2.2. Expressions
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## 2.2. Expressions

### 2.2.1. Language directives

#### 2.2.1.1. Set directive

### Chris Huff

The `#set` keyword modifies the most recently created version of a variable. So, if a variable has been created previously with either `#declare` or `#local`, its value can be changed with the `#set` directive.

Example 2.2. Using the #set directive

    #declare MyCounter = 0:
    #set MyCounter = MyCounter + 1;

One advantage is that it makes it more visually clear where variables are 'created', and where they are only 'changed'.

Another advantage is that if you try to change a variable that doesn't yet exist, it produces an error. This could happen if you make a typing mistake, like this:

    #declare MyCounter = 0;
    #while (MyCounter < 10)
      #declare MyCountr = MyCounter+1;
    #end

This would normally cause an infinite loop, and may take a while to track down, especially in complex scenes and with typos that "look right" at a glance. If `#set` was used, it would cause an error ("#set cannot assign to uninitialized identifier MyCountr.") at that line, pointing you directly at the problem.

### 2.2.2. Built-in tokens

#### 2.2.2.1. Additional tokens in function syntax

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

POV-Ray™ 3.5 in its official release does not accept all built-in constants and variables to be used in functions. Following tokens are recognized additionally in VM since MegaPOV 1.0: `clock_delta`, `clock_on`, `false`, `final_clock`, `final_frame`, `frame_number`, `initial_clock`, `initial_frame`, `image_height`, `image_width`, `no`, `off`, `on`, `true`, `version`, `yes` . All mentioned tokens return the same values as in the whole SDL parser.

#### 2.2.2.2. `frame_step` key-word

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

As other animation options, also `Frame_Step` has its own equivalent in SDL. You can use the `frame_step` key-word to get the value which was passed to `Frame_Step` (see Section 2.1.1, “Frame_Step”). Default value is 1.

### 2.2.3. Functions

#### 2.2.3.1. Time and date functions

### Yvo Smellenbergh

With the keyword `date`, time and/or a date can be used in your images. This might be useful in a macro to place a time stamp in your images, along with your name. The keyword `date` works like other string functions, except that you have to supply a format string.

Example 2.3. `date` function usage

Suppose it's Saturday 1 January. The following script:

    #declare TheString=date("%a %B")

will return the string: Sat January

The most flexible implementation was chosen (which is probably not the easiest ...) because not all countries write dates in the same way. Just think of the difference between the USA and most parts of Europe. These are the possible specifiers for the format string: Please note that these should be equal for all platforms but if you don't get the expected result, contact the person who compiled your version to find out if there are differences.

Table 2.1. The following time formatting strings are available:

a | Abbreviated weekday name.
A | Full weekday name.
b | Abbreviated month name.
B | Full month name.
c | The strftime() format equaling the format string of "%x %X".
d | Day of the month as a decimal number.
H | The hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number from 00 to 23.
I | The hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number from 01 to 12
j | The day of the year as a decimal number from 001 to 366
m | The month as a decimal number from 01 to 12.
M | The minute as a decimal number from 00 to 59.
p | "AM" or "PM".
S | The seconds as a decimal number from 00 to 59.
U | The week number of the year as a decimal number from 00 to 52. Sunday is considered the first day of the week.
w | The weekday as a decimal number from 0 to 6. Sunday is (0) zero.
W | The week of the year as a decimal number from 00 to 51. Monday is the first day of the week.
x | The date representation of the current locale.
X | The time representation of the current locale.
y | The last two digits of the year as a decimal number.
Y | The century as a decimal number.
z | The time zone name or nothing if it is unknown.
% | The percent sign is displayed.

| Note:
To use the '%' character in the result, use it twice: `date`("%%")

Refer to `date.pov` for an example scene. Please note that you might have to write the result in a file if you want to abort the rendering and continue later on. Otherwise you could get a different result because time goes on :-)

#### 2.2.3.2. Timer function

### Yvo Smellenbergh

The keyword `start_chrono` sets an internal variable and returns the current internal clock counter of your computer. The return value is not important. However, you must assign this return value from `start_chrono` otherwise you get an error. Use it like this:

    #declare Stopwatch = start_chrono;

or use it like this:

    #if (start_chrono)

but not:

    start_chrono //parsing stops with a fatal error

The keyword `current_chrono` returns the time in full seconds (no fractions of seconds) between `start_chrono` and `current_chrono`. The start value is not changed. A second `current_chrono` will still return the seconds between `start_chrono` and the second `current_chrono`.

If you don't call `start_chrono` somewhere before you call `current_chrono`, you will get the seconds elapsed since the beginning of the current render (parsing).

Example 2.4. Using the timer function

    //reset the chrono and return the internal clock counter
    #declare ParseStart = start_chrono;

    ... syntax to be parsed

    //read the seconds elapsed since chrono_start
    #declare ParseEnd = current_chrono;
    #debug concat("\nParsing took ",str((ParseEnd, 1, 0)," seconds\n")

Refer to `chrono.pov` for a demo scene.

