Thanks, Kenneth,

I didn't change the +q[n] setting.
I just added the default directive and then commented it back out.

maybe
#default {pigment {rgb <1,1,0>} finish {ambient 1} }
needs to be
#default {texture {pigment {rgb <1,1,0>} finish {ambient 1} } }
?

I don't have any orthographic cameras in my scene... yet.
I would however like to see if I could do a smooth transition from an 
orthographic camera to a regular perspective camera, and the camera 
definitions and behaviours are beyond my ken at this stage of the game.
Once I get the bulk of what I want defined in my scene, then I'll 
probably start doing camera experiments and learning some nice animation 
skills.

I'll see what I can do with the scene SDL - it's only about 2000 lines 
so far, scene, subscene, and include file all together.
I have to rotate and translate my whole subscene to where I want it.
Do you have any clever suggestions for calculating where things should 
actually be in my final scene if I copy and paste it all into the big 
scene and then correct the coordinates?  I'm thinking spreadsheet...

Thanks for all your help,
Bill

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Bald Eagle <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:

>
> maybe
> #default {pigment {rgb <1,1,0>} finish {ambient 1} }
> needs to be
> #default {texture {pigment {rgb <1,1,0>} finish {ambient 1} } }
> ?

Nope, not really necessary. For example, you could, if you wanted to, simply
write...
#default{finish{ambient .5 diffuse .5}}
....which would attach only a *finish* to an object (one that doesn't already
have an explicitly-stated finish, that is.) The 'texture' wrapper isn't
mandatory in a #default statement. In fact, it's not mandatory in an OBJECT
either-- but it's  'good coding practice' to do so, in my opinion... especially
if you decide to add *multiple* overlaid textures to an object; otherwise,
you'll get error messages. To be honest, I rarely use #default{...} in my
scenes; just a personal preference. I like to add full textures to my objects as
I build them. But for quickly creating the basics of a scene-- without worrying
about textures just yet-- #default is certainly useful.

By the way: I hope I didn't confuse you further with my quick-and-dirty
example...

box{
texture{pigment{rgb <.5,.3,.1>}finish{ambient .3 diffuse .7}}
}

The box needs a size, of course-- like  box{<0,0,0>,<1,1,1>...

> Do you have any clever suggestions for calculating where things should
> actually be in my final scene if I copy and paste it all into the big
> scene and then correct the coordinates?  I'm thinking spreadsheet...
>

Without seeing your code, that would be difficult. My suggestion: Experiment!
It's the best way to find out how things work in POV-Ray; even making mistakes
is beneficial! As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day!" ;-)

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> Bald Eagle <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
>>>> #default{pigment{rgb<1,1,0>}finish{ambient 1}}
>>>>
>>>> If you now have a bright magenta box, you know that you have an object
>>>> that don't have any pigment.
>>
>> That makes the box bright Yellow.
>> And jacks up the ambient value of everything in the scene. Whoa.
>
> If you're using 'quality 0' to test the scene, then all ambient values will
> indeed appear to be maxed out (regardless of using the #default stuff.) Maybe
> that's what's visually confusing. Quality 0 adds no color shading or lights-- or
> much of *anything* except the full rgb color of the objects.
>
> Also, the #default{pigment{rgb<1,1,0>}finish{ambient 1}} will *only* be imposed
> on objects that do not already have an explicitly-stated pigment and finish. In
> other words, it will not change anything in the following example:
>
> box{
> texture{pigment{rgb <.5,.3,.1>}finish{ambient .3 diffuse .7}}
> }
>
> although it might change the FINISH in this example (I'm actually not sure,
> without trying it myself)...
>
> box{
> texture{pigment{rgb <.5,.3,.1>}} // no explicit finish here
> }
>
>

For any texture that don't set a finish, or when you use only a pigment, 
you get to use the default finish. Also, if your finish don't 
explicitely set some finish parameter, the corresponding parameter from 
the default will be used.
So, if you have #default{finish{ambient 1}}, any texture or plain 
pigment will use ambient 1.

Another somwhat core complex example:
#defaut texture{pigment{rgb<1,0,1>}finish{ambient 0 emission 0.2 diffuse 
albedo 0.7 brilliance 2 reflection{1 fresnel} specular albedo 0.7 
roughness 0.1}}

This finish will be used UNLESS you explicitely set it to something 
else, AND any finish parameter that is not explicitely set will use 
those set in the #default directive.



Alain

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