POV-Ray

The Persistence of Vision Raytracer (POV-Ray).

This is the legacy Bug Tracking System for the POV-Ray project. Bugs listed here are being migrated to our github issue tracker. Please refer to that for new reports or updates to existing ones on this system.

IDCategoryTask Type  descReported InPrioritySeveritySummaryStatusProgressDue In Version
292Geometric PrimitivesUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 RC7Very LowLowArbitrary containing object for isosurfacesTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

A low priority thought for the future: isosurface now only allows contained_by to be a sphere or a box. It would be more intuitive to allow the same objects that are allowed in clipped_by and bounded_by (although it probably needs to be finite). It would enable allow much faster rendering in many cases:

1) There are a lot of cases when the sphere or a box are very bad in bounding - if an object has a hole, a torus may be better, and in many cases, cylindrical bounding would help a lot.
2) Sometimes, having a too large contained_by object includes far-away parts of the iso-function, and expose large gradients that you want to avoid. If a bounding object is better, you can decrease the max_gradient and speed up the render.
3) The isosurface is usually much more expensive to calculate than any normal bounding object, so it’s an improvement even if the intesection test is not as fast as bounding box.
4) A typical case: if you use texture-like functions to make the surface realistically rough, you know almost exactly what the bounding object is - it can be the original unmodified object.
5) For isosurface terrains, a preprocessing macro could create a rough mesh-like bounding object to contain the “mountains”, thus making everything faster.
6) In case you want clipping, having the contained_by set to the same object probably avoits calculating too many intersections.

The main modification is probably that the intersections of bounding objects can be split into more than one interval - but it’s probably worth it, the isosurfaces are usually a speed bottleneck.

264PhotonsUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 RC6DeferLowImprove precision of photon direction informationTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

In the photons map, the direction of each photon is stored as separate latitude & longitude angles (encoded in one byte each), causing the longitudinal direction component’s precision to be unnecessarily high for directions close to the “poles” (Y axis); in addition, encoded value -128 is never used. For better overall precision as well as precision homogenity, the following scheme could be used instead:

  • Encode the latitude (-pi/2 to +pi/2) into LatCount=226 distinct values (= 256*sqrt(pi)/2) rounded to the next even number) from 0 to LatCount-1 using
latCode = (int)((LatCount-1) * (lat/M_PI + 0.5) + 0.5)
  • For each latitude code, define a specific number of encodable longitude values, LngCount[latCode] = approx. cos(lat)*pi*65536/(2*LatCount); this can be a pre-computed table, and may need slight tweaking for optimum use of the code space. Encode the longitude (-pi to +pi) into a value from 0 to (LngCount[lat]-1) using
LC = LngCount[latCode];
lngCode = (int)(LC * (lng/(2*M_PI) + 0.5) + 0.5) % LC;
  • Besides LngCount[latCode], also store the sum of LngCount[i] with i < latCode as LatBase[latCode]; encode the direction as
dirCode = LatBase[latCode] + lngCode;
  • For decoding, a simple lookup from a precomputed list of directions could be used (2^15 entries, i.e. one hemisphere, will suffice). To conserve space, direction vectors could be scaled by (2^N-1) and stored as (N+1)-bit signed integer triples rather than floating point values; due to the limited precision of the lat/long information, 8 bits per coordinate might be enough, giving a table size of 96k. A full double-precision table would require 786k instead.
243Geometric PrimitivesUnimp. Feature/TODOAllDeferLowSphere sweep behaves wrong when scaledTracked on GitHub
0%
Future release Task Description

The sphere_sweep renders well when specified directly, but when it is scaled, its bounding box is calculated incorrectly, which clips the object so it almost disappears.

The effect is present for all three types of splines.

I’m attaching a test scene and the rendering result. The saving of the object with #declare has no effect, I just wanted to show both transformed and untransformed version.

I don’t think this issue is related to other artifacts occuring with sphere_sweep, as it is obviously an issue of the internal bounding box.

227Refactoring/CleanupUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 RC3Very LowHighFixed Vector LimitationsTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

See this documentation entry for more details.

205DocumentationUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 RC3Very LowLowSyntax documentation uses inconsistent notationTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

The syntax notation used in the main documentation is different than that used in the quick-reference section. This should be changed for consistency, using the superior quick-reference notation throughout.

181BackendUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 40Very LowMediumUnimplemented, altered or missing features to document ...Tracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

This is a list of unimplemented features and things to fix with respect to 3.7 vs 3.6 compatibility. They either need to be fixed in code, or failing that, to be documented prior to release.


Create_INI works differently from 3.6. Prior versions of POV-Ray would write all options to the file, even if they were not supplied by the user (non-supplied options would take the default value). Currently in 3.7, only supplied options are written, because the front-end does not send unused options to the back-end. The proper fix for this would be to have a set of defines that establish the defaults all in one place (currently we rely on hard-coded values scattered around the code), and for the Output_INI_Option() function to look up and use the default when not supplied. As this is not likely to be done before 3.7 release, we need to document it as a temporary situation.

The following messages are marked as ‘currently not supported by code’ in povmsgid.h. We need to check where this comment is correct and if so the docs need to be updated to indicate this (for items that are already documented). Some items may be re-implemented later, and some may never be:

  • kPOVAttrib_TestAbort
  • kPOVAttrib_TestAbortCount
  • kPOVAttrib_VideoMode
  • kPOVAttrib_Palette
  • kPOVAttrib_DisplayGammaType
  • kPOVAttrib_FieldRender
  • kPOVAttrib_OddField
  • kPOVAttrib_AntialiasGammaType
  • kPOVAttrib_LightBuffer
  • kPOVAttrib_VistaBuffer
  • kPOVAttrib_DrawVistas

This bug should be edited to add/remove items as time goes by.