#### 2.2.3.3. Filename with frame number

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

Some animators want to use filenames of previous, already rendered frames to average them to mimic motion_blur in one turn. But the concatenation of filename with frame number is not a trivial thing and can be platform dependant. MegaPOV allows you to get `n`-th filename of current animation. For stills it always returns filename without numbers.

Syntax is:

    #declare File_Name=output_filename(Frame_Number)

Example 2.5. Averaging frames with `output_filename` function

You can force every 10th frame to be averaged content of previous nine frames, this way:

    #if(mod(frame_number,10)=9)
      #declare Averaged_Frames=pigment{
        average
        #local Counter=1;
        #while(Counter<10)
          [1 image_map{output_filename(frame_number-Counter)}]
          #set Counter=Counter+1;
        #end
      }
      // placing of pigment in output area
    #else
      // conventional scene
    #end

#### 2.2.3.4. Sizes of images

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

You probably already know that the `image_width` and `image_height` keywords return the sizes of a rendered image. But there are cases when you would like to change the content of a scene depending on the sizes of the images used for maps. For this purpose the `image_width` and `image_height` keywords are extended with an optional parameter which is the identifier of an item using an image.

Syntax is:

    #declare Identifier=image_width [ (ITEM_WITH_IMAGE) ];
    #declare Identifier=image_height [ (ITEM_WITH_IMAGE) ];

    ITEM_WITH_IMAGE: PIGMENT_ID | NORMAL_ID | TEXTURE_ID

#### 2.2.3.5. Dimensions of vectors

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

The usage of the `dimension_size` is extended since MegaPOV 1.1 with a measurement of floats, vectors and colors. If you want to write a universal script which works differently depending on the number of components in an identifier, you can use the `dimension_size` to get 1,2,3,4 or 5 as number of the components in the given identifier.

Syntax is:

    #declare Identifier=dimension_size ( FLOAT | VECTOR | COLOR );

#### 2.2.3.6. Type checking

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

MegaPOV 1.1 allows the verification of the type (and in some cases subtypes) of identifiers. It is possible thanks to the `is` function which tests the internal type of an identifier.

Syntax is:

    #declare Identifier=is ( IDENTIFIER , TYPE | SUBTYPE );

    TYPE: array | camera | color |
          color_map | density | density_map |
          finish | float | fog |
          function | interior | light_source |
          material | media | normal |
          normal_map | object | pigment |
          pigment_map | rainbow | sky_sphere |
          slope_map | spline | string |
          texture | texture_map | transform |
          vector

    SUBTYPE: SPLINE_TYPE | OBJECT_TYPE | CAMERA_TYPE

    SPLINE_TYPE: akima_spline | basic_x_spline |
                 cubic_spline | extended_x_spline |
                 general_x_spline | linear_spline |
                 natural_spline | quadratic_spline |
                 sor_spline | tcb_spline

    OBJECT_TYPE: bicubic_patch | blob | box |
                 cone | cubic | cylinder |
                 disc | height_field | intersection |
                 isosurface | julia_fractal | lathe |
                 merge | mesh | parametric |
                 plane | poly | polygon |
                 prism | quadric | quartic |
                 smooth_triangle | sor | sphere |
                 sphere_sweep | superellipsoid | text |
                 torus | triangle | union

    CAMERA_TYPE: cylinder | fisheye | omnimax |
                 orthographic | panoramic | perspective |
                 spherical | ultra_wide_angle | user_defined

| Important
Internally `mesh2` is stored as `mesh`. Similar `difference` is stored as `intersection`.

An example using the `is` keyword can be found in the `mp_types.inc` include file (see Section 3.3, “The 'mp_types.inc' include file”).

### 2.2.4. Internal functions

MegaPOV delivers new pre-defined functions. These new internal functions can be accessed through the `mp_functions.inc` include file, so it should be included in your scene to make use of them.

#### 2.2.4.1. `f_triangle`

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

`f_triangle` function has 10 parameters:

`FLOAT f_triangle(`FLOAT V1x, FLOAT V1y, FLOAT V1z, FLOAT V2x, FLOAT V2y, FLOAT V2z, FLOAT V3x, FLOAT V3y, FLOAT V3z, FLOAT Thickness`)`;

The parameters `V1x`, `V1y`, `V1z` describe the coordinates of the first vertex in the triangle.

The parameters `V2x`, `V2y`, `V2z` describe the coordinates of the second vertex in the triangle.

The parameters `V3x`, `V3y`, `V3z` describe the coordinates of the third vertex in the triangle.

The parameter `Thickness` describes how thick the triangle is.

| Note
In order to achieve the fastest calculation, try to pass the parameters so that the side `V1`-`V2` represents the longest side and `V1`-`V3` represents the shortest side.

