Short Question: Given a scene or part of a scene in an SDF, what tools exist
that let me convert that scene(part) into a mesh?

I have a complex scene with memory requirements that exceed the available
memory in the computer. I have been advised to change some of the objects in my
scene into a mesh. The manual is no great help. I have studied some examples
and found that people have seperate include-files that (sometimes) contain
enormous mesh definitions. I can't image these are created by manual labour. I
think there must be some way to convert an SDF into a mesh definition.

Any tips or URLs are welcome.

-- 
Maurice

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Look in povray.text.scene-files I stuck a message in there with the subject
"CSG to Mesh" it might be what you need

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"Josh" <som### [at] microsoftcom> schreef in bericht
news:40e55b02@news.povray.org...
| Look in povray.text.scene-files I stuck a message in there with the subject
| "CSG to Mesh" it might be what you need

I'll give it a try.
Thanks

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news:40e54fbc$1@news.povray.org...
> Short Question: Given a scene or part of a scene in an SDF, what tools
exist
> that let me convert that scene(part) into a mesh?

Short answer: there is no tool that does this perfectly. A best, it's
possible to create approximate meshes, like Josh's macro. Also, mesh vs
primitive is a complex issue. Tuning a scene for speed and/or memory really
depend on the scene. The mesh equivalent of a moderately complex CSG object
can be a 100-Mb file. Other times it's more efficient to use a mesh,
particularly when you need many copies of it.

>I have studied some examples
>and found that people have seperate include-files that (sometimes) contain
>enormous mesh definitions. I can't image these are created by manual
labour.

Free-form meshes such as character models or models of real-life objects are
typically created with external modelers (such as Wings) and converted to
POV. There are also mesh-creating SDL scripts for math-based objects.

G.

-- 

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