172Image formatUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 39Very LowLowRe-implement progressive image outputTracked on GitHub
0%
Future release Task Description

With previous versions of POV-Ray, it was possible to turn off display output, but still assess the output during render by viewing the output file as it was progressively generated. This allowed e.g. to run a long render on a remote machine as a background process, and check the output from time to time via FTP or similar.

106DistributionUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 37Very LowLowUpdate sample scenes and include files for POV-Ray 3.7 ...Tracked on GitHub
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Task Description

Most sample scenes and include files were designed at times when POV-Ray did not to any proper gamma handling, or still used the inferior 3.6 “assumed_gamma” mechanism.

All the scenes and include files should be reviewed, and updated to fit the new 3.7 gamma model.

The primary task will probably be gamma-adjusting literal color values and ambient parameters; I suggest using macros (which ideally should be defined in an include file) to be set according to the #version statement, so the scene/include file could be kept compatible with older versions.

99Refactoring/CleanupUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 36DeferVery LowRefactor engine (front- & back-end) code for Unicode su...Tracked on GitHub
0%
Future release Task Description

Front- & Back-end code should be refactored for full Unicode support in scene files and strings.

98Refactoring/CleanupUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 36DeferMediumRefactor Windows UI code for Unicode supportTracked on GitHub
50%
Future release Task Description

Windows UI code should be refactored to use _TCHAR throughout instead of char, as well as the corresponding string function macros, to head for Unicode support.

75Geometric PrimitivesUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 34Very LowMediumReplace POV_MALLOC with std::vector in shape codeTracked on GitHub
30%
Future release Task Description

In the files bezier.cpp, fpmetric.cpp, fractal.cpp, hfield.cpp, isosurf.cpp, lathe.cpp, poly.cpp, polygon.cpp, prism.cpp, sor.cpp, and sphsweep.cpp the use of POV_MALLOC can be replaced by std::vector quite easily because the containing class already is a C++ class. As this is a low hanging fruit for continued code cleanup, it should be done sooner rather than later.

71User interfaceUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 34Very LowLowraise warning when command line option has no effectTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

Warnings should be raised when a command line option has no effect,
for example...

pvengine +am

is legal, but without the number after it, it has no effect.

pvengine +am7

should be an error, and also raises no warnings.

70PhotonsUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 34LowHighload/save photons should be controlled via command lineTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

Just like radiosity load/save, the photon mapping load/save mechanism should be moved to the frontend and controlled via command-line switch, instead of being SDL-driven in the backend.

58Parser/SDLUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 32DeferLowallow SDL code to detect optional featuresTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

Some features are optional in custom builds of POV-Ray (I’m thinking about OpenEXR in particular); it would be nice to have a syntax for an SDL script to check for support of such features, so it may take some fallback action if the feature is not supported.

8RadiosityUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 32DeferLowImprove Radiosity "Cross-Talk" Rejection in CornersTracked on GitHub
0%
Future release Task Description

Near concave edges, radiosity samples may be re-used at a longer distance away from the edge than towards the edge; there is code in place to ensure this, but it only works properly where two surfaces meet roughly rectangularly, while failing near the junction of three surfaces or non-rectangular edges, potentially causing “cross-talk”.

It should be investigated how the algorithm can be improved or replaced to better cope with non-trivial geometry.

7RadiosityUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 32LowMediumRe-implement Radiosity render abort/continue supportTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

For proper render abort/continue support, radiosity cache data must be written to (or read from) disk even if the user does not explicitly opt to have a sample data file written/read. This feature has temporarily been dropped from 3.7 beta and is still pending re-implementation.

To meet high-reproducibility requirements in conjunction with SMP operation, it may be necessary to extend the 3.6 radiosity cache file format.

6Subsurface ScatteringUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 32DeferLowIntegrate Subsurface Scattering with PhotonsTracked on GitHub
0%
Future release Task Description

Subsurface scattering must be made photon-aware.

4Subsurface ScatteringUnimp. Feature/TODO3.70 beta 32Very LowLowIntegrate Subsurface Scattering with standard lighting ...Tracked on GitHub
90%
Future release Task Description

Subsurface Scattering still uses its own rudimentary code to compute illumination from classic light sources; this must be changed to use the standard light source & shadow handling code, to add support for non-trivial light sources (e.g. spotlights, cylindrical lights, area lights), partially-transparent shadowing objects etc.

335Parser/SDLPossible Bug3.70 releaseVery LowLowmacro works in variable but not in arrayTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

This doesn’t work:

#declare pavement_object = array[2]
{

object {trash_can_macro()	scale 3/4			translate -x * 1/2},
object {potted_plant_macro(_CT_rand2)	scale 3/4	scale 3/2	translate -x * 1/2}

}

This does work:

#declare trash_can_object = object {trash_can_macro()};
#declare potted_plant_object = object {potted_plant_macro(_CT_rand2)};
#declare pavement_object = array[2]
{

object {trash_can_object	scale 3/4			translate -x * 1/2},
object {potted_plant_object	scale 3/4	scale 3/2	translate -x * 1/2}

}

Logically, I cannot see a reason for this to be so.

323User interfacePossible Bug3.70 releaseVery LowVery LowTooltip for render speed status bar has wrong unitTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

Tooltip popup for render speed always displays as “Pixels per Second” rather than matching status bar. I’ve noticed it in 3 renders so far. Most of my renders are fast enough not to see any other unit besides PPS, but I should be able to reproduce again if necessary.

311User interfacePossible Bug3.70 releaseVery LowLowElepsed time error on very long rendersTracked on GitHub
0%
3.71 release Task Description

On a very long render, around day 24, the elapsed time display becomes incorrect, showing 4294967272d 4294967272h 4294967272m 4294967272s.

Found on Windows 7 64 bits and reproduced on Windows 7 32 bits.
NOT reported on other platforms.

