Landscapes & Heightfields

[CARVALHO Luis Passos]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Leon Pennington [mailto:leon at leonscape.co.uk]
> Sent: quinta-feira, 7 de Agosto de 2003 3:53
> To: kpovmodeler-devel at mail.kde.org
> Subject: Landscapes & Heightfields
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I've been reading the Mailing list then sent off a e-mail to 
> Andreas before I 
> got to the bit about his holiday, but anyway...
> 

First of all, welcome.

> I've been writing landscape generating code for a while, and 
> was wondering if 
> any of my stuff would be useful for the Modeller.
> 

As a plugin for landscape generation of course it is.

> I use the ROAM algorithm to reduce the drawing needed by my 
> programs and 
> though this would be perfect for Heightfield display in 
> KPovModeler. I've 
> been messing with my code and worked out different ways of 
> doing things to 
> fit with the points and lines of the Modeller as well as the 
> specific needs 
> of the ROAM algorithm. It can adjust the amount of lines 
> displayed while 
> trying to preserve as much info as possible, its pretty quick 
> and its memory 
> usage can be kept to a minimum. I've knocked up a quick and 
> nasty example.
> 

This would be Andreas' call. However, just a few points to keep in mind. We
try to keep ur wireframe rendering as close to what povray shows as
possible. If your code shows something too diferent, we won't be able to use
it for now, at least for the preview of the heightfield object.

> Also looking through the talks about Plug-ins the Landscape 
> generation I've 
> been working on could be put to use there. I've been using 
> everything from 
> Plasma too Perlin noise.
> 
> What do you think?
> 

I think national anthems should be happier. Also, I like french fries. :)

Now, seriously, a landscape plugin is a must have for any plugin-able
modeler.
Unfortunately, Andreas is still working on the plugin manager. Here and
there in the list archives you can find some references to the needs of the
plugin handling. However, no documentation exists yet for how to develop
plugins or how it connects to the rest of kpovmodeler.

Until Andreas finishes his work not much can be done.

However, if you want to help, we are always looking for developers to
develop the objects that have yet to be implemented. Namely, the new povray
3.5 objects. Those won't need to be plugins and will help you familiarize
yourself with what the plugin will have to do, later on.

Regards,
Luis

PS: This just in! I'm just 8 work-hours away from my holidays. Yes!