POV-Ray

Using a facet pattern in a normal map results in a unspecified error in Evaluate_TPat at the render stage.
This probably should be caught at parse time to give a more descriptive error and a line number.

Example:

sphere {
  0, 1
  texture{
    pigment{rgb <1,1,1>}   
    normal {
      facets
      normal_map {
         [0 bumps ]
         [0.5 facets ]
         [1 bumps ]
      }
    } 
  }
}

For some particularly “heavy” SDL scripts, it might be desirable to override (or complement) the standard “Parsing 47110815K tokens” progress information with some more helpful custom info, e.g. “Planting trees... (37%)”, or “Generating terrain mesh row 47 of 500”.

In pvengine.cpp (file revision 154), lines 4003-4006 are exact duplicates of lines 3999-4002:

3997    case KEYWORD_LOOKUP_MESSAGE :
3998         hh_aklink.pszKeywords = (LPCSTR) lParam ;

3999         if (strncmp (hh_aklink.pszKeywords, "oooo", 4) == 0)
4000           hh_aklink.pszKeywords = ""  ;
4001         if (strncmp (hh_aklink.pszKeywords, "//", 2) == 0)
4002           hh_aklink.pszKeywords = ""  ;

4003         if (strncmp (hh_aklink.pszKeywords, "oooo", 4) == 0)
4004           hh_aklink.pszKeywords = ""  ;
4005         if (strncmp (hh_aklink.pszKeywords, "//", 2) == 0)
4006           hh_aklink.pszKeywords = ""  ;

4007         HtmlHelp (NULL, engineHelpPath, HH_KEYWORD_LOOKUP, (DWORD_PTR) &hh_aklink) ;
4008         return (true) ;

This duplication appears pretty much useless to me - or am I missing something?

Many people clearly miss a simple for-loop construct in povray. It is indeed true that probably at least 99% of #while loops out there have the form of a simple for-loop. It’s much rarer to have to use more exotic forms of looping supported by the #while mechanism. Thus it would make sense if a #for construct would be added which would make writing such loops much easier and convenient.

The only remaining question would be the syntax.

IMO the for-loop construct should implicitly declare a local variable of a specified name, automatically increment it during the loop, and then undefine it after the loop ends. It could perhaps be something along the lines of:

#for(<identifier name>, <initial value>, <final value> [, <step>])
  <loop body>
#end

Example:

#for(Counter, 1, 10) // 'Counter' gets values 1, 2, 3, ..., 10
  #debug concat(str(Counter, 0, 0), "\n")
#end
#for(Counter, 1, 10, 3) // 'Counter' gets values 1, 4, 7, 10
  #debug concat(str(Counter, 0, 0), "\n")
#end

I think this syntax ought to be relatively easy to implement (compared to more “traditional” syntaxes, such as something like “for Counter = 1 to 10” or the C syntax, which would be a lot more complicated).

Of course this raises a couple of questions:

1) What happens if ‘Counter’ was already declared as an identifier? One of three possibilities comes to mind:

• The ‘Counter’ in the for-loop replaces the previous identifier, as a regular #local command would.

• The ‘Counter’ in the for-loop hides the identifier for the duration of the loop, and unhides it afterwards.

• A syntax error is given (ie. the identifier name must be unused).

2) Should the user be able to modify the counter variable from inside the body of the loop? Something like this comes to mind as viable:

// Prints the values 1, 2, 3, 9 and 10
#for(Counter, 1, 10)
  #debug concat(str(Counter, 0, 0), "\n")
  #if(Counter = 3) #local Counter = 8; #end
#end

Alternatively the counter variable could be read-only.

Additionally, it could be nice if #break could be used to immediately jump out of the current loop (either #while or #for).

The following code is erroneously accepted by POV-Ray (tested with 3.7.0.beta.36):

pigment{
  slope { x }
  checker
}

The result is a checker pattern.

Apparently there is an EXIT statement missing in the slope-pattern parsing code in parstxtr.cpp.

The function of the “Debug_File=” .ini option has changed from 3.6 to 3.7.37a.
In 3.6, when rendering multiple frames, a debug file would be created that then appended the debug lines for each frame into the file. It was therefore able to have debug data that identified what parameters were used in which frame in case a frame did not have the desired effect.

