Dear everyone,

I'd like to let you guys know of the recent change I made to the source code of
POVRay-3.7 to get the depth-map and camera parameters alongside
original image. Depth-maps are quite essential and important if one wants to
work on the 3D structure of the environment e.g. People in SLAM (Simultaneous
Localisation and Mapping), dense optical flow computation (Lucas Kanade 2.5D)
and ESM (Efficient Second Order Minimisation for image registration). It was
easy to get the depth-map with MegaPOV using PP_Init_Depth() directive function
but for scenes which take a lot of time to render e.g. Jaime's office scene
(Presistence of Ignorancia), POVRay-3.7 reduces a dramatic overhead in time by
multi-threading. So, in order to get the depth-map I had to change the 3.7 code
at some places and I was happy to get the depth-map without much hassles. I'd
also like to thank the suggestions I received on this forum to help me figure
out where do I need to change the code.

I've kept the code here at my git-hub[
https://github.com/ankurhanda/povray.3.7.0.RC3.withdepthmap]. Please feel free
to download the code and try it out yourself. Please find the README_ANKUR file
here at
[https://github.com/ankurhanda/povray.3.7.0.RC3.withdepthmap/blob/master/README_ANKUR]
to get started. I'd be very keen on your suggestions, complaints and comments.

Kind Regards,
Ankur

Post a reply to this message

Le 17/07/2011 18:32, handos nous fit lire :
> Dear everyone,
> 
> I'd like to let you guys know of the recent change I made to the source code of
> POVRay-3.7 to get the depth-map and camera parameters alongside
> original image. Depth-maps are quite essential and important if one wants to
> work on the 3D structure of the environment e.g. People in SLAM (Simultaneous
> Localisation and Mapping), dense optical flow computation (Lucas Kanade 2.5D)
> and ESM (Efficient Second Order Minimisation for image registration). It was
> easy to get the depth-map with MegaPOV using PP_Init_Depth() directive function
> but for scenes which take a lot of time to render e.g. Jaime's office scene
> (Presistence of Ignorancia), POVRay-3.7 reduces a dramatic overhead in time by
> multi-threading. So, in order to get the depth-map I had to change the 3.7 code
> at some places and I was happy to get the depth-map without much hassles. I'd
> also like to thank the suggestions I received on this forum to help me figure
> out where do I need to change the code.
> 
> I've kept the code here at my git-hub[
> https://github.com/ankurhanda/povray.3.7.0.RC3.withdepthmap]. Please feel free
> to download the code and try it out yourself. Please find the README_ANKUR file
> here at
>
[https://github.com/ankurhanda/povray.3.7.0.RC3.withdepthmap/blob/master/README_ANKUR]
> to get started. I'd be very keen on your suggestions, complaints and comments.

Why did you commit the compiled files too ?
And left "cout <<" in code ? with getchar() too ?
The postproc directory seems to be a left-over of first design.
Some files have been updated only to have traces which are now in comments.

(So, to summarise gently: clean up is needed)

Also a shame you did not put unmodified 3.7RC3 as some step in your git,
looking for your patches would have been easier.

The depthArray (or whatever its name) could need to be disk-buffered
(transparently, same as -IM/-MI option) for large picture.

I'm not sure I understand the purpose & behaviour of the Depth Patch.

Nor why you needed the F_Triangle_Patch from megapov either.

Post a reply to this message

Hi Le,

Thanks for having spent time on this. I understand that it's not cleaned up yet
but it's just a small rudimentary version of the patch I created. I'd take your
advice and clean up a bit so that it's easy for other guys to understand.
My intention here was to just get some good feedback on it.

Regarding the purpose, there are many applications in computer vision or
graphics where one would like to have a depth-map corresponding to the image.
And one might need to obtain 3D coordinates for each pixel observed in the image
to aid  3D reconstruction or applications related to Augmented Reality. I had
searched in the POVRay website to see if anyone had done that before with
POVRay-3.7. I guess maybe working on depth-map is quite specific but just in
case anyone wanted to have a depth-map along with image, it might be worth
taking a look at this patch I released.

I'd definitely add the original version of 3.7 into my git-hub so that it's easy
to find out the patches I created.

Thanks a lot!
Ankur.

