hi,

William F Pokorny <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> On 12/9/19 5:03 PM, jr wrote:
> ...
> Apparently I started a response months back and didn't finish it.
> (Thunderbird was not showing anything sitting in my drafts folder.)

try handkerchief + knots.  :-)


> Up front. I'm changing direction. I'm working toward a personal,
> substantially cut down, *nix only version of POV-Ray. With new git (or
> perhaps mercurial) repositories once I get done with all the pruning.
> Meaning, while the branches I've posted are today still pull-able
> against the last commit to master more than a year ago, I no longer plan
> to update/re-base those branches should POV-Ray development resume.

intriguing.  does "substantially cut down" translate into subset of (current)
features?


> -----
> Now, completing the response to your months old questions:
>
> >
> > slightly confused by the interpolation options, they're not "regular" POV-Ray?
> Yes and no.
> ...
> Aside: Today interpolations 1 & 2 have seam and ringing artefacts,
> respectively, limiting their usefulness as functions / shapes. ...

the problem I'm seeing with media, artifacts (almost like "shadows") when using
interpolation(s).


> > after some thought, the 'Density File Pattern Updates' + 'Non-portable 32 bit
> > DF3 write capability' + perhaps 'Both image_map and pigment_map support in
> > density block'.  would that combination "play nice"?
> >
> Yes, should be you can use all those at once. I've made an effort to
> keep the branches independent even changing a couple slightly in the
> interim so they don't collide(1,2).

good, thanks.


> ...
> >> We have a single physical web site. When it goes down ...
> > it would be nice to have mirror or two.  (personally, I think that if "the gods"
> > put the content on a DVD (or two) and offered those for sale, I'd buy.  and
> > while on money, if I could take out an annual subscription of 10-15 € or USD to
> > help maintain .. POV-Ray, I would.  (and am quite certain that I'm not alone in
> > that))
> >
> Christoph had button up at one point (for uberpov only?), but it was to
> some new-ish site and I'm leery of those. I'd subscribe too to support
> POV-Ray - if the payment mechanism reputable.

:-)  personally like using PayPal, but see below.


> Have you seen where github itself is pushing / supporting better ways to
> financially support open source projects (GitHub sponsors)? For example:
> ...

I like the apparent simplicity of a single button, but wasn't familiar with any
of the names except Patreon.  but yes, contributing via the project's home page
does seem sensible.


> I'd pay for a web-news group database searchable dump too (perhaps USB
> over DVD... :-) ) ...

(just) showing my age.  :-)


> Aside: Chris taught me individual groups can be searched via google with
> arguments:

yes, although I tend to just use 'site: povray.org'.  there's a whole vocabulary
for narrowing searches (including '+' and '-' attached to individual
words/terms, though haven't a good reference to hand).


> ...
> Anyway... Having a paid support mechanism / data-products of some kind
> or not, would be up to the core team / Chris I'd guess.

given his (understandable) pride in reaching the 25 year milestone recently, one
would hope he'll read our remarks and (deign to) comment; not holding my
breath..


> FYI. I captured your February dictionary parsing bug test case for my
> own use - thanks. No idea if/when I might get to looking at it, but it's
> now one of my parser test cases.
>
> My apologies for the SLOW response.

no need.  cheers.


regards, jr.

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