hi,

first off (to be sure, to be sure.. ;-)), I do think that the aim/goal of this
project is a very good/useful one.  (you're not alone discovering
"special"/keywords + stuff :-), so anything that aids discovery and learning is
"The Right Thing(tm)" to do imo)  however, sorry to say, as is I'm not tempted
to "pitch in", for the reasons given below.


"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> Here's the latest version, some more formatting and a few additions to the
> keyword examples.
>
>> I did some easy ones to just get a few illustrative examples in, but I'd say
>> that maybe the entries which could use the most explanation should get
>> vconcentrated on, if at all possible.
>
>> It's mostly just the list of keywords.
>
>> It makes my head hurt to imagine conceiving it all and implementing it
>> in source code,...

unsurprising.  :-)  had a good look at this and the previous version.  over
8,000 new lines in the .pov, yet little of that is functional.

as is, your project is pretty much no-can-do.  how large is the .pov going to
grow once real(istic) content for _all_ that POV-Ray provides is furnished?
"unmaintainable" and (debug) "nightmare" come to mind.  so reason one is my
concerns regarding .. structural deficiencies.  I'd say some kind of front-end
which gives the user easy selection and spits out a .pov/.ini combo to render
the subject of interest, backed by a db where the boilerplate and other
data/info reside, would be a (much) more realistic approach.


> I think it would be a good idea to be able to "animate" the main file and have
> the ini/clock spit out the whole list of examples.
> I suppose I could just use an array of the keywords and ever so slightly adapt
> what I have now...
>
>> The documentation really doesn't have any information right up front about the
>> valid input range for most of the functions,

this brings me to the second point.  the other day I saw a _nice_ background
animation and have been pondering .. how to.  essentially, I would need to begin
by morphing a box into a stack of superellipsoid "slices".  now, in an ideal
world, I'd select superellipsoid from some list/menu and get a .pov + .ini set
which, when rendered, gives me one or more reference images (of the type you
have a knack for) showing the effect of the EW + NS "exponents" being varied by
some (selectable?) increment, so I can _see_ what my imagination cannot provide.
 therefore, reason two, what I (and perhaps others too) would look for by way of
assistance from a project like yours, I cannot see develop from the current
beginnings.  (and, honestly, has the project progressed tangibly?)

(sorry 'bout length, lacked time to make it shorter. ;-))


regards, jr.

Post a reply to this message