Le_Forgeron <jgr### [at] freefr> wrote:
Le 17/07/2011 18:32, handos nous fit lire :
> > Dear everyone,
> >
> > I'd like to let you guys know of the recent change I made to the source code of
> > POVRay-3.7 to get the depth-map and camera parameters alongside
> > original image. Depth-maps are quite essential and important if one wants to
> > work on the 3D structure of the environment e.g. People in SLAM (Simultaneous
> > Localisation and Mapping), dense optical flow computation (Lucas Kanade 2.5D)
> > and ESM (Efficient Second Order Minimisation for image registration). It was
> > easy to get the depth-map with MegaPOV using PP_Init_Depth() directive function
> > but for scenes which take a lot of time to render e.g. Jaime's office scene
> > (Presistence of Ignorancia), POVRay-3.7 reduces a dramatic overhead in time by
> > multi-threading. So, in order to get the depth-map I had to change the 3.7 code
> > at some places and I was happy to get the depth-map without much hassles. I'd
> > also like to thank the suggestions I received on this forum to help me figure
> > out where do I need to change the code.
> >
> > I've kept the code here at my git-hub[
> > https://github.com/ankurhanda/povray.3.7.0.RC3.withdepthmap]. Please feel free
> > to download the code and try it out yourself. Please find the README_ANKUR file
> > here at
> >
[https://github.com/ankurhanda/povray.3.7.0.RC3.withdepthmap/blob/master/README_ANKUR]
> > to get started. I'd be very keen on your suggestions, complaints and comments.
>
> Why did you commit the compiled files too ?
> And left "cout <<" in code ? with getchar() too ?
> The postproc directory seems to be a left-over of first design.
> Some files have been updated only to have traces which are now in comments.
>
> (So, to summarise gently: clean up is needed)
>
> Also a shame you did not put unmodified 3.7RC3 as some step in your git,
> looking for your patches would have been easier.
>
> The depthArray (or whatever its name) could need to be disk-buffered
> (transparently, same as -IM/-MI option) for large picture.
>
> I'm not sure I understand the purpose & behaviour of the Depth Patch.
>
> Nor why you needed the F_Triangle_Patch from megapov either.

Post a reply to this message

Le 18/07/2011 00:05, handos nous fit lire :
> Hi Le,
> 
> Thanks for having spent time on this. I understand that it's not cleaned up yet
> but it's just a small rudimentary version of the patch I created. I'd take your
> advice and clean up a bit so that it's easy for other guys to understand.
> My intention here was to just get some good feedback on it.
> 
> Regarding the purpose, there are many applications in computer vision or
> graphics where one would like to have a depth-map corresponding to the image.
> And one might need to obtain 3D coordinates for each pixel observed in the image
> to aid  3D reconstruction or applications related to Augmented Reality. I had
> searched in the POVRay website to see if anyone had done that before with
> POVRay-3.7. I guess maybe working on depth-map is quite specific but just in
> case anyone wanted to have a depth-map along with image, it might be worth
> taking a look at this patch I released.
> 
> I'd definitely add the original version of 3.7 into my git-hub so that it's easy
> to find out the patches I created.
> 
> Thanks a lot!

Nice. I would still need a basic tutorial about what happen (from an
external user's point of view).

For instance, take a scene.pov; With normal 3.7RC3, the command line
would be "foo bar zorglub scene.pov" (well probably something more like
"povray -Iscene.pov -H480 -W640 +A0.01 +FN")
The output would be a png file, named scene.png.

With your patched version, if I want the depth map, what is the command
line ? If I do not want the depth map, can I expect using the 3.7RC3
command line with the new binary or do I need something else ?
How is named the depth map file ?
What is its format ? How can I see it (I would like to be impressed like
a lambda Mac/Iphone/Ipad user: no internal techniques, just nice pictures) ?
Is the camera position & setting output in another file (what is its
name ?) or is that part of the depth map file ?

I'm sure the people dealing with depth map on a daily basis all know
this stuff, but so far the poor neophytes are just left on the side of
the road without a clue.

Post a reply to this message

Hi Le,

I've kept a README_ANKUR here at
https://github.com/ankurhanda/povray.3.7.0.RC3.withdepthmap/blob/master/README_ANKUR
where I explained how to use it and what output files it dumps alongside
output.png
There is no such enable-disable depth-map facility at the moment but I guess it
shouldn't be too hard.

I just saw that in the other forum you'd posted the answer to my question on how
to get the camera parameters and which file to look in ;-). Thanks for that.

Thanks a lot!
Ankur.


Le_Forgeron <jgr### [at] freefr> wrote:
> Le 18/07/2011 00:05, handos nous fit lire :
> > Hi Le,
> >
> > Thanks for having spent time on this. I understand that it's not cleaned up yet
> > but it's just a small rudimentary version of the patch I created. I'd take your
> > advice and clean up a bit so that it's easy for other guys to understand.
> > My intention here was to just get some good feedback on it.
> >
> > Regarding the purpose, there are many applications in computer vision or
> > graphics where one would like to have a depth-map corresponding to the image.
> > And one might need to obtain 3D coordinates for each pixel observed in the image
> > to aid  3D reconstruction or applications related to Augmented Reality. I had
> > searched in the POVRay website to see if anyone had done that before with
> > POVRay-3.7. I guess maybe working on depth-map is quite specific but just in
> > case anyone wanted to have a depth-map along with image, it might be worth
> > taking a look at this patch I released.
> >
> > I'd definitely add the original version of 3.7 into my git-hub so that it's easy
> > to find out the patches I created.
> >
> > Thanks a lot!
>
> Nice. I would still need a basic tutorial about what happen (from an
> external user's point of view).
>
> For instance, take a scene.pov; With normal 3.7RC3, the command line
> would be "foo bar zorglub scene.pov" (well probably something more like
> "povray -Iscene.pov -H480 -W640 +A0.01 +FN")
> The output would be a png file, named scene.png.
>
> With your patched version, if I want the depth map, what is the command
> line ? If I do not want the depth map, can I expect using the 3.7RC3
> command line with the new binary or do I need something else ?
> How is named the depth map file ?
> What is its format ? How can I see it (I would like to be impressed like
> a lambda Mac/Iphone/Ipad user: no internal techniques, just nice pictures) ?
> Is the camera position & setting output in another file (what is its
> name ?) or is that part of the depth map file ?
>
> I'm sure the people dealing with depth map on a daily basis all know
> this stuff, but so far the poor neophytes are just left on the side of
> the road without a clue.