302OtherPossible Bug3.70 RC7Very LowLowconfusing error message when .ini file cannot be parsedTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

When a command-line parameter in an .ini file cannot be parsed (such as “+a.3”), POV-Ray reports a “Problem with setting”, quoting the command line, rather than indicating that the problem occurred in an .ini file. This leads the user to think that the problem is with the command line itself, unnecessarily confusing him.

293User interfacePossible Bug3.70 RC7Very LowLowPOV-Ray Shown Twice in Windows TaskbarTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

When rendering for some time, it occasionally happens that POV-Ray appears twice in the Windows taskbar. One button is the normal one, the other one does not open any window when clicked on and reads something like “99% complete” (see attached image), like the render window’s title, but obviously unrelated to it (probably the title the render window had shortly before?). After stopping the render, the odd taskbar button remains there until POV-Ray is closed.

  • Observed under Windows XP
  • POV-Ray 3.7.0.RC7.msvc10-sse2.win32
  • When applications are summarized into groups in the taskbar by Windows, the odd POV-Ray button is attached to the Windows Explorer group
  • Run with render priority set to “high”

Is this a Bug in Windows or in POV-Ray?

289Light sourcePossible Bug3.70 RC7Very LowLowarea_illumination with light fading and scattering medi...Tracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

with reference to http://bugs.povray.org/task/46

still some issue with area illumination and light fading when interacting with media

seems light fade is not taken into account with scattering media.
emission and absorption media seem to work fine.
occurs with all scattering types.

#version 3.7;

global_settings {
 ambient_light 0
 assumed_gamma 1
}

camera {
  location <0, 3, -5>
  look_at <0, 2, 0>
}


#declare Light = 3; // light 1 = individual lights
                   // light 2 = standard area light
                   // light 3 = area light with area illumination

#declare Fade = 1; // light fading: 1 on, 0 off

#declare Media = 1; // media 1 = scattering
                    // media 2 = emission
                    // media 3 = absorption

#declare Type = 1; // scattering media type


#switch(Light)
 #case(1)

  #declare Ls = light_source {
    0
    1/7
    #if(Fade) fade_distance 2 fade_power 2 #end
  }

  union {
   object { Ls }
   object { Ls translate .5*x }
   object { Ls translate x }
   object { Ls translate 1.5*x }
   object { Ls translate -.5*x }
   object { Ls translate -x }
   object { Ls translate -1.5*x }
   translate y
  }

 #break
 #case(2)

  light_source{
    y
    1
    area_light 3*x, z, 7, 1
    #if(Fade) fade_distance 2 fade_power 2 #end
  }

 #break
 #case(3)

  light_source{
    y
    1
    area_light 3*x, z, 7, 1
    #if(Fade) fade_distance 2 fade_power 2 #end
    area_illumination on
  }

 #break

#end


cylinder { <0, .01, 0>, <0, 5, 0>, 2 pigment { rgbt 1 } hollow no_shadow
 interior {
  media {
   #if(Media = 1) scattering {Type, 30 } #end
   #if(Media = 2) emission 2 #end
   #if(Media = 3) absorption 2 #end
    density { cylindrical turbulence 1.5 scale <1, .14, 1> }
  }
 }
 scale <.15, 1, .4> translate 4*z
}

plane { y,0 pigment { rgb .7 } }
plane { -z,-7 pigment { gradient y color_map { [.5 rgb 1][.5 rgb 0] } } }
union {
 sphere { 0,.05 }
 sphere { .5*x,.05 }
 sphere { x,.05 }
 sphere { 1.5*x,.05 }
 sphere { -.5*x,.05 }
 sphere { -x,.05 }
 sphere { -1.5*x,.05 }
 translate y
  hollow pigment { rgbt 1 } interior { media { emission 10 } }
}
288Geometric PrimitivesPossible Bug3.70 RC7Very LowLowTolerance problem with refraction in blobs in CSG inter...Tracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

If a blob is intersected by something else, the composite object has incorrect refractions if it is too small (in absolute units). Having the same object constructed without a blob, the errors happen at much smaller scales. The errors don’t affect solid objects, just refractions.

An example shows a half-sphere, constructed as CSG sphere + plane, and identical half-pshere, constructed as CSG blob + plane. When the scale of the entire construction is changed, the refractions disappear first for the blob, and at 100x times smaller scale, also for the sphere. The right side shows the solid version, showing that the surface intersection test is ok, it’s just the refraction that fails.

The problem is not present when looking from the curved side (the blob side). So the ray that hits the blob, gets refracted correctly, but the ray that hits the intersecting plane first, and should then refract in the blob from the inside, doesn’t work. If in attached sphere, you exchange -y with y in clipping planes, everything is ok.

The scale when this happens is not very small - blobs of radius 0.02 already fail (noticed because in 1=1metre scale, blob raindrops on a glass plate didn’t have intersections when looking from the back).

Examples are named by factor=9,0.9,0.09,0.009 and you can see first the blob (top) refraction gets smaller and disappears, then later the bottom (sphere) also gets the same problem.

286Texture/Material/FinishPossible Bug3.70 RC7Very LowLowreflection exponent other than 1 causes black artifacts...Tracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

[EDIT: Original title was “radiosity causing black patches when using emission less than 0”]

see attached image for reference.

mountain on left has emission set to -.13 and black patches show up, when emmission set to 0 or greater no patches

changing max_trace or any radiosity settings has no effect

setting no_radiosity on mountain fixed problem as a temp fix

code sample ...

