Hi,

I've just started playing around with POV-Ray by going through the tutorials
(and being overwhelmed), but I'm really not a big fan of the concept of
creating a scene using the SDL - is Moray a great way to use POV-Ray for
creating scenes of any complexity? Are there any drawbacks to using Moray
rather than POVRay by itself (apart from the shareware licence).

My current plan is to get the hang of everything in the "Beginning Tutorial"
section (basic shapes, CSG, lighting etc) and see if I'm still enjoying
myself!

cheers,

--
cheers,
neko_

Post a reply to this message

neko <nek### [at] swirvecom> wrote:
> Are there any drawbacks to using Moray

  The only drawback is that you will be able to use the features Moray
supports, and Moray does not support everything POV-Ray can do.
  However, mostly this is not a problem. Great images have been using
Moray alone.

-- 
#macro M(A,N,D,L)plane{-z,-9pigment{mandel L*9translate N color_map{[0rgb x]
[1rgb 9]}scale<D,D*3D>*1e3}rotate y*A*8}#end M(-3<1.206434.28623>70,7)M(
-1<.7438.1795>1,20)M(1<.77595.13699>30,20)M(3<.75923.07145>80,99)// - Warp -

Post a reply to this message

neko <nek### [at] swirvecom> wrote in message news:3e6e0ce3@news.povray.org...
> Hi,
>
> I've just started playing around with POV-Ray by going through the
tutorials
> (and being overwhelmed), but I'm really not a big fan of the concept of
> creating a scene using the SDL - is Moray a great way to use POV-Ray for
> creating scenes of any complexity? Are there any drawbacks to using Moray
> rather than POVRay by itself (apart from the shareware licence).
>
> My current plan is to get the hang of everything in the "Beginning
Tutorial"
> section (basic shapes, CSG, lighting etc) and see if I'm still enjoying
> myself!
>
> cheers,
>
> --
> cheers,
> neko_
>
>

you can do quite complex scenes in moray. its a pretty darn good modeller.
It's just hard to get any sort of organic looking objects with it alone. You
might want to look into Spatch or Hamapatch eventually for adding curvy non
primitive based objects. With Spatch you can easily export to moray usable
objects, i've never used Hamapatch though so I dont know for sure how they
work together.

the other great feature in moray for users of all levels is the texture
editor.

Eventually we'll assimilate you though, and you will eat, drink, and dream
pov SDL =) It happened to me.

its all a matter of preference though. I've recommended moray to 2 people
who were just getting into raytracing, and they loved the pov+moray
combination.


have fun,
ross

Post a reply to this message

In article <3e6e0ce3@news.povray.org>, nek### [at] swirvecom says...
> Hi,
> 
> I've just started playing around with POV-Ray by going through the tutorials
> (and being overwhelmed), but I'm really not a big fan of the concept of
> creating a scene using the SDL - is Moray a great way to use POV-Ray for
> creating scenes of any complexity? Are there any drawbacks to using Moray
> rather than POVRay by itself (apart from the shareware licence).
> 
> My current plan is to get the hang of everything in the "Beginning Tutorial"
> section (basic shapes, CSG, lighting etc) and see if I'm still enjoying
> myself!
> 
> cheers,
> 
> --
> cheers,
> neko_
> 
> 
Moray is useful, but some tweaking 'may' be needed to the final SDL. Why? 
Because Moray uses approximations of objects. Neither OpenGL or its 
wireframe system give a 100% accurate positional match to where things go 
in it. This is imho a drawback, since you still have to know exactly 
where something needs to be in order for all of it to line up correctly. 
Since all objects in Moray appear in a specific default alignment, things 
like cylinders that you can normally create in the SDL by giving their 
'exact' end points requires trying to rotate them in Moray. This 
sometimes just won't work right, no matter how careful you are about 
trying to rotate it into position. Personally I prefer the pure SDL in 
most cases, since I end up doing as much work getting stuff right in 
Moray as I do hand coding in some cases. However, it seems to have been 
improved since the last version I tried, even if annoying quirks like the 
cylinder issue has yet to be properly addressed imho.

-- 
void main () {

    call functional_code()
  else
    call crash_windows();
}

Post a reply to this message

Go for moray :)
--
Rick

Kitty5 NewMedia http://Kitty5.co.uk
POV-Ray News & Resources http://Povray.co.uk
TEL : +44 (01270) 501101 - FAX : +44 (01270) 251105 - ICQ : 15776037

PGP Public Key
http://pgpkeys.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x231E1CEA

Post a reply to this message

3e6e0ce3@news.povray.org...
> Hi,
>
> I've just started playing around with POV-Ray by going through the
tutorials
> (and being overwhelmed), but I'm really not a big fan of the concept of
> creating a scene using the SDL - is Moray a great way to use POV-Ray for
> creating scenes of any complexity? Are there any drawbacks to using Moray
> rather than POVRay by itself (apart from the shareware licence).

If you find easier to work with a modeller than using the SDL directly,
I think the better option is moray.
It's the most complete pov modeller around the world (even though
it can't do "everything" that pov can), but it's expanding its
possibilities with plugins (animation plugin is a good example) and now
has a mesh editor with UV_mapping support.
It is a low cost application (sure it gives you more than you pay for it).
In combination with:
- hamapatch: freeware, organic modeller, exports to Moray .mdl file
http://www.geocities.com/hamapatch/program/index.html
- poseray: also freeware, takes an .obj file and exports it to UDO (moray),
INC (pov), with UV_mapping support.
http://user.txcyber.com/~sgalls/index.htm
you are able to make very complex scenes.