Post a reply to this message

Am 17.07.2011 18:32, schrieb handos:

> I've kept the code here at my git-hub[
> https://github.com/ankurhanda/povray.3.7.0.RC3.withdepthmap]. Please feel free
> to download the code and try it out yourself. Please find the README_ANKUR file
> here at
>
[https://github.com/ankurhanda/povray.3.7.0.RC3.withdepthmap/blob/master/README_ANKUR]
> to get started. I'd be very keen on your suggestions, complaints and comments.

Note that you may actually be violating licensing terms, as RC3 source 
code distribution is still governed by the same rules as the beta 
versions; among others, these demand that the respective source code 
"may not be re-distributed without the written permission of Persistence 
of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd." (see the header of virtually any POV-Ray 
3.7.0.RC3 source file).

While I personally would be inclined to welcome development of patches 
to Version 3.7 even as it is now (Release Candidate stage), and I'd 
guess that the other dev team members feel the same, Persistence of 
Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd. (despite being owned and led by some dev team 
members) might have reason to insist on the formal requirement of 
obtaining written permission.

(With the 3.7 release proper things will get a lot easier again.)

Post a reply to this message

clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:

>
> (With the 3.7 release proper things will get a lot easier again.)

What else needs to be done for the final 3.7 release?

Post a reply to this message

Am 08.11.2011 16:43, schrieb jhu:

>> (With the 3.7 release proper things will get a lot easier again.)
>
> What else needs to be done for the final 3.7 release?

Mostly stuff "outside" of the actual POV-Ray program. The installer 
still needs some overhaul, the Windows console version needs to be 
brought back to life, installation procedure documentation needs to be 
reviewed and possibly rewritten, recommendations for 3rd party patches 
would be nice to have as well, there's a motion to include openEXR and 
boost into the source distributions - stuff like that.

As for the actual programming work, bugs.povray.org knows all the 
pending issues.

Post a reply to this message

clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> Am 08.11.2011 16:43, schrieb jhu:
>
> >> (With the 3.7 release proper things will get a lot easier again.)
> >
> > What else needs to be done for the final 3.7 release?
>
> Mostly stuff "outside" of the actual POV-Ray program. The installer
> still needs some overhaul, the Windows console version needs to be
> brought back to life, installation procedure documentation needs to be
> reviewed and possibly rewritten, recommendations for 3rd party patches
> would be nice to have as well, there's a motion to include openEXR and
> boost into the source distributions - stuff like that.
>
> As for the actual programming work, bugs.povray.org knows all the
> pending issues.

Why not just make the current source 3.7.0 then and call the next one 3.7.1 when
the peripheral stuff is added?

Post a reply to this message

Am 09.11.2011 23:08, schrieb jhu:
> clipka<ano### [at] anonymousorg>  wrote:
>> Am 08.11.2011 16:43, schrieb jhu:
>>
>>>> (With the 3.7 release proper things will get a lot easier again.)
>>>
>>> What else needs to be done for the final 3.7 release?
>>
>> Mostly stuff "outside" of the actual POV-Ray program. The installer
>> still needs some overhaul, the Windows console version needs to be
>> brought back to life, installation procedure documentation needs to be
>> reviewed and possibly rewritten, recommendations for 3rd party patches
>> would be nice to have as well, there's a motion to include openEXR and
>> boost into the source distributions - stuff like that.
>>
>> As for the actual programming work, bugs.povray.org knows all the
>> pending issues.
>
> Why not just make the current source 3.7.0 then and call the next one 3.7.1 when
> the peripheral stuff is added?

One reason is that we want 3.7.0 release proper to be fit for 
distribution without having to apologize for a bunch of remaining flaws. 
Something that can be used not only by POV-Ray veterans, but also by 
newbies, without much hassle. After all, we've already made the software 
available (well, mostly that is) for people who don't mind the flaws; we 
just called it "3.7.RC3", because we don't think it deserves to be 
called a release proper yet.

Another reason is that the intention is to dual-license the 3.7 release 
under the GPL; that's where the console version becomes necessary. (The 
GUI uses a 3rd party editor library that can't be distributed under the 
GPL, so it will be available only in the variant distributed under the 
POV-Ray license.)

Post a reply to this message