#version 3.7;

#default { finish { ambient 0 } }
#declare rad_lvl = 4;

global_settings {
  assumed_gamma 1
  max_trace_level max(5,rad_lvl*3)
  adc_bailout .007
  ambient_light 0
  radiosity {
   pretrace_start 64/max(image_width,image_height)
   #if(rad_lvl)
    pretrace_end max(2,int(8/rad_lvl))/max(image_width,image_height)
   #else
    pretrace_end 32/max(image_width,image_height)
   #end
   count pow(rad_lvl+1,2)*10
   nearest_count 1
   #if(rad_lvl) error_bound 1/rad_lvl #end
   low_error_factor max(.4,(8-rad_lvl)/10)
   recursion_limit 1
   gray_threshold .25
   brightness 1
   max_sample 1
   normal on
   media off
   always_sample off
   minimum_reuse min(.008,8/max(image_width,image_height))
   maximum_reuse .1
   adc_bailout .02
  }
}

#declare sunC = rgb <1, 1, .9925>; // actual D65 standard illuminant
#declare SkyC = rgb <.3195, .5745, .8805>;
#macro GammaAdj(C,G) rgb <pow(C.red,G),pow(C.green,G),pow(C.blue,G)> #end

light_source {
  50000*y
  sunC*1.06
  area_light <-300, 0, -300>, <300, 100, 300>, 3, 3
  rotate <-28, 0, 14>
  adaptive 0
  circular
}

 sphere { 0, 1
  texture {
   pigment{
    gradient y
    pigment_map{
     [.07 GammaAdj(SkyC,.5)]
     [.2 average pigment_map { [.5 GammaAdj(SkyC,.75)][1 wrinkles turbulence .65 octaves 5 lambda 3 omega .9 color_map { [.2 rgb 1][.5 SkyC] } scale <10, .1, 1>] }]
     [.4 GammaAdj(SkyC,1.15)]
     [.5 GammaAdj(SkyC,1.35)]
    }
    rotate -75*y scale <1, 1, 100>
   }
   finish { diffuse .72 }
  }
  scale 100000
  inverse
 }


#declare Cam_pos = Cam_pos + <0, 20, -40>;
#declare Cam_lkt = Cam_lkt + <0, 10, 50>;
camera {
  location Cam_pos
  direction <0,0,1>
  right 1.33*x
  up y
  sky <0,1,0>
  #if(Cam_agl) angle Cam_agl #end
  look_at Cam_lkt
}

#macro sinai(HillQ)
 #local F = function { pattern { granite poly_wave 4 turbulence .01 lambda 2.1 omega .9 scale 5 translate <.2, 0, 18.08> scale <2, 1, 3> } }
 #local N = function { pigment { crackle ramp_wave turbulence .3 lambda 2.2 omega .76 color_map {[0 rgb 0][1 rgb 1] } scale .07 translate <-.15, -.12, .13> } }
 height_field {
  function HillQ, HillQ { F(x,y,z) + N(x,y,z).grey/47 }
  water_level .05
  clipped_by { box { <0, .05, .3>, <1, 1, 1> } }
  translate <-.5, -.05, -.5>
  rotate 20*y
  texture {
   pigment{ crackle color_map { [0 rgb <161, 107, 71>/255][.25 rgb <193, 132, 93>/255][.35 rgb <218, 163, 123>/255][.45 rgb <212, 153, 112>/255][.55 rgb <222, 166, 125>/255][.65 rgb <236, 178, 124>/255][.75 rgb <220, 154, 102>/255][.85 rgb <160, 121, 103>/255] } turbulence .75 lambda 3 omega .7 scale .1 }
   finish{ diffuse albedo .56 emission -.13 specular .25 roughness .02 brilliance 1.5 metallic 1.3 }
   normal { crackle poly_wave .7 turbulence .4 omega .8 scale <.007, .03, .007> }
  }
  rotate 12*y
  scale <2400, 2000, 3000>*1.5
  translate <1900, 0, 1900>
  scale <-1,1,1>
  no_radiosity
 }
#end


sinai(1600)
plane { y,0 pigment { rgb <1, 1, 1> } }

//courtyard gating not included due to size of code and many external files needed. add anything around <0,0,0> to try to reproduce effect of error
269Texture/Material/FinishPossible Bug3.70 RC6Very LowLowTransparent Objects inside Media Cause ArtefactsTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

When placing a transparent object inside another object which contains media, artefacts may occur (see attached file). They look similar to specular highlights or are just strange white spots in the image.

I discovered artefacts of that kind first in the image of which MediaArtefactDetail.png is a cropped part. The code I managed to reproduce such artefacts with contained a “starfield” sphere

sphere {
  <0,0,0>, 1
  
  pigment { rgbt 1 }
  
  interior {
    media {
      emission rgb 1/10
      density {
        crackle form <1,0,0>
        density_map {
          [0.0 rgb 1]
          [0.05 rgb 0]
        }
        scale 0.002
      }
    }
  }
  
  scale 1000
  
  hollow on
}

and a transparent sphere

sphere {
  <0,0,0>, 1
  
  pigment { rgbt 1 }
  
  scale 2
  
  hollow on
}

which is, obviously, completely inside the other sphere. So is the camera.

Since the sphere has a pigment { rgbt 1 }, it should be completely invisible, which is correctly rendered as long as the scaling factor is 1 and hollow off (MediaArtefact1.png). Changing hollow to on does not yet produce the artefact, but the right half of the output image seems to be shifted by one pixel (MediaArtefact2.png). Changing the scaling factor to 2 (as it is in the above code) produces the artefact (MediaArtefact3.png). Changing the camera location (MediaArtefact4.png) does not change anything, the artefact just “moves with the sphere”. Changing the sphere size again, however, seems to stir up the “stars” in the “starfield” sphere while not removing the artefacts (MediaArtefact5.png). Changing hollow to off again does neither (MediaArtefact6.png).

The artefacts are definitely no specular highlights. There is not even a light source in the scene that could produce any. I used POV-Ray 3.7 RC6 to render the images, but the artefact shown in MediaArtefactDetail.png already occured in POV-Ray 3.6 which I used to render that image.

