visualpython-users

[Visualpython-users] povexport of vpython materials

[Jasper S. <jas...@gm...>]

Hi guys,

It's been a few years since I used vpython, but I'm happy to see there is
still activity and development of this useful tool. For my new project I'm
using povexport, which exports the scenes nicely into pov-ray format.
However when I look at the resulting pictures the material information seems
lost. Everything ends up looking like I selected materials.diffuse for it.

Digging into the documentation I found that pov-ray uses a 'finish' tag to
specify things such as reflectivity etc. Tweaking the finish tag parameters
manually I quickly rendered something which was looking at least acceptable.
Now my question is whether you guys have experience mapping the vpython
materials to the pov-ray finish tag, and if you would be willing to share
parameters? Maybe someone has even started improving the povexport module to
include the finish tag?

Kind regards,
Jasper

Re: [Visualpython-users] povexport of vpython materials

[Bruce S. <Bru...@nc...>]

There is some support for materials, as indicated in the header to the
2009 version of povexport, available in the contributed section of
vpython.org:

This module exports a VPython scene as POV-Ray scene description code.
Lights and camera location from the current visual scene are included.
Optionally, you may specify a list of include files,
   and pov textures for objects.
For an example of its use, see 'povexample.py'.
Currently convex, faces, and points objects are not exported.
Further documentation is found at the start of the file.

Also see the example program povexample_wood.py, which is included in
the 2009 povexport package.

The relatively recent objects "text" and "extrusion" are not handled
by povexport. Ruth Chabay, the originator of povexport, intends to
bring povexport up to date. The "create_faces()" method for extrusion
objects was created to make it feasible to export an extrusion to
povexport (and the text object creates an extrusion, so it too should
prove to be exportable).

Bruce Sherwood

On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Jasper Stolte <jas...@gm...> wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> It's been a few years since I used vpython, but I'm happy to see there is
> still activity and development of this useful tool. For my new project I'm
> using povexport, which exports the scenes nicely into pov-ray format.
> However when I look at the resulting pictures the material information seems
> lost. Everything ends up looking like I selected materials.diffuse for it.
>
> Digging into the documentation I found that pov-ray uses a 'finish' tag to
> specify things such as reflectivity etc. Tweaking the finish tag parameters
> manually I quickly rendered something which was looking at least acceptable.
> Now my question is whether you guys have experience mapping the vpython
> materials to the pov-ray finish tag, and if you would be willing to share
> parameters? Maybe someone has even started improving the povexport module to
> include the finish tag?
>
> Kind regards,
> Jasper

Re: [Visualpython-users] povexport of vpython materials

[Jasper S. <jas...@gm...>]

Bruce, thank you for your prompt reply.

Indeed, I noticed the support for (among others) woods and metals through
the .inc files. However, I believe these materials are purely texture based.
It seems to me povexport only does pov_texture, as I cannot find something
for pov_finish or pov_color. For example, it is not quite clear to me why we
would include colors.inc, since I dont think you can use its color
definitions through the pov_texture variable anyway. Similarly, as far as I
can see, from the metals.inc only the textures can be used, not the colors
or the finishes. The wood example only works because wood only requires
texture, and no finish or color. There is no example that uses the
colors/finishes from the metals.inc or colors.inc macros, and as far as I
can see they cannot be used without modifying povexport to support them
first.

Or maybe I am just completely missing something.. :)
Kind regards,

Jasper


On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 10:27 PM, Bruce Sherwood <Bru...@nc...>wrote:

> There is some support for materials, as indicated in the header to the
> 2009 version of povexport, available in the contributed section of
> vpython.org:
>
> This module exports a VPython scene as POV-Ray scene description code.
> Lights and camera location from the current visual scene are included.
> Optionally, you may specify a list of include files,
>   and pov textures for objects.
> For an example of its use, see 'povexample.py'.
> Currently convex, faces, and points objects are not exported.
> Further documentation is found at the start of the file.
>
> Also see the example program povexample_wood.py, which is included in
> the 2009 povexport package.
>
> The relatively recent objects "text" and "extrusion" are not handled
> by povexport. Ruth Chabay, the originator of povexport, intends to
> bring povexport up to date. The "create_faces()" method for extrusion
> objects was created to make it feasible to export an extrusion to
> povexport (and the text object creates an extrusion, so it too should
> prove to be exportable).
>
> Bruce Sherwood
>
> On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Jasper Stolte <jas...@gm...>
> wrote:
> > Hi guys,
> >
> > It's been a few years since I used vpython, but I'm happy to see there is
> > still activity and development of this useful tool. For my new project
> I'm
> > using povexport, which exports the scenes nicely into pov-ray format.
> > However when I look at the resulting pictures the material information
> seems
> > lost. Everything ends up looking like I selected materials.diffuse for
> it.
> >
> > Digging into the documentation I found that pov-ray uses a 'finish' tag
> to
> > specify things such as reflectivity etc. Tweaking the finish tag
> parameters
> > manually I quickly rendered something which was looking at least
> acceptable.
> > Now my question is whether you guys have experience mapping the vpython
> > materials to the pov-ray finish tag, and if you would be willing to share
> > parameters? Maybe someone has even started improving the povexport module
> to
> > include the finish tag?
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Jasper
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> to help boost performance applications - inlcuding clusters.
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Re: [Visualpython-users] povexport of vpython materials

[Bruce S. <Bru...@nc...>]

No, you're probably not missing anything. I'll comment that Ruth
Chabay is currently deeply involved in an unrelated project, so it's
not clear when she will work on updating povexport. Moreover, her main
priorities are just dealing with the objects currently not supported,
especially faces, text, and extrusion.

Note however that povexport is not a very large program, and written
in pure Python, so if you have a clear vision of how it should be
improved to deal with the attributes of interest to you, I encourage
you to consider improving povexport yourself.

Bruce Sherwood

On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 5:16 AM, Jasper Stolte <jas...@gm...> wrote:
> Bruce, thank you for your prompt reply.
>
> Indeed, I noticed the support for (among others) woods and metals through
> the .inc files. However, I believe these materials are purely texture based.
> It seems to me povexport only does pov_texture, as I cannot find something
> for pov_finish or pov_color. For example, it is not quite clear to me why we
> would include colors.inc, since I dont think you can use its color
> definitions through the pov_texture variable anyway. Similarly, as far as I
> can see, from the metals.inc only the textures can be used, not the colors
> or the finishes. The wood example only works because wood only requires
> texture, and no finish or color. There is no example that uses the
> colors/finishes from the metals.inc or colors.inc macros, and as far as I
> can see they cannot be used without modifying povexport to support them
> first.
>
> Or maybe I am just completely missing something.. :)
> Kind regards,
>
> Jasper
>
>
> On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 10:27 PM, Bruce Sherwood <Bru...@nc...>
> wrote:
>>
>> There is some support for materials, as indicated in the header to the
>> 2009 version of povexport, available in the contributed section of
>> vpython.org:
>>
>> This module exports a VPython scene as POV-Ray scene description code.
>> Lights and camera location from the current visual scene are included.
>> Optionally, you may specify a list of include files,
>>   and pov textures for objects.
>> For an example of its use, see 'povexample.py'.
>> Currently convex, faces, and points objects are not exported.
>> Further documentation is found at the start of the file.
>>
>> Also see the example program povexample_wood.py, which is included in
>> the 2009 povexport package.
>>
>> The relatively recent objects "text" and "extrusion" are not handled
>> by povexport. Ruth Chabay, the originator of povexport, intends to
>> bring povexport up to date. The "create_faces()" method for extrusion
>> objects was created to make it feasible to export an extrusion to
>> povexport (and the text object creates an extrusion, so it too should
>> prove to be exportable).
>>
>> Bruce Sherwood
>>
>> On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Jasper Stolte <jas...@gm...>
>> wrote:
>> > Hi guys,
>> >
>> > It's been a few years since I used vpython, but I'm happy to see there
>> > is
>> > still activity and development of this useful tool. For my new project
>> > I'm
>> > using povexport, which exports the scenes nicely into pov-ray format.
>> > However when I look at the resulting pictures the material information
>> > seems
>> > lost. Everything ends up looking like I selected materials.diffuse for
>> > it.
>> >
>> > Digging into the documentation I found that pov-ray uses a 'finish' tag
>> > to
>> > specify things such as reflectivity etc. Tweaking the finish tag
>> > parameters
>> > manually I quickly rendered something which was looking at least
>> > acceptable.
>> > Now my question is whether you guys have experience mapping the vpython
>> > materials to the pov-ray finish tag, and if you would be willing to
>> > share
>> > parameters? Maybe someone has even started improving the povexport
>> > module to
>> > include the finish tag?
>> >
>> > Kind regards,
>> > Jasper
>>

Re: [Visualpython-users] povexport of vpython materials

[Jasper S. <jas...@gm...>]

Absolutely, it's fairly straight forward to add a pov_finish and pov_color
tags in a way similar to the pov_texture. I can add those easily enough.
It'll add to the code repetition in all the export_ functions though. I
think some code refactoring would make the module cleaner, more transparent.
But who has the time for that, right?