In 3.7.37a, the debug file does not perform this function. Instead it creates a new debug file (overwriting the prior) with each new frame. Therefore the debug data is only useful for the final frame (or wherever the render was halted). This is useful for a single frame render or for identifying a fault within a series of frames (because only the last one will remain) but it is not useful for many frames that render successfully.

This problem does not cause any rendering errors or other defects. The debug file specified will only contain the debug data for the last frame rendered.

Per discussion in the forum it was unknown if this was a bug or “feature”. At this time it is causing me a problem so I am submitting the bug. No related bugs were found searching for “output” or “debug” in any status.

Operating System in use is Windows XP. I cannot test 3.7.37a in additional OSes, but it does not seem like it would be OS-specific.

20 library paths is a bit small given the sheer number of include files I’ve collected over the years. An increase in the number, and/or the ability to include wildcards in the search path, would be great.

Many programming languages support an indeterminate number of parameters in functions/macros.

JavaScript for instance supports an “arguments” object.

Lua for instance supports the “args” object.

I would like to see that added to POV as well.

Here’s an JavaScript example:

function ArgTest(a, b){
   var i, s = "The ArgTest function expected ";
   var numargs = arguments.length;     //Get number of arguments passed.
   var expargs = ArgTest.length;       //Get number of arguments expected.
   if (expargs < 2)
      s += expargs + " argument. ";
   else
      s += expargs + " arguments. ";
   if (numargs < 2)
      s += numargs + " was passed.";
   else
      s += numargs + " were passed.";
   s += "\n\n"
   for (i =0 ; i < numargs; i++){      //Get argument contents.
   s += "  Arg " + i + " = " + arguments[i] + "\n";
   }
   return(s);                          //Return list of arguments.
}

Request a system variable to test whether a scene file has been included by another scene file.

For instance:

#if (is_included)
  camera {...}
#end

Using the concat function is tedious. Why not just have an operator with which to concatenate strings?

“Hello " + “world!”

“Hello " . “world!”

...for instance nVidia’s CUDA architecture, discussed here and other places.

General consensus is that it’s not worth the effort if only a partial set of POV-Ray’s features are possible.

‘povray -H10 -W20 myscene.pov’ will generate a file with a picture 10 pixels high and 20 pixels wide, BUT in the message pane it displays

Image resolution.....20 by 10 (rows 1 to 20, columns 1 to 10)

instead of

Image resolution.....20 by 10 (rows 1 to 10, columns 1 to 20)

or

Image resolution.....20 by 10 (columns 1 to 20, rows 1 to 10) 

In the folder “ready made scenes”, there is the file “B0 - Basic scene 11 - pure white background.txt”.
The text string to be rendered lacks the “e” in “pure”. Unfortunately, this makes the typo visible in the “Insert menu” preview image.

If the “e” is added, the text needs to be scaled a bit smaller (0.43 instead of 0.44) to fit inside the view.

The following code contains a possible “fix” (whatever).
It would be great if someone could fix this easy issue:

text { ttf "arial.ttf", "pure white background", 0.02, 0.0 // thickness, offset
       texture{ pigment{ color rgb<1,0.6,0>*0.5 } 
                finish { phong 0.1 }
              } // end of texture

       scale<1,1.25,1>*0.43
       translate<-2.10,-0.30,0.00 >
      } // end of text object ---------------------------------------------

.../scenes/objects/fractal2.pov

in global_settings  "max_trace" should be "max_trace_level"

.../scenes/advanced/diffuse_back.pov

in global_settings  assumed_gamma statement should not be followed by a semicolon

.../scenes/advanced/blocks/stackernight.pov

in global_settings  "assummed_gamma" should be spelled "assumed_gamma"

.../scenes/portfolio/*.pov

in all files other than _empty.pov the parse stops at the lines containing "[frame_number-1]" I'm guessing it should be "[frame_number]-1"  

Subsurface scattering must be made radiosity-aware.

Adjusting the brightness of an image-mapped sky sphere, although not an uncommon task especially when using HDR light probes, currently is cumbersome at best, as it is not possible to specify a “finish { ambient ... }” statement.