251Parser/SDLPossible Bug3.70 RC6Very LowMediumScene / include files of >2GB size may cause problemsTracked on GitHub
0%
3.71 release Task Description

Code inspection shows that we’re still using fseek() and ftell() in various places (including text file input), which can’t handle file positions of 2GB and beyond (except on 64-bit linux machines); those calls need to be examined and (where appropriate) replaced with the fseek64() macro we’re already defining (but currently not using), and a to-be-defined ftell64() macro.

One potential (untested) error scenario would be a scene file calling a macro that is defined at the end of a > 2GB long include file.

246OtherPossible Bug3.70 RC6Very LowLowRegression on scale limit between 3.7 and previous rele...Tracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

From Thomas de Groot

Using the following code for a (sky) sphere in a scene, with light source well outside the sphere;
works correctly until the above scale value. Use a value of >=100*10e4 and the sphere becomes black.

#version 3.7;
global_settings{ assumed_gamma 1.0 }

#declare T_sky =
texture {
  pigment {
    gradient y
    pigment_map {
      [0.0 srgb <1.0,0.7,0.6>*1 transmit 0.5]
      [1.0 srgb <0.8,0.1,0.0>*1 transmit 0.5]
    }
  }
  finish {
    emission 0.9
    diffuse 0.0
  }
}

#declare T_cosmos =
texture {
  pigment {
    color rgbt <0,0,0,1>
  }
  finish {
    ambient 0.0
    diffuse 0.0
  }
}

sphere {
  <0,0,0>,1
  texture {T_sky}
  interior_texture {T_cosmos}
  no_shadow
  no_reflection
  inverse
  scale 99.9*10e4
}

Working with windows version of POV-Ray and Win7 x64

Is this normal for version 3.7 RC5? I seem to remember that with lower
versions of POV-Ray on could go at least to 10e6. Especially with the
Ringworld scenes back in 2010 the scales used where much larger without
any black out.

I can indeed confirm that the Ringworld scene does not render correctly anymore, with identical black out.

226Geometric PrimitivesPossible Bug3.70 RC3Very LowLowNear-coincident surface accuracyTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

This is a transparent box very close to a plane.

box {
    -1, 1
    pigment { rgbf <0, 0, 1, 1> }
}

plane {
    #if (version < 3.7)
        y, -1.0000007
    #else
        y, -1.00007
    #end
    pigment { rgb 1 }
    finish { ambient 1 }
}

camera {
    location <1, 2, 3>
    look_at 0
}

The box is placed 100 times closer to the plane for 3.6, but both 3.6 and 3.7 produce exactly the same black artifact (attached).

So apparently 3.7 is less accurate. (And the exact factor 100 feels suspicious.)

206OtherPossible Bug3.70 RC3Very LowLow"Cannot open file" error when text output files specifi...Tracked on GitHub
50%
3.71 release Task Description

I created an INI file which specifies the Input_File_Name, Output_File_Name, and also the Render_File and the remaining four text outputs as double-quoted absolute paths on my disk. When I run the render, I get the following output:

Preset INI file is ‘C:\USERS\TPREAL\DOCUMENTS\POV-RAY\V3.7\INI\QUICKRES.INI’, section is ‘[512×384, No AA]’.
Preset source file is ‘D:\Ruby\POV-Rb\ini\20110521_004037_Noix.ini’.
Rendering with 2 threads.
-
Cannot open file.
Render failed
-
CPU time used: kernel 0.06 seconds, user 0.02 seconds, total 0.08 seconds.
Elapsed time 0.52 seconds.

And the render does not start. The five text output files are not even created, and where the output image should be, there is a file with extension pov-state. The render works as it should only when I remove all five lines defining the five text output files. The paths I specify for the files are correct (paths exist and files do not, no white-spaces or anything), read/write restrictions are disabled in POV-Ray. This used to work in 3.6 and does not work now in 3.7 RC3. The error happens no matter if I run the render using GUI or command line.

(Also please note that the error message is really not useful here, it does not say which file it failed to open, and not even if it was an attempt to open for read or for write.)

I’d be really glad if you could correct this as it’s a critical functionality for me. I’m generating the POV-Ray code automatically and I need to parse the text output automatically to return the status to the generator.

183Texture/Material/FinishPossible Bug3.70 beta 40Very LowLowcutaway_textures broken with child unionsTracked on GitHub
50%
Future release Task Description

When using cutaway_textures in a CSG object that has union children, results are not as expected; instead, surfaces in the union children that have no explicit texture will be rendered with the default texture instead. This is not the case for e.g. difference children.

Example:

#default { texture { pigment { rgb 1 } } }

camera {
  right x*image_width/image_height
  location  <0,1.5,-4>
  look_at   <0,1,0>
}

light_source { <500,500,-500> color rgb 1 }

#declare U = union {
  sphere { <0,-0.1,-1>, 0.3 }
  sphere { <0, 0.1,-1>, 0.3 pigment { color red 1 } }
}

intersection {
  sphere { <0,0,0>, 1 pigment { color green 1 } }
  object { U }
  cutaway_textures
  rotate y*90
}

When declaring U as an intersection instead, the results are as expected, with the surface of the first sphere in U being rendered with the texture defined in the outer intersection.

151Runtime errorPossible Bug3.70 beta 37aVery LowLowNo way to cancel save while parsing, never ending error...Tracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

On Windows, when I try and save a file while it is being parsed prior to rendering, I get an error, “Failed to save file: The operation completed successfully”, with a single OK button to click. Despite the weird wording, I’m OK with that.

However after clicking OK I get the error, “Failed to save file ‘...’“, with three buttons: Cancel, Try Again, Continue. Not sure what “Continue” means in this context, given that the possibilities would seem to be covered by the other two buttons. Whatever.

Also, sometimes I get a message with only a single “Retry” button. Not sure what the exact message was.

Anyway, the real problem is that, regardless of which button I press, the program continues to spawning the same error message endlessly. Luckily there is a delay between them, but still it would be nice to have at least one of the three buttons *stop* POV-Ray from asking me again.

