> Personally I like them. They simple split SDL into SD and L.

To get a better idea of what I'm talking about, just compare POV-Ray and
PolyRay scene description and include files... While POV-Ray is by far more
superior as a tool, it lacks PolyRay's elegance as a language (i.e.
regardless of what that language is capable of).

We're all artists inside... so does the above mentioned comparison strike a
chord, doesn't it?

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On Tue, 12 Mar 2002 20:30:24 +0300, "Vadim Sytnikov" <syt### [at] rucom> wrote:
> In fact, that is exactly why I would like to get rid of them. There is no
> such thing as SD vs. L subdivision.

For me there is :-)

#declare, #while, #end etc are important at parse time, I mean they influence
haw the source appear for parser

sphere, box, pigment, finish are important at tracing time, I mean they
influence how scene appear for raytracer

ABX

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In article <3c8e36b2@news.povray.org>,
 "Vadim Sytnikov" <syt### [at] rucom> wrote:

> Is it possible to get rid of hash marks (#) in front of some SDL statements?
> I'm asking about POV4, of course.

They were probably added to help the parser differentiate between 
objects and statements. The POV-Team has said they are considering 
reworking the POV language, this would probably be part of it.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <chr### [at] maccom>
POV-Ray TAG e-mail: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
TAG web site: http://tag.povray.org/

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On Tue, 12 Mar 2002 20:39:44 +0300, "Vadim Sytnikov" <syt### [at] rucom> wrote:
> > Personally I like them. They simple split SDL into SD and L.
>
> To get a better idea of what I'm talking about, just compare POV-Ray and
> PolyRay scene description and include files...

I have never worked with PolyRay but I just downloaded polydoc.lzh. All files
inside are 5 years old. It suggests it died and further it suggests there were
reason for it. Perhaps one of it was limitations in SDL ?

> While POV-Ray is by far more
> superior as a tool, it lacks PolyRay's elegance as a language (i.e.
> regardless of what that language is capable of).

???
I consider POV-SDL very elegant :-)
As I said I don't know POlyRay very well - pont me what exactly is more
elegant there ?

> We're all artists inside...

Pov-community is artistical and technical equally imo :-)

ABX

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On Tue, 12 Mar 2002 20:30:24 +0300, "Vadim Sytnikov" <syt### [at] rucom> wrote:
> In fact, that is exactly why I would like to get rid of them. There is no such thing
> as SD vs. L subdivision -- so no-one should ever think that it exists.

BTW: Documentation says: they exist! Just take a look into 6.2 chapter in 3.5
documentation (http://www.povray.org/working-docs/id000145.html#6_2)

ABX

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Vadim Sytnikov <syt### [at] rucom> wrote:
> Why are they there at all? It took a ve-e-ery long time for me to get
> accustomed to several hash marks on a single line in POV SDL files... The
> thing is that, in most languages, it is impossible (well, at least not
> feasible) -- either # starts a comment, or a preprocessor directive.

  But all the #-commands in POV-Ray are preprocessor directives. They are
processed before rendering and they don't have actual effect on the rendering
itself (only on the source code which the renderer "sees").

-- 
#macro N(D)#if(D>99)cylinder{M()#local D=div(D,104);M().5,2pigment{rgb M()}}
N(D)#end#end#macro M()<mod(D,13)-6mod(div(D,13)8)-3,10>#end blob{
N(11117333955)N(4254934330)N(3900569407)N(7382340)N(3358)N(970)}//  - Warp -

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In article <bmfs8ucdb3aovi7qp11r8t4hin6qnd3kth@4ax.com>,
 W?odzimierz ABX Skiba <abx### [at] babilonorg> wrote:

> I have never worked with PolyRay but I just downloaded polydoc.lzh. All files
> inside are 5 years old. It suggests it died and further it suggests there were
> reason for it. Perhaps one of it was limitations in SDL ?

If I recall correctly, it was actually quite a bit more flexible then 
POV, but also harder to use. I think one of the advantages of POV was 
that it was a lot easier to build up complex objects from other objects, 
but PolyRay had some things that have only recently been added to POV.
PolyRay was before my time though...I don't really know anything about 
it.


> I consider POV-SDL very elegant :-)
> As I said I don't know POlyRay very well - pont me what exactly is more
> elegant there ?

As I said, I don't know PolyRay, but there are a lot of little details 
in POV that are annoying, inconsistent, or just confusing. Some examples:

The limitation of patterned textures in layers.

Having separate background and sky_sphere features. (people often think 
sky_sphere is an object, when it is just a fancy background...using just 
one keyword would be more elegant)

Not being able to use macros in array initialization blocks.

Not being able to map finishes.

Various things (patterns, warps...) not being declarable.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <chr### [at] maccom>
POV-Ray TAG e-mail: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
TAG web site: http://tag.povray.org/

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On Tue, 12 Mar 2002 14:01:36 -0600, Christopher James Huff <chr### [at] maccom>
wrote:
> The limitation of patterned textures in layers.
>
> Having separate background and sky_sphere features. (people often think 
> sky_sphere is an object, when it is just a fancy background...using just 
> one keyword would be more elegant)
>
> Not being able to use macros in array initialization blocks.
>
> Not being able to map finishes.
>
> Various things (patterns, warps...) not being declarable.

I have never found a problems with above (probably becouse I have not used it
strong enough) except declaring pattern. I don't see any problem with doing it
via new functions feature but of course it can be considered as not elegant
solution.

ABX

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In article <3c8e3b32$1@news.povray.org> , "Vadim Sytnikov" <syt### [at] rucom>
wrote:

> There is no such thing as SD vs. L subdivision

There is, and if you don't see it you never looked into the POV-Ray source
code nor the concept of these directives.

    Thorsten

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I *like* hashes! In fact my POV-Ray desktop uses one on the recycle
bin...

-- 
signature{
  "Grey Knight" contact{ email "gre### [at] yahoocom" }
  site_of_week{ url "http://digilander.iol.it/jrgpov" }
}

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