: mar### [at] tagpovrayorg
Home page http://www.hot.ee/margusrt

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> No, Moray is a graphical modeller for Windows which uses POV as the renderer.
> What you're thinking of is MegaPOV. I'm not sure how "official" it has to be for
> you to trust it; the isosurfaces are certainly functional, but there is no
> guarantee that the next official version of POV will incorporate or maintain
> backwards compatibility with any of its features (although it will indeed
> support isosurfaces in some form or another).
> The isosurface algorithm will produce good quality results in most cases, if you
> know how to use it. Gigantic pictures may or may not be a problem, depending on
> the complexity of your isosurface.
> 
> One place to find Linux source and binaries for MegaPOV 0.7 is
> http://members.home.net/ceckak/mpov07

Thank you very much!

And now, more about IsoSurfaces...  I've been programming my complex object
using blobs and a single or two mathematical formulas and I have to tweak the
quality of the object by putting millions of blob components wich is Extremely
time and memory consuming, it's also very stupid....  for that reason I decided
to give a try to iso-surfaces, but I saw on Povray.org there were many
tutorials, manuals, etc about iso-surfaces, is there one in particular you
recommand for a beginner?

Thanks a lot!
  Simon

-- 
+-------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Simon Lemieux           | http://www.666Mhz.net            |
| Email : Sin### [at] 666Mhznet |        Povray and OpenGL Gallery |
+-------------------------+----------------------------------+

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> One place to find Linux source and binaries for MegaPOV 0.7 is
> http://members.home.net/ceckak/mpov07

I checked this address out, I didn't get it to work, however I looked on
Povray.org for an official MegaPOV webpage and found:
http://nathan.kopp.com/patched.htm

Which seems more practical, what do you think?

-- 
+-------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Simon Lemieux           | http://www.666Mhz.net            |
| Email : Sin### [at] 666Mhznet |        Povray and OpenGL Gallery |
+-------------------------+----------------------------------+

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Simon Lemieux wrote:
 
[snip] 
> to give a try to iso-surfaces, but I saw on Povray.org there were many
> tutorials, manuals, etc about iso-surfaces, is there one in particular you
> recommand for a beginner?
> 

Here's a few tutorials to get you started, not sure which is the best for a
beginner but all are well done:

http://users.skynet.be/smellenbergh/ (has many demo scenes too)
http://www.econym.demon.co.uk/isotut/
http://www.hamiltonite.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/raytracing/STBenge/stbenge.html

-- 
Margus Ramst

Personal e-mail: mar### [at] peakeduee
TAG (Team Assistance Group) e-mail: mar### [at] tagpovrayorg
Home page http://www.hot.ee/margusrt

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Simon Lemieux wrote:
> 
> I checked this address out, I didn't get it to work,

You mean you couldn't see the page? Try this instead:
http://members-proxy-1.mmbrprxy.home.net/ceckak/mpov07/

Or if you want, I can send you my own sources and/or binaries (Athlon
optimized). I got them from the same site, only the makefile is slightly
tweaked.

> however I looked on
> Povray.org for an official MegaPOV webpage and found:
> http://nathan.kopp.com/patched.htm
> 

Nathan is the maintainer of the Windows version of MegaPOV, so if you want to
run MegaPOV under Windows this is the place. He also has links to versions for
other platforms, but as far as I can see all his Linux links are for old
versions (0.6 and older, current is 0.7)

Of course full source is available, so you can always cook up your own Linux
makefile and compile.

-- 
Margus Ramst

Personal e-mail: mar### [at] peakeduee
TAG (Team Assistance Group) e-mail: mar### [at] tagpovrayorg
Home page http://www.hot.ee/margusrt

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Margus Ramst schrieb in Nachricht <3AA308BB.2B8CC09F@peak.edu.ee>...
>Simon Lemieux wrote:
>
>[snip]
>> to give a try to iso-surfaces, but I saw on Povray.org there were many
>> tutorials, manuals, etc about iso-surfaces, is there one in particular
you
>> recommand for a beginner?
>>
>
>Here's a few tutorials to get you started, not sure which is the best for a
>beginner but all are well done:
>
>http://users.skynet.be/smellenbergh/ (has many demo scenes too)
>http://www.econym.demon.co.uk/isotut/
>http://www.hamiltonite.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/raytracing/STBenge/stbenge.html
>


I would look at them in reverse order (Bottom-Up).
The Smellenbergh Isosurface Manual is great, and it describes many
possibilities, but it's not a tutorial in the first place.
The second one is a good reference for the build in functions (so is the
manual, though).
Samuel Benge describes the basics (I didn't work to much with it, but it
seems to be a good place to start)
All this is just my humble opinion of course.

Isosurfaces are great. A bit slow perhaps (no not really if one looks at
what they are doing - but you get some long renders if you are not careful)
but really great if comes to small structures and you don't want to use just
normals.

Marc-Hendrik

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