Also, once the program finishes parsing the file and it becomes possible once again to save the file, it does nothing. I.e. it doesn’t save the file. So what’s the point of the message and all the options? Why not just say, “Unable to save the file, file is parsing” and be done with it?

I think I recall the same behavior in 3.6.2, so it’s nothing new that’s been introduced.

50Runtime errorPossible Bug3.70 beta 32Very LowMediumFrequent segfaults with photon scenesTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

I observe frequent segfaults with POV-Ray 3.7 betas when rendering scenes using photons:

  • Debian Linux 4.0r5 “etch” for AMD64
  • AMD Phenom X4 9650 2.3GHz, 6 GB RAM
  • POV-Ray compiled with Intel icpc 11.0

Segfaults are sporadic but frequent (occurring in roughly 50% of all photon renders).

47PreviewPossible Bug3.70 beta 32Very LowLowRender Preveiw window can become disabledTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

If a render is continued with the +c option and the render had completed, the render preview window will disappear and the show/hide render window button will be grayed. Even after the scene is modified and the command line options have been changed, the show/hide button will still be grayed.

Opening or changing to another scene and rendering will not restore the button, nor will rendering with +d. However, if a trace is started using -d, halted, then continued using +d (or allowed to finish completely with -d and a new one is started using +d), then the preview window is restored.

This behavior is different from 3.6.1, which correctly always showed the preview window (since +d is default) unless -d was specified.

334Texture/Material/FinishFeature Request3.70 releaseVery LowLowHLS colorsTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

It would be nice to be able to specify colors in HLS as well as RGB.

Currently, you can use a macor to convert individual colors. But this does not work in color_maps where you want smooth gradations/interpolations between two or several colors.

333User interfaceFeature Request3.70 releaseVery LowLowMake text in "about" alt+b dialog selectable with the m...Tracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

When you press alt+b or access the “about” dialog in the Help menu it displays some text including software version number and list of contributors.

It would be nice to be able to select and copy this text using this mouse. Sometimes in the newsgroup I have to tell people what version of POVray I am using, and typing the version number can be a pain.

327Parser/SDLFeature Request3.70 releaseVery LowLowSupport for non-ASCII characters in filename stringsTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

pov 3.7 Can not identify the Chinese.I give the texture map filename in chinese,it turns out parse error.

319Texture/Material/FinishFeature Request3.70 releaseVery LowLowAdd interior to #default directiveTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

When working with predefined materials, it would be useful to have something like:

#if (!Use_photons)
  #default { interior { caustics 1 } }
#end

#include "my_predefined_materials.inc"

Default medias or IORs could also be useful.

310EditorFeature Request3.70 RC7Very LowLowEditor should remember bookmarksTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

Now the editor remembers only the cursor positions of the loaded files when starting a new PR session. It would be more friendly to remember whether the window was split or not, as well as the bookmarks.

300OtherFeature Request3.70 RC7DeferVery LowReference Documentation SupportTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

As emerged as an idea during the discussion of FS#299, an SDL / POV-Ray editor feature would be useful that allows API documentation via formal comments, e.g. in include files:

/**
 * Creates a car object.
 * @param a
 *        description of param a
 * ...
 */
#macro car(a,b,c)
  ...
#end

In addition to the ability of (auto-)generating a documentation file from such comments, an editor window feature would be convenient that allows popup display of a macro’s (object’s / parameter’s / ...) documentation section.

299Parser/SDLFeature Request3.70 RC7Very LowLowObject Properties FeatureTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

Up to POV-Ray 3.7 RC7 it has not been possible so far to declare custom properties for POV-Ray’s objects, which would be especially useful for complex objects defined in include files.

Currently, if you want to have an object (e.g. a car) with certain variable parameters (e.g. colour, wheel rotation, ...) defined in an include file and the parameters set by a scene file which uses the include file, you have to choose one of the following approaches:

1. use a macro

#macro car(colour, wheelrot, ...)
  ...
#end

or, 2. check parameters declared before, e.g.

#declare car =
union {
  
  #ifdef (colour)
    #local colour_internal = colour;
  #else
    #local colour_internal = default_colour;
  #end
  
}

The resulting object would be used in the following way:

  #include "car.inc" // include file once
  object {
    car(rgb <1,0,0>, 0, ...) // macro approach
  }
  // other approach
  #declare colour = rgb <1,0,0>;
  #declare wheelrot = 0;
  ...
  #include "car.inc" // include file every time you want to have a car object instance
  object {
    car
  }

Needless to say, both approaches are not quite optimal.

  • The macro approach needs only one #include directive and name conflicts will (hopefully) not be a problem. However, one would have to look up the parameter order of the macro in the include file, in the worst case every time the macro is used.
  • The other approach needs as many #include directives as car objects shall be instantiated, there can arise name conflicts with other inculde files used in the scene, and a (potentially long) list of parameters has to be declared before each #include. On the other hand, with this approach for any value it is clear which information it gives, e.g. #declare colour = rgb <1,0,0> can easily be read as ‘set car colour to “red”‘.

My suggestion would be creating an SDL feature to

  • declare which properties a certain object can have
  • set these properties inside the object statement in which the object is used.

One step up could be to even declare object classes along with them.

This could look like this:

// include file code
class car { // alternatively (without classes) use #declare car = object { ...
  property colour = rgb <1,0,0>; // with default colour
  
  union {
    ...
  }
}

// scene file code
car { // alternatively (without classes) use object { car ... }
  colour rgb <0,0,1>
}

Note that this solution makes the declarations much more concise and easy-to-read. Especially in scenes with many includes and animation scenes where objects’ properties have to be manipulated according to sometimes complex functions, this would be very useful. Please also consider that such user-defined objects can have dozens of properties.