Just my opinion.

Txemi Jendrix
http://www.txemijendrix.com

Post a reply to this message

neko's furious key-hammering produced this:
> I've just started playing around with POV-Ray by going through the tutorials
> (and being overwhelmed), but I'm really not a big fan of the concept of
> creating a scene using the SDL - is Moray a great way to use POV-Ray for
> creating scenes of any complexity?

That all depends on what you're looking for, really.

Moray is probably the best POV-Ray modeller around (I used to use it all the
time, actually) but it doesn't give the kind of power that a good ol' POV-SDL
script would (though many features commonly done in SDL such as the positioning
of a group of objects) can be done with other methods.

Creating a scene in SDL isn't that hard, really, but you have to really be able
to visualize the scene you're working on in your head.  However, if you're more
of a programmer type you'll probably like it more in the long run.  I've been
using Moray for years now and I don't regret the switch I made to pure SDL
recently.  I am the programmer type, though, so just keep in mind that your
mileage may vary. :)

> My current plan is to get the hang of everything in the "Beginning Tutorial"
> section (basic shapes, CSG, lighting etc) and see if I'm still enjoying
> myself!

I'd do that.  That should give you a chance to get a feel for SDL.

I was somewhat uncomfortable with it when I tried it a few years ago but I'm
fine with it now.

-- 
/*^*/light_source{100*<-5,2,-5>2}#macro I(i,n)#while(strlen(i)>=n)#local A=asc(
substr(i,n,1));#local a=asc(substr(i,n+1,1));cylinder{<div(A,8)-12,mod(A,8)-4,4
><div(a,8)-12,mod(a,8)-4,4>,0.1pigment{rgb z}}#local n=n+2;#end#end I("ScUe[]"1
/*<*/)I("mkmtlttk"1)//@_$#!,:<"Thhis polysig brought to you by Ian Burgmyer :)"

Post a reply to this message

> I've just started playing around with POV-Ray by going through the
> tutorials (and being overwhelmed), but I'm really not a big fan of the
> concept of creating a scene using the SDL - is Moray a great way to
> use POV-Ray for creating scenes of any complexity? Are there any
> drawbacks to using Moray rather than POVRay by itself (apart from the
> shareware licence).

I'd say go for SDL, I've never needed Moray. (I've only tried it once,
didn't like it much). When I need complex or organice models, I use
Wings3D. A free solution :)
Just my opinion..
Now off to Germany and CeBit =)

-- 
Peter

http://hertel.no/peter

Post a reply to this message

> Moray is useful, but some tweaking 'may' be needed to the final SDL. Why?
> Because Moray uses approximations of objects. Neither OpenGL or its
> wireframe system give a 100% accurate positional match to where things go
> in it. This is imho a drawback, since you still have to know exactly
> where something needs to be in order for all of it to line up correctly.
> Since all objects in Moray appear in a specific default alignment, things
> like cylinders that you can normally create in the SDL by giving their
> 'exact' end points requires trying to rotate them in Moray. This
> sometimes just won't work right, no matter how careful you are about
> trying to rotate it into position. Personally I prefer the pure SDL in
> most cases, since I end up doing as much work getting stuff right in
> Moray as I do hand coding in some cases. However, it seems to have been
> improved since the last version I tried, even if annoying quirks like the
> cylinder issue has yet to be properly addressed imho.
>

i've never noticed this, and don't understand what you are saying. what is
wrong with giving moray the exact positions through its text entry areas of
the interface? are you talking about grabbing an object in one of the views
and moving it around?

Post a reply to this message

In article <3e6f6b41@news.povray.org>, lit### [at] osuedu says...
> > Moray is useful, but some tweaking 'may' be needed to the final SDL. Why?
> > Because Moray uses approximations of objects. Neither OpenGL or its
> > wireframe system give a 100% accurate positional match to where things go
> > in it. This is imho a drawback, since you still have to know exactly
> > where something needs to be in order for all of it to line up correctly.
> > Since all objects in Moray appear in a specific default alignment, things
> > like cylinders that you can normally create in the SDL by giving their
> > 'exact' end points requires trying to rotate them in Moray. This
> > sometimes just won't work right, no matter how careful you are about
> > trying to rotate it into position. Personally I prefer the pure SDL in
> > most cases, since I end up doing as much work getting stuff right in
> > Moray as I do hand coding in some cases. However, it seems to have been
> > improved since the last version I tried, even if annoying quirks like the
> > cylinder issue has yet to be properly addressed imho.
> >
> 
> i've never noticed this, and don't understand what you are saying. what is
> wrong with giving moray the exact positions through its text entry areas of
> the interface? are you talking about grabbing an object in one of the views
> and moving it around?
> 
> 
Exactly. And some things like cylinders, unless they changed them 
recently only have position, rotation and scale. If they have since added 
the ability to correctly define the actually end points, then it may be 
time to check out the new version again (though maybe waiting until they 
fix the beta bugs...). A lot of stuff I tried to use it for where 
furniture and stuff where I needed to have a cylinder at an angle to 
provide a smoothed edge. I could never get them right. And like I said, 
why, if I already know the exactly locations, do I need a graphical 
design interface? The only thing they are good for is designing when you 
don't already have detailed plans for where each individual things will 
go when you are finished. For the few things I tried to do with it, I got 
quite irritated, but I must admit that the fact that I wasn't willing to 
pay for it at the time and thus couldn't complete my intended model 
anyway probably contributed to my annoyance. ;) lol

-- 
void main () {

    call functional_code()
  else
    call crash_windows();
}

Post a reply to this message