Jasper


On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 4:20 AM, Bruce Sherwood <Bru...@nc...>wrote:

> No, you're probably not missing anything. I'll comment that Ruth
> Chabay is currently deeply involved in an unrelated project, so it's
> not clear when she will work on updating povexport. Moreover, her main
> priorities are just dealing with the objects currently not supported,
> especially faces, text, and extrusion.
>
> Note however that povexport is not a very large program, and written
> in pure Python, so if you have a clear vision of how it should be
> improved to deal with the attributes of interest to you, I encourage
> you to consider improving povexport yourself.
>
> Bruce Sherwood
>
> On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 5:16 AM, Jasper Stolte <jas...@gm...>
> wrote:
> > Bruce, thank you for your prompt reply.
> >
> > Indeed, I noticed the support for (among others) woods and metals through
> > the .inc files. However, I believe these materials are purely texture
> based.
> > It seems to me povexport only does pov_texture, as I cannot find
> something
> > for pov_finish or pov_color. For example, it is not quite clear to me why
> we
> > would include colors.inc, since I dont think you can use its color
> > definitions through the pov_texture variable anyway. Similarly, as far as
> I
> > can see, from the metals.inc only the textures can be used, not the
> colors
> > or the finishes. The wood example only works because wood only requires
> > texture, and no finish or color. There is no example that uses the
> > colors/finishes from the metals.inc or colors.inc macros, and as far as I
> > can see they cannot be used without modifying povexport to support them
> > first.
> >
> > Or maybe I am just completely missing something.. :)
> > Kind regards,
> >
> > Jasper
> >
> >
> > On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 10:27 PM, Bruce Sherwood <
> Bru...@nc...>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> There is some support for materials, as indicated in the header to the
> >> 2009 version of povexport, available in the contributed section of
> >> vpython.org:
> >>
> >> This module exports a VPython scene as POV-Ray scene description code.
> >> Lights and camera location from the current visual scene are included.
> >> Optionally, you may specify a list of include files,
> >>   and pov textures for objects.
> >> For an example of its use, see 'povexample.py'.
> >> Currently convex, faces, and points objects are not exported.
> >> Further documentation is found at the start of the file.
> >>
> >> Also see the example program povexample_wood.py, which is included in
> >> the 2009 povexport package.
> >>
> >> The relatively recent objects "text" and "extrusion" are not handled
> >> by povexport. Ruth Chabay, the originator of povexport, intends to
> >> bring povexport up to date. The "create_faces()" method for extrusion
> >> objects was created to make it feasible to export an extrusion to
> >> povexport (and the text object creates an extrusion, so it too should
> >> prove to be exportable).
> >>
> >> Bruce Sherwood
> >>
> >> On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Jasper Stolte <jas...@gm...>
> >> wrote:
> >> > Hi guys,
> >> >
> >> > It's been a few years since I used vpython, but I'm happy to see there
> >> > is
> >> > still activity and development of this useful tool. For my new project
> >> > I'm
> >> > using povexport, which exports the scenes nicely into pov-ray format.
> >> > However when I look at the resulting pictures the material information
> >> > seems
> >> > lost. Everything ends up looking like I selected materials.diffuse for
> >> > it.
> >> >
> >> > Digging into the documentation I found that pov-ray uses a 'finish'
> tag
> >> > to
> >> > specify things such as reflectivity etc. Tweaking the finish tag
> >> > parameters
> >> > manually I quickly rendered something which was looking at least
> >> > acceptable.
> >> > Now my question is whether you guys have experience mapping the
> vpython
> >> > materials to the pov-ray finish tag, and if you would be willing to
> >> > share
> >> > parameters? Maybe someone has even started improving the povexport
> >> > module to
> >> > include the finish tag?
> >> >
> >> > Kind regards,
> >> > Jasper
> >>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Read this article and learn how Intel has extended the reach of its
> next-generation tools to help Windows* and Linux* C/C++ and Fortran
> developers boost performance applications - including clusters.
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-dev2devmay
> _______________________________________________
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