282Image formatFeature RequestNot applicableDeferLowUnrendered region should be transparent, not blackTracked on GitHub
0%
Future release Task Description

When rendering only a region of a file, using the command-line options +sc/+sr/+ec/+er, the area of the image that is excluded comes out as black in the final PNG.

Expected behaviour is for it to be transparent.

281Geometric PrimitivesFeature Request3.70 RC7DeferLowBug in rendering of Bézier patchesTracked on GitHub
0%
Future release Task Description

In version 3.7.0.RC7.msvc10.win64, there is a bug in rendering Bézier patches in which four points (along one edge) are all the same point.

The rendering can be seen here:
http://i.imgur.com/eq2UIXR.png
[Edit: See attachment for the rendering]

As you can see, there is a visible unwanted artifact in the corner of each patch. The two patches shown are essentially the same, except with the 4×4 matrix of vertices transposed (just to demonstrate that simply transposing it didn’t fix it).

Expected rendering is a smooth surface without the artifact.

Below is the code used to render the above example.

#version 3.7;

global_settings { assumed_gamma 1.0 }

camera {

  location <45, 31, -10>
  look_at <40, 21, 200>
  right x*image_width/image_height

}

light_source {

  <660, 300, -525>
  color rgb 1

}

Example 1: First point in each row is the same point
bicubic_patch {
type 1 flatness 0.001
u_steps 4 v_steps 4
<32.2168, -23.78125, 0>, <34.4968, -23.78125, 0>, <35.2168, -23.78125, -0.72>, <35.2168, -23.78125, -3>,
<32.2168, -23.78125, 0>, <34.4968, -22.10256, 0>, <35.2168, -21.57244, -0.72>, <35.2168, -21.57244, -3>,
<32.2168, -23.78125, 0>, <33.9709, -21.55577, 0>, <34.52483, -20.85299, -0.72>, <34.52483, -20.85299, -3>,
<32.2168, -23.78125, 0>, <32.30556, -21.50298, 0>, <32.33359, -20.78352, -0.72>, <32.33359, -20.78352, -3>
rotate 180*x scale 1.4
translate ←5, 0, 0>
pigment { color <1, 0, 0> }
}
Example 2: First row is all the same point
bicubic_patch {

  type 1 flatness 0.001
  u_steps 4 v_steps 4
  <32.2168, -23.78125, 0>, <32.2168, -23.78125, 0>, <32.2168, -23.78125, 0>, <32.2168, -23.78125, 0>,
  <34.4968, -23.78125, 0>, <34.4968, -22.10256, 0>, <33.9709, -21.55577, 0>, <32.30556, -21.50298, 0>,
  <35.2168, -23.78125, -0.72>, <35.2168, -21.57244, -0.72>, <34.52483, -20.85299, -0.72>, <32.33359, -20.78352, -0.72>,
  <35.2168, -23.78125, -3>, <35.2168, -21.57244, -3>, <34.52483, -20.85299, -3>, <32.33359, -20.78352, -3>
  rotate 180*x
  scale 1.4
  pigment { color <1, 1, 0> }

}

278BackendFeature Request3.70 RC7Very LowMediumImplement Lens Flare RenderingTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

Currently POV-Ray does not support rendering lens flare effects, however, they can be simulated using a macro (include file) by Chris Colefax.

I would like to suggest adding a feature to POV-Ray to support lens effects “natively” since

  • as far as I know the macro has been designed for POV-Ray 3.1 so with each new POV-Ray version it gets more likely that this macro does not work properly any more
  • the macro does not work when rendering with radiosity, probably because the macro creates the lens effect by using a pigment with a high ambient value (which is ignored by POV-Ray 3.7’s radiosity algorithm).

Additionally, the macro is not quite easy to employ because

  • it needs to know the exact camera parameters (location etc.) and defines an own camera itself so any important camera information has to be stored if the effect has to work as expected
  • it does not (actually cannot) take into account that objects may (partially) hide the lens effect
  • reflections and refractions (of light sources) cannot be combined with it properly - the user would have to calculate both the point where the reflected/refracted light source can be observed and the shape it then has due to distortion, and in more complex scenes such computations are nearly impossible in SDL.

I would suggest integrating such a lens flare rendering feature with the “looks like” mechanism you already have for light sources. Several parameters that can currently be set for the macro - including effect brightness and intensity, lens options and whether to create a flare at all - could be set for the light source.

Then POV-Ray could store the location and colour of each ray that finally intersected the “looks like” object of a light source and, having finished the main rendering, from that data compute a partially transparent “lens flare layer” eventually mixed into the rendered image. By this, the above mentioned problems could be avoided:

  • an object fully or partially intersecting a light source’s “looks like” object would also reduce the number of pixels used to create a flare - and therefore reduce that flare until fully hiding it
  • the same goes for reflected and/or refracted versions of the “looks like” object
  • the camera’s location and other properties would be used automatically
  • and finally, as a feature supported by POV-Ray itself, there would be neither compatibility issues nor problems like the effect not fitting together with radiosity.

Do not get me wrong, I would not expect POV-Ray to really calculate intersections that naturally happen in a camera lens, causing lens flares. Effects looking appropriate can actually be created just in 2D space (as some graphics programs do support) so the work to be done would, as far as I have any overview, be:

  • storing, as mentioned above, the relevant data for pixels showing “looks like” objects
  • calculating a lens flare from that data after the render has finished
  • overlaying the rendered image with the newly created lens effect.
272OtherFeature Request3.70 RC6DeferVery LowMinor change, significant speedup in cubic polynomial s...Tracked on GitHub
0%
3.71 release Task Description

While familiarizing myself with the code, I found some small changes in the solve_cubic function that lead to a significant speedup.

