User:Poor Coco/MegaPOV

MegaPOV is an unofficial extended version of the POV-Ray ray tracing software for Unix and Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. It includes the full feature set of POV-Ray along with a number of extensions to the POV-Ray Scene Description Language (SDL) and an improved code-editing interface.

Rendering Engine Extensions
Advanced modeling effects like media-based fur extend the range of subject matter that can be described in the SDL. Other improvements are glow objects which render quickly and are useful for making light sources themselves (and not just their effects) visible; and simulated motion blur.

Post-processing of the rendered image allows visual effects characteristic of 2D image editors like Adobe Photoshop or The GIMP to be applied to the rendered frames.

High-dyanamic-range (HDR) image support allows nuanced portrayal of scenes with both brightly lit and deeply shadowed areas. A tutorial is available.

Film exposure simulation allows the emulation of chemistry variations in traditional film-based photography.

Improved radiosity support.

Mechanical simulation (mechsim) allows for complex, automatic interaction between objects and allows simple finite-element analysis to be performed. Mechsim includes point masses and elastic connections (useable for either truss or solid-object modeling); patch objects, which are two-dimensional analogues and are useful for cloth modeling; and line objects, which behave like ropes or chains. .

Scene Description Language Refinements
Additional keywords and functions have been added to the language to accommodate more sophisticated animation programming.

Several type checking functions allow more generic programming by allowing scene code to perform different actions based on the type of a given object.

The   directive behaves like the standard variable declaration directives  and , except it only updates a value in the most recently declared variable of the given name, and cannot declare a new variable; this can help to avoid subtle errors caused by typos in variable names.

For example, the typo in the  incrementing declaration causes an infinite loop:

This version using  instead will trigger a parser error, unambiguously locating the line containing the typo:

Text objects may have horizontal and vertical centering and alignment specified.

Improved spline support.

Cloth objects are rectangular cloth-like objects that interact with gravity, scene objects, wind, and so on.

Light Sources of type  may include a   parameter to allow soft shadows on nearby objects without massively increasing computation in distant areas where the light source has little effect.

Textures and patterns have enhancements for exotic materials.