Stars of Shareware: Raytrace & Morphing

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Stars of Shareware: Raytrace & Morphing / SOS-RAYTRACE.ISO / programm / utility / dos / povmath / english.doc next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-07-31 | 14.8 KB | 350 lines

POVMATH 0.4ß the PovRay's Mathematical pre-processor ( from the French Riviera :-) ) Author: Daniel Munoz CIS 100256,773 Zyllius BBS: 33-93320505 Thanks for trying PovMath, the PovRay's Mathematical pre-processor. PovRay program is (C) POV-Ray team This program is far from all my whishes, but I think it is already usable for math and animation pre-processing. So, here it is (TAADAAAAA), I hope you'll enjoy it. It have for the moment some little Pov syntax restrictions. Here is a list, so you can see if they are big problems for you. These restrictions are due to the way PovMath try to evaluate and modify the Pov's original language. In fact, PovMath only try to recognize some parts of the language, line by line, not all the entire expressions. The good news is that will allow possibility to recognize future syntaxes and language enhancement from Pov. Any comment, suggestion, are greatly appreciates. ( wish-list too :-))) ) Here's the restriction list: - only one #include sentence by line. PovMath can't understand: #include "one" #declare a=b #include "two" - #declare sentences must be on the same line. PovMath can't understand: #declare a= b - math strings to eval must be on the same line. PovMath can't understand: sphere { < 0,0,0 >, 45+ sin(alpha) *2 But the string sin(alpha) is evaluated fine. Pov will make the final parsing work. - vector expressions <a,b,c> or x,y,z cant be close to math expressions for the moment... I'll working on this and try to recognize vectors. So vector calculation will be available... PovMath can't understand for the moment: translate z*(3^4) rotate <a,b,c>*asin (0.5) but this is valid: translate z* (3^4) rotate <a,b,c>* asin (0.5) and this is valid too: #declare my_trans=3^4 #declare my_rot=asin(0.5) translate z*my_trans rotate <a,b,c>*my_rot It's possible that sentences that I can not handle will be ok for Pov, because this restrictions exist only if a POVMATH's not handle part have language extensions. Sentence not handled are just keep as same. There's no others restrictions a priori. all float expression with understandable sentence (known math function and pre-declared variable name) are valid. A little explanations of "how this stuff work" for the most curious: PovMath get all parameters like Pov's ones (+ and - caracters), and some for it own work (with / caracter). You can use .DEF files too. Then, it try to evaluate line by line the Pov script, recognize math sentences, declaration variables, include files and it's own language extension. Full recognize math sentences are replaced with there float equivalent value and Pov's file result is written in a file named $.POV, with it's equivalent def file as $.DEF (pov parameters could be modify by PovMath script itself). there's also a batch file, $.BAT, what is called at the end of PovMath's job. $.BAT call Pov, and if there's errors, translate line numbers on the screen (from $.POV lines errors) are replace with the good name, and the good line numbers (an additive $.ERR file is create, for later useful corrections). If a loop is supplied, the batch file (if there's no errors) call again PovMath and do the loop. A $.VAR file is automatically create, to keep all variable values for one PovMath call to an other. name $.VAR can be replace by an other name with the /O option. And now, the Run-Time Library Reference (You know, I'm a poor developer <G>) Known constants ( R2D2 is (sqrt(2)/2) ;-) ): Pi, Ln10, R2D2 known math operators (^ is power, ! is factorial): + - * / ^ ! known Boolean operators (Boolean operations _MUST_ be parenthesized, result value is 0 or 1, to use it in a math expression): == != < <= > >= known math functions in alphabetic order (trig functions are in degree, names are C compliant): acos a arccosine asin a arcsine atan a arctangent atan2 a,b arctangent b/a beep . idem to: tone (400,15) ceil a integer ceiling cos a cosine cosh a hyperbolic cosine eval a 1 if it is possible to evaluate math expression, else 0 exp a exponential function abs a absolute value fact a factorial function floor a largest integer less or equal fmod a,b floating point remainder of a/b getch a if a is an extended key, value is ascii code + 256 hypot a,b hypothenuse of a right triangle ldexp a,b real number from the mantissa and exponent log a natural logarithm log10 a base-10 logarithm max a,b larger of 2 values min a,b smaller of 2 values pow a,b a raised to the power of b rand a pseudorandom [0 <= n <= a] (initialized by #srand ) sign a sign of argument (1 or -1) sin a sine sinh a hyperbolic sine sqrt a square root tan a tangent tanh a hyperbolic tangent time . number of second elapsed since Midnight January,1,1970 UCT tone a,b a=frequency (in hertz), b=duration (in 100th of seconds) vect a,b,c hypothenuse of a right 3D vector Additional command line parameters (All Pov's 2.2 parameters are available with '+' and '-' caracters, PovMath parameters must be used with the '/' caracter.): /? Need help ? /N Precise Pov's location (path, name or path+name) Can be any program or batch name that can manage the $.DEF file. /V Variable declaration. Can be any valid math declaration. ex: /V"a=sin(45)" /P Print list of variables after parsing, and abort Pov's call. (idem as declare in script: #declare _print=1) /I Input file variable list and declare them (same format as output option). Can be any list of variable form as "name=value". Try a /O as a file example. /O Output file variable list with values after parsing (all know variables, from include file, line param or variable list) /L Loop call scene until param is TRUE (useful with input/output variables). ex: POVMATH -iTEST.POV /V a=0 /V _ext=a /La==5 TEST.POV must have somewhere #declare _ext=a and #declare a=a+1 this example call TEST.POV 5 time, and output TGA files from TEST.000 to TEST.004 note: if there's '<' or '>' in param, it must be quoted to not confuse this silly Dos with pipe redirection. known parameters variables (useful to get, use and modify Pov's params command line. Boolean values : 0 = FALSE, other value = TRUE): With Pov's equivalence (with + or -): (it's possible to add others pov's parameters, but what for ??) _quality same as Q image quality _aliasing " A active aliasing _tolerance " aliasing value _rays " R aa-depth (use n X n rays/pixel) _jitter " J active jitter (0 or 1 for -+) _scale " jitter value clock " K set frame clocK to x.x _symbol " MS set max symbol table size to xxx _width " W set width of image in pixels _height " H set height of image in pixels _start_r " SR start at row xxx _end_r " ER end at row xxx _start_c " SC start at col xxx _end_c " EC end at col xxx _name " O add number after the output name _ext " I make output extension as number FTP (Faster than Pov) parameters _ftp_vista_buffer " UVB use the vista buffer _ftp_light_buffer " ULB use the light buffer _ftp_split_finite " USF split unclipped CSG unions if their children are finite. _ftp_split_all " USI split all unclipped CGS unions _ftp_bound_quadrics " UBQ use automatic bounding for quadrics _ftp_preview " UPV use 'previewing' (just draws object's bounding rectangles; CGS objects are blue, other objects are red). PovMath equivalence (with /): _print same as P print variables and dont shell to Pov. Set _print to 1 can be use to abort a loop calculation (the current parse file $.POV is _not_ calculate). _break no equivalence Set to 1 to break the current loop (the current parse file $.POV is calculate) _loop no equivalence Value start from 0, automaticaly incremented from each loop. Could be modify by a #declare. Pov's language extension (must be one _and_only_one_ sentence by line): #include can have syntax like "name", "name,line" or "name,start,stop" where line, start and stop are line numbers to extract part of a file instead of the entire file. #srand n value to initialize the pseudo-random generator (default to #srand 1 for each PovMath cession.). if n dont exist (#srand with no parameters) initialise to a totally ramdom starting point. #if (c) test if c is not equal to 0. c can be any math or boolean expression. #else -> you know that #endif -> dont you ?? ;-) #repeat repeat loop #until (c) until (c) is true (not equal to 0) #break break from the current loop #message print a message on console during parsing #return return from current #include, or stop parsing and shell to pov immediately. #kill n undeclare the variable n. Do nothing if n doesn't exist. Can be used with system variables, but what for !? ;-) #time n print on console n=number of seconds in an ascci format with days, hours, minutes, seconds. Usefull to use with time(). ex: start=time () [...] stop=time () #time stop-start #path s Same as /N option. Argument string "s" _MUST_ be quotted. #loop s Same as /L option. Argument string "s" _MUST_ be quotted. #loop "" is an infinite loop (must by break with #abort by ex.) #loop "1" is a TRUE condition that break the loop at the end of the parsing work. #abort Immediately abort parsing, and stop current loop (if any exist). #exec s DOS system call. Argument string "s" _MUST_ be quotted. #input_var s Read variable file description at current parse position (same format as /I and /O options). replace existing variables or define new ones. File name "s" must be quotted. #output_var s Write variable file description at current parse position (same format as /I and /O options). File name "s" must be quotted. #eval s eval s, but dont write the line in output file. Usefull to declare internal variables that dont appear in parsed script, or to use functions like tone, beep, getch... And now, the famous: What's new in this version ? 0.1ß [03/07/94] - First Beta version 0.2ß [09/07/94] - find and correct bug in indented #if, dont work well in 0.1ß - Add #repeat #until loop extension - Add #break (break the current loop, only repeat/until for the moment) - Add #message (just trace message to print on the console) - Add #return (return from current include file, or stop parsing at location, and shell to Pov) - Add _loop variable, incremented by the loop batch (0 for the first parsing work, add 1 for the nexts). Can be use to make work only on first loop (when _loop==0) or to use it in a #declare _ext=_loop for animation, by example. - Add #srand with no value start the random to a totally random starting point (different from one call to another). - new math function eval, useful to test existence of variable, or math errors. - Add #kill to "undeclare" the existence of a variable. - Add #time to print a time (number of seconds) in ascii string. - Add new math function: hypot, vect, atan2, fmod, ldexp, max, min, pow, time 0.3ß [10/07/94] - find and correct bug in indented functions with more than one parameter - find and correct bug in Pov's parameters -SR -ER -SC -EC . - Add compatibility with FTP 2.0 (Faster than Pov) options (+uvb, +ulb, +usf, +usi, +ubq, +upv) and add system variables to be able to change them in a Pov script ( _ftp_vista_buffer, _ftp_light_buffer, _ftp_split_finite, _ftp_split_all, _ftp_bound_quadrics, _ftp_preview). - Add #path, #loop, #abort, #exec, #input_var, #output_var, #eval. - Add new functions: getch, beep, tone 0.4ß [31/07/94] - first public release (still beta) That's all. My english is not very good, sorry for that. And I've made a very big effort to translate all my job in English, so dont blame me <G>. If there's something not clear, please contact me on Compuserve, on Zyllius BBS or on the shared BBS conference Raytrace, and I'll be happy to try to help you. Daniel Munoz, 31 July 1994.