### 2.2.5. Polynomial solver in parser

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

The polynomial solver is accessible from scripts via the float functions `n_roots` and `nth_root` with the following syntax:

`INT n_roots(`FLOAT an, ..., FLOAT a0, BOOL sturm_flag, FLOAT epsilon`)`;

`FLOAT nth_root(`FLOAT nth, FLOAT an, ..., FLOAT a0, BOOL sturm_flag, FLOAT epsilon`)`;

`n_roots` returns the number of roots derived from the polynomial given by the parameters `an`, `...`, `a0` and calculated under the conditions specified by the parameters `sturm_flag` and `epsilon`.

`nth_root` returns the value of the `nth` root of a given polynomial.

The sturm flag turns on a different algorithm of calculation. Its usage influences the number of returned roots. Epsilon (positive) value means that the roots below Epsilon value are ignored. Epsilon=0 means that none of the roots are ignored.

| Important
You don't have to call `n_roots` before `nth_root`, but if you do call `nth_root` with the wrong root number then it causes an error and breaks parsing. It is better to call `n_roots` first to verify the number of available roots.

Example 2.6. Polynomial solver usage

Imagine that we have x3+6*x2-x-6 and that we are interested in its roots for further calculations. So if we declare:

    #declare N=n_roots(1, 6, -1, -6, off, 0);

then N has value 3 because the mentioned equation has 3 roots. If we are interested in what roots it has, we can use the following calls:

    #declare R0=nth_root(0, 1, 6, -1, -6, off, 0);
    #declare R1=nth_root(1, 1, 6, -1, -6, off, 0);
    #declare R2=nth_root(2, 1, 6, -1, -6, off, 0);

And it returns R0=-6, R1=1 and R2=-1. So finally we know that x3+6*x2-x-6=(x+6)*(x-1)*(x+1) .

### 2.2.6. Splines

#### 2.2.6.1. `spline` follows `sor`

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

Splines in POV-Ray™ can be used to create objects through rotation, translation or by being a border of a surface. Usually it is hard to match those surfaces with calculations developed in SDL because they are mostly hard-coded within the source core code of POV-Ray™. The `spline` feature introduced in POV-Ray™ 3.5 makes such operations much easier but some spline types are still missing. `sor_spline` is introduced to access the surface of the `sor` object in SDL.

To use the data from the `sor` object in a `sor_spline`, the order of coordinates has to be changed. The old `y` coordinate is now the clock value in the spline. The advantage is that one `sor_spline` can hold data from five old `sor`-s. That's because every `spline` can operate up to five dimensions along the clock value.

Example 2.7. Conversion from the `sor` object definition to the `sor_spline` type in `spline`

    spline{
       sor_spline
      -1.000000,0.000000*x
       0.000000,0.118143*x
       0.540084,0.620253*x
       0.827004,0.210970*x
       0.962025,0.194093*x
       1.000000,0.286920*x
       1.033755,0.468354*x
    }

    sor{
      7
      <0.000000, -1.000000>
      <0.118143,  0.000000>
      <0.620253,  0.540084>
      <0.210970,  0.827004>
      <0.194093,  0.962025>
      <0.286920,  1.000000>
      <0.468354,  1.033755>
    }

#### 2.2.6.2. akima `spline`

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

An `akima_spline` is a spline that goes smoothly (pleasingly for some) through all points. ACM Press abstracts original work of Hiroshi Akima:

| This method is devised in such a way that the resultant curve will pass through the given points and will appear smooth and natural. It is based on a piecewise function composed of a set of polynomials, each of degree three, at most, and applicable to successive intervals of the given points. In this method, the slope of the curve is determined at each given point locally, and each polynomial representing a portion of the curve between a pair of given points is determined by the coordinates of and the slopes at the points. Comparison indicates that the curve obtained by this new method is closer to a manually drawn curve than those drawn by other mathematical methods. |
--The Guide to Computing Literature. |

Syntax is:

    spline {
      akima_spline
      time_Val_1, <Vector_1> [,]
      time_Val_2, <Vector_2> [,]
        ...
      time_Val_n, <Vector_n>
    }

#### 2.2.6.3. tcb `spline`

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

This spline is also known as Kochanek-Bartels spline.

Syntax is:

    spline {
      tcb_spline [TCB_PARAMETERS]
      time_Val_1 [TCB_PARAMETERS], <Vector_1> [TCB_PARAMETERS][,]
      time_Val_2 [TCB_PARAMETERS], <Vector_2> [TCB_PARAMETERS][,]
        ...
      time_Val_n [TCB_PARAMETERS], <Vector_n> [TCB_PARAMETERS]
    }

    TCB_PARAMETERS:
      [tension FLOAT] [continuity FLOAT] [bias FLOAT]

The `tension`, `continuity` and `bias` are fully optional. Depending on the place where they appear, they control the spline in different ways