To simplify tuning a sky sphere’s brightness, I suggest introducing a “brightness FLOAT” modifier (defaulting to 1.0) to either the sky_sphere block or (as a more versatile solution) the image_map statement.

The Rect data type needs to be renamed to avoid a clash with a Mac OSX declaration. It was originally called Rectangle, but this clashed with a Windows declaration. Something more POV-specific should be used, e.g. PovRect.

There can be square (32×32) blotches in partially transparent objects.

global_settings {
   max_trace_level 10
}

camera { 
   location <-30,10,5> 
   look_at <0,0,0> 
   angle 25 
}


light_source { 
   <-100,30,70> 
   rgb 1 
}

difference { // make a dome
  sphere { <0,0,0> 5 }  // ball
  sphere { <0,0,0> 4.9 } // hollow interior
  box { <-6,-6,-6> <6,1,6>  pigment { rgb <0,0,0> }}  // chop off bottom half
  pigment { rgbt <1,1,1,0.675> }
}

box { 
   <-6,-6,-6>, <6,0.99,6> 
   pigment { rgb <1,1,1> } 
   rotate <0,45,0>
} // sit it on a box

Adding an AOI pattern is asked for fairly frequently.

In unix distribution these scripts

• allscene.sh
• allanim.sh
• porfolio.sh

have the variable VERSION set to 3.6

The parser is missing extra period characters when it parses a float as a vector component.

#local sample = <0.0.0.1,0,0>;

Doesn’t generate an error, but should.

The commands:

povray +i /home/ronis/Nm=500/povray.00001.pov

or

povray +i/home/ronis/Nm=500/povray.00001.pov

fail with: povray: this pre-release version of POV-Ray for Unix expires in 2 day(s) and 1 hour(s)
Failed to parse command-line option

Going to the directory and simply running: povray +i povray.00001.pov
works.

I came across this by accident trying to get emac’s povray mode to work; apparently it passes the full path name to povray.

I don’t think there is a problem in 3.6.1

After a recent update on the POV-Wiki the GuMax skin doesn’t recognize MediaWiki:Common.css entries.

Develop MediWiki extension to extract documentation sets from the POV-Wiki.

In POV-ray 3.7 beta 33 under Windows XP, the editor’s MRU list incorrectly handles files that have a comma in the pathname. Only the part of the name before the comma appears on the MRU list, but the rest of the name is left off.
Consequently, the file cannot be reopened via the MRU list. The file is also not reopened on launch if pov was closed with the file open. This also occurs in 3.6.1, I haven’t tried it under 3.6.2 yet.

Interestingly enough, a quick peek in the registry shows that both 3.6 and 3.7
are saving the entire path name correctly under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\POV-Ray\v3.6\POV-Edit\Recent (or \v3.7\POV-Edit\Recent).

This seems to be limited strictly to the editor’s MRU list. The file can still be opened normally using the open dialog box. Calling POV-ray from the command line and using a file or path name with commas in it works correctly. Included files with commas in the path work correctly, and the Tools→Edit last rendered file/View last rendered file work correctly also.

To duplicate, save a file with a comma in the pathname (either in the directory
name or the filename itself). Close the file, then attempt to reopen it using the MRU list in the file menu.

Some sample scenes are no longer up-to-date, causing warnings, and should be fixed. For instance, the advanced/benchmark scene still includes “Buffer_Output=Off” and “Buffer_Size=0” in its .ini file. This should be checked systematically, and fixed as appropriate.

It seems that the new area_illuminate flag for area lights does not take into account fade_power and fade_distance. The illumination falloff is still being calculated from the center of the light_source.

Here’s some relevant code:

camera{
  location<0,10,-10>
  look_at 0
}
plane{y,0 pigment{rgb 1}}
light_source{
  y*.1,100
  area_light x*10, z*1, 8, 8
  jitter
  area_illumination
  fade_power 2 fade_distance 1
}

When rendering a series of scenes (e.g. animation, or render queue in POV-Ray for Windows), number_of_waves is not properly reset to its default value between scenes, causing the parameter to default to the value set by the previous scene.