In my experience, “pow” is by far the slowest function in math.h and replacing it with simpler functions usually makes a tremendous impact on the speed (it’s an order of magnitude slower than sqrt/exp/cbrt/log).

solve_cubic has a “pow” function that can be replaced by cbrt (cubic root), which is standard in ISO-C99 and should be available on all systems. Separate benchmarks of solve_cubic function show this change almost doubles the speed and does not lower the accuracy. As solve_cubic is part of the solution of quartic equation, this improves the speed for many primitives. Testing with a scene containing many torus intersection tests (attached below) I still observed almost 10% speedup (Intel, 4 threads, 2 hyperthreaded cores, antialiasing on, 600×600: from 91 to 84 seconds). And this is for a torus, where a lot of time is spent in the solve_quartic and cubic solver is only called once! Similar speedup should be expected for prism, ovus, sor and blob.

I do believe the cubic solver can be done without trigonometry, but that would mean changing the algorithm, introducing new bugs and requiring a lot of testing. However, the trigonometric evaluation can still be simplified (3% speedup in full torus benchmark).

These changes don’t affect the algorithm at all, they are mathematically identical to the existing code, so the changes can be applied immediately. I also included other changes just as suggestions. Every change is commented and marked with [SC 2.2013].

This sadly does not speedup the sturm solver, which uses bisection and regula-falsi and looks very optimized already.

The test scene I used has a lot of torus intersections from various directions (shadow rays, main rays, transmitted rays).

263Parser/SDLFeature Request3.70 RC6Very LowLowFunctions and patterns for finish variationsTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

the pigment {} and normals {} sections allow spatial variation of color, transparency and normal map. On the other hand, the specular parameter is a fixed scalar. This removes many possibilities. For instance, specularity could vary in space (speckles of oil or water on a surface, worn-out finish, having specularity reduce where the pigment transparency increases) and have color components. With current settings, the light’s color is simply multiplied by the scalar specified by “specular”, whereas multiplying each component with different color could create diverse effects (the “metallic” keyword already acts similar to duplicating the specular color from the pigment). The syntax could be exactly the same as for the pigment (all the patterns, color maps, image maps and functions would apply, allowing reuse of most of the code).

The effect can now be partially faked by having patterned textures, but it requires a very complex code and the lack of layering of patterned textures makes it difficult to vary the specularity and pigment separately.

In a similar way, roughness and brilliance could also vary in space.

Doing the same for varying reflectivity would be more difficult, as it has angular dependence and possibilty of Fresnel calculation, but it could at least be a full color instead of a simple scalar multiplier. For instance, having a blue surface that reflects only red component of the light should not be impossible.

I think at least part of this functionality actually makes the scene description language more uniform and self-consistent.

256Texture/Material/FinishFeature Request3.70 RC6Very LowLowCSG texturing modesTracked on GitHub
0%
Task Description

At times, the current method of specifying texture for
CSG components and compounds is restricting. The issue
pops up now and then, see e.g.

http://news.povray.org/povray.pov4.discussion.general/thread/%3Cweb.4799def8e1857b77c150d4c10%40news.povray.org%3E/

http://news.povray.org/povray.general/thread/%3Cweb.4fc892634f065c00e32b83540@news.povray.org%3E/

http://news.povray.org/povray.general/thread/%3Cweb.5073e9f7dae1fbb2d97ee2b90%40news.povray.org%3E/

There should be a new CSG option “texture_mode” or similar, which could take
one of the following values:

preserve (the current behavior)
cutaway (the current behavior when specifying cutaway_textures)
override (replace all individual textures with compound texture)
layer (layer the compound texture over the existing textures)

and possibly, more involved

modify/merge: if both element and compund textures are simple, i.e.
not layered or mapped, override all default values of the element
textures with the values from the compound texture. The idea would
be to, e.g., have the elements already pigmented but then apply
common normal or finish properties.

248Parser/SDLFeature RequestNot applicableVery LowLowImplement mechanism to compute direction of a splineTracked on GitHub
0%
Future release Task Description

The SDL currently provides no way to compute the exact direction of a spline at a given location, even though mathematically this is a piece of cake: The first-order derivative of any spline section gives you the “speed” as a vector function, and is trivial to compute for polynomial splines (which are behind all spline types that POV-Ray supports); the normalized “speed” vector, in turn, gives the “pure” direction.

For exact direction/speed computations, I propose to extend the SDL invocation syntax as follows to allow for evaluating a spline’s derivative:

    SPLINE_INVOCATION:
        SPLINE_IDENTIFIER ( FLOAT [, SPLINE_TYPE] [, FLOAT] )

or

    SPLINE_INVOCATION:
        SPLINE_IDENTIFIER ( FLOAT [, FLOAT] [, SPLINE_TYPE] )

where the second FLOAT will specify the order of derivative to evaluate (defaulting to 0). In order to compute the position, direction, and acceleration of an object traveling along a certain spline, one could then for instance use:

    #declare S        = spline { ... }
    #declare Pos      = S(Time);
    #declare VSpeed   = S(Time,1);
    #declare VAccel   = S(Time,2);
    #declare Dir      = vnormalize(VSpeed);
    #declare Speed    = vlength(VSpeed);
    #declare AccelDir = vnormalize(VAccel);
    #declare GForce   = vlength(VAccel) / 9.81;

Alternatively, a mechanism may be devised to create a spline representing another spline’s derivative; however, it would be debatable whether the syntax should be parameter-like (being an added information that could be overridden again when creating other splines from such a derived spline), or operation-like (converting the spline), and in the latter case how it should affect spline type (and consequently control points); so the spline invocation parameter approach might be more straightforward, with less potential surprises for the user.

245OtherFeature RequestAllDeferLowPOVMS message queue can fill up with GB of data for ver...Tracked on GitHub
0%
Future release Task Description

With very fast renders and very large output files, the message queue can fill up because the producers are not limited by IO, while the consumer performance is limited by disk IO. Consequently, the message queue can fill up to exhaust all available memory. The solution is to build in some better control of pending output data in the message queue on the producer side. This will also pave the way for message communication over slow links (i.e. a network).

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