One way to reduce the size of the files is to decimate the object (i.e.
reduce the number of triangles).  This can be done without significantly
altering the way the object looks.  For the work I have been doing (see the
thread 'scientific use of povray') I routinely generate objects with tens to
hundreds of thousands of triangles (via my isosurfacing program) and then
reduce those to a few thousand (or hundred) triangles with no appreciable
loss of object quality.  The program I use is called QSLIM.  It can be found
at

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~garland/quadrics/qslim.html

It is designed specifically to give the highest possible reduction in
triangle count with a minimum of object distortion.

Jim

<SNIP!>

>>     I like it. After playing with it for a couple minutes I can
>> tell me and the program are going to get along well together.
>> I'm going to have to model a life preserver for my hard
>> drive though. The weight of the files it produces are
>> causing it to sink quickly.
>>
>> Ken
>
>Yeah, I know it's a big problem. I cut spaces, use only 4
>digit of precision past the point, (and only 2 for normals).
>However it compresses well with say, Windows NT's built-in
>file system compression (LSASS)... There must be some
>kind of equivalent system with win9x.
>
>...it can also suck quite a bit of memory when you push
>it to greater depths (6,7 or 8, if you dare!).
>
>Best,
>
>    S.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>Steven Pigeon                     Ph. D. Student.
>University of Montreal.
>pig### [at] iroumontrealca           Topics: data compression,
>pig### [at] jspumontrealca          signal processing,
>ste### [at] researchattcom           non stationnary signals
>                                  and wavelets.
>----------------------------------------------------------
>         http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~pigeon
>
>

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