For instance, rendering the following scenes from a queue will cause “arches.pov” to be rendered differently the second time:

1. scenes\textures\finishes\arches.pov
2. scenes\textures\normals\normavg.pov
3. scenes\textures\finishes\arches.pov (again!)

The parser does not accept mesh objects (or CSG objects including a mesh object) as a parameter to the inside() built-in function, reporting error “Solid object identifier expected”, even if the mesh is “solidified” by specifying an inside_vector.

(see news://news.povray.org:119/4a983716@news.povray.org)

Add a way to get and set font metrics.

Attached an image that shows what I’m talking about.

Thanks!!

Improve native support for 2D primitives. Ideally a 1:1 mapping of SVG primitives/shapes. They go a long way to making diagrams look a lot better. Having to create image maps based on externally created bitmaps slows the workflow down a lot!

Add metatags to output images identifying the file as having been created using POV-Ray.

In POV-Ray 3.6 (including 3.62), checker and cells patterns are off by 0.001 (1e-3) units, as can be demonstrated with this scene:

camera {
  location  <0.0, 0.0, -5.0>
  direction 1.5*z
  right     x*image_width/image_height
  look_at   <0.0, 0.0,  0.0>
}

box { <-1,-1,0>, <0,0,1> pigment { checker color rgb 1 color rgb 0 scale   0.2 translate <-0.5,-0.5,0> } finish { ambient 1 diffuse 0 } }
box { < 1, 1,0>, <0,0,1> pigment { checker color rgb 1 color rgb 0 scale   0.2 translate < 0.5, 0.5,0> } finish { ambient 1 diffuse 0 } }
box { < 1,-1,0>, <0,0,1> pigment { checker color rgb 1 color rgb 0 scale 200.0 translate < 0.5,-0.5,0> } finish { ambient 1 diffuse 0 } }
box { <-1, 1,0>, <0,0,1> pigment { checker color rgb 1 color rgb 0 scale 200.0 translate <-0.5, 0.5,0> } finish { ambient 1 diffuse 0 } }

The same can be demonstrated for the cells pattern.

POV-Ray 3.7 beta 34 is “clean”.

In the following scene, the mesh object will always cast a fully-opaque shadow, even if the image has an alpha channel:

camera {
  location  <0.5, 1.0, -1.0>
  look_at   <0.5, 0.0,  0.5>
}

light_source { <0, 30, 0> color rgb 1 }

mesh {
    triangle { <0,0,0>, <1,0,0>, <1,0,1> uv_vectors <0,0>, <1,0>, <1,1> }
    triangle { <0,0,0>, <1,0,1>, <0,0,1> uv_vectors <0,0>, <1,1>, <0,1> }
    texture { pigment { uv_mapping image_map {png "FOOBAR.png"} } }
}

plane { y, -0.1 pigment { color rgb 1 } }

The following modification to the texture will give the expected results:

    texture { uv_mapping pigment { image_map {png "FOOBAR.png"} } }

The problem can be observed with both POV-Ray 3.7 (tested with beta.34), as well as 3.6 (tested with 3.6.2).

The configure script for unix uses a dumb string compare to test whether libpng version is 1.2.5 or higher, leading it to reject (for instance) libpng 1.2.27 and unnecessarily compile and statically link the older libpng version it comes with.

Scenes starting with the incorrect syntax

version 3.7;

do not raise an error, instead they render a black screen with an empty scene warning.
#version should fail with an error when the # is missing.

Windows 7, Home Premium 64bit
In Options/Editor Window/Editor Preferences/Language Tabs
saving a tab size of 4 does not work - on restart it reverts to the default of 8

In Options/Editor Window/Editor Preferences/Misc
saving a Line numbering style of Decimal and a Start number of 1, does not work, on restart the defaults are restored.

When I try to re-render the insert menu bitmaps,on the Windows version 3.7b36 there is an error with the
Shapes.pov file.
line 474: Parse Error: Unexpected additional ‘.’ in floating-point number

line 474 is:

<2.6, 0>, <3.6.9>, <4, 1.1>, <3.4, 2>, <3, 1>, <2, 1>

The second vector has two decimal points
Change to <3.6,.9>