POV-Ray [plugin] (updated: 2016/Aug/08)

[micheus]

Thanks for test it oort.
Yeah, Quality must be default or a value equal or greater than 9 (the last item option as you noticed).

I found that reference table for the real materials too, but I didn't found a documentation explaining we can set two colors as parameters. I need to ask at POV-Ray forum when I comeback to code.

[oort]

I do not know if it is a bug in Pov-Ray but in the text window the information is not consistent. At the beginning of the windows I see.

Rendering using command line 'ExampleCandle-POVRayOort3_export.pov +W400 +H400 +FN
+oExampleCandle-POVRayOort3.png +A0.9 +R3 '.
Rendering with 4 threads.

At the end of the window I see.

Parser Time
Parse Time: 0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds (0.062 seconds)
using 1 thread(s) with 0.062 CPU-seconds total
Bounding Time: 0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds (0.000 seconds)
using 1 thread(s) with 0.000 CPU-seconds total

Also I see that the Gamma is not consistent with what my settings are in Wings3D. I have Gamma set to 1.0 but the Pov-Ray text window shows the following:

Quality: 9
Bounding boxes.......On Bounding threshold: 3
Antialiasing.........On (Method 1, Threshold 0.900, Depth 3, Jitter 1.00, Gamma 2.50)

This morning increasing the Threshold to 0.9 is not helping to get rid of the strange lines and boxes in the material.

I guess you need to modify the code for that variable so that the range is from 0.0 to 0.9 to avoid the Pov-Ray crash. ???

oort

---

Here is an image showing the "lines and boxes" problem in the material. Maybe it is a bug in the experimental SSLT???



oort

[micheus]

oort, I may have did something wrong while adding the command line parameter for choose the thread number. You should see an +WT<num>, like in my sample bellow:

Preset source file is 'F:\Wings3d\Test Files\PovRay3.7\test-DOF-1.0-15-0.000001_export.pov'.
Rendering using command line '+W320 +H240 +FN +otest-DOF-1.0-15-0.000001.png +A0.3 +R2 +WT3'.
Rendering with 4 threads.
Parser Options
:
:
Render Time:
Photon Time: No photons
Radiosity Time: 0 hours 0 minutes 8 seconds (8.469 seconds)
using 3 thread(s) with 23.305 CPU-seconds total
Trace Time: 0 hours 0 minutes 21 seconds (21.700 seconds)
using 3 thread(s) with 63.148 CPU-seconds total
POV-Ray finished

As I could noticed, that 4 threads is related to the value set in the POV-Ray's ini file. If you load its GUI you can change that value in Render->Thread Count.... It's the default one if we don't use the command line parameter.

About the gamma for AA it's a different parameter from that one you set. I probably will need to add it to the dialog too. See the previous paragraph from that pointed in this link.

I fixed the Camera mode that was not working for those angular lens. Thanks tkbd for report that.


I [supposedly] did some improvements to the image dimensions by adding some presets and facilities:

I changed the way the checkbox related to use the fix image size to viewport in the Plugins Preferences is used, but it's still compatible with its current use.

[povmaniac]

Nice!! Really the old Pov is alive ( I remember my first test with 2.2 version..)
Greetings.. and great work.

[micheus]

Yeah, it's still alive, but the new version seems to take long time to be released - they are discussing about it since the 3.7 was released in November 2013.
Even bug fixes has no prevision to be done.

[micheus]

oort, there is a big explanation about Gamma Handling in POV-Ray and a short one here Gamma in POV-Ray.

I did some tests and I think that the default (2.5) value assigned to Antialias_Gamma (the one you had mentioned) is the best option and we don't need to play with it. See the contour of the big red ball:

[oort]

Micheus,
Ok, I see that changing the number of threads changes the WT value.

I tried changing the Thread Count in the Gui but when I exit Pov-ray and start it again the value switches back to 4 every time.

Even in the example you show with WT3 that is followed by "Rendering with 4 threads". Maybe that statement does not mean anything since I see that in your Render time section it says 3 threads were used.

Preset source file is 'F:\Wings3d\Test Files\PovRay3.7\test-DOF-1.0-15-0.000001_export.pov'.
Rendering using command line '+W320 +H240 +FN +otest-DOF-1.0-15-0.000001.png +A0.3 +R2 +WT3'.
Rendering with 4 threads.
Parser Options
:
:
Render Time:
Photon Time: No photons
Radiosity Time: 0 hours 0 minutes 8 seconds (8.469 seconds)
using 3 thread(s) with 23.305 CPU-seconds total
Trace Time: 0 hours 0 minutes 21 seconds (21.700 seconds)
using 3 thread(s) with 63.148 CPU-seconds total
POV-Ray finished

When I render I do not see the "Render Time:" section. Is there some setting that I need to turn on to see that text?

I did not know that there were so many different types of Gamma. In YafaRay the Gamma setting that is set to 2.2 affects how bright or dark a color is. Using a value of 1.0 gives darker colors. YafaRay Gamma must be a different type of Gamma??? Thanks for your response and information. I hope to play with some of the changes you have made in the Camera section this week.

Edit: I found the following which explains why the Threads setting is not saved.

Thread Count dialog

Selecting this entry displays a dialog allowing you to set the number of threads used for rendering. The default value varies according to system, but in general should be equal to the number of cores available to POVWIN (or double that if hyperthreading is available). Changing this value will only affect new renders and does not persist (i.e. it is not saved upon exit). This is by design. If you wish to set a permanent value please modify POVRAY.INI or set it on the command-line.

Thanks,
oort

[micheus]

When I render I do not see the "Render Time:" section. Is there some setting that I need to turn on to see that text?

you can remove the /EXIT parameter in the pligin's preference or during the render copy the command line generated and displayed on the Wings3D log window and then start the POV-Ray UI and use those parameters (there is a small text field on the top bar you can put them). I used this option.

About the gamma, what can be interesting these days is the fact of POV-Ray use the sRGB as default for the gamma correction and be able to store this information to some kind of files.
I just found that my new monitor has a gamma preset for that and I'm using it now.
As I could understand about that is which one of us need to try adjust our monitor gamma in order to better evaluate/set colors/light in the scene. Without this we a render good for me can look too bright or dark for you. ☺

[micheus]

When I render I do not see the "Render Time:" section. Is there some setting that I need to turn on to see that text?

you can remove the /EXIT parameter in the pligin's preference or during the render copy the command line generated and displayed on the Wings3D log window and then start the POV-Ray UI and use those parameters (there is a small text field on the top bar you can put them). I used this option.

About the gamma, what can be interesting these days is the fact of POV-Ray use the sRGB as default for the gamma correction and be able to store this information to some kind of files.
I just found that my new monitor has a gamma preset for that and I'm using it now.
As I could understand about that is which one of us need to try adjust our monitor gamma in order to better evaluate/set colors/light in the scene. Without this we a render good for me can look too bright or dark for you. ☺

[oort]

Micheus,
Thanks for the info on Threads. I used the method of removing /EXIT from the argument lines. Maybe it would be good to add that as an option that can be turned off or on in the Plugin Preferences dialog???

Now I can confirm that the Threads setting is working.... Strange that in the first part of the Pov-Ray window it always says using 4 threads. I guess it is simply reporting the number of threads available and used if the WTn command line option is not used.

For Gamma in the General options tab, I see that the Gamma setting does the same thing in both Pov-Ray and YafaRay. I think I need to stop reading what I see in the Pov-Ray window, since it is leading me astray...

Interesting that you are able to adjust the Gamma on your monitor. I will have to look at that on my monitor.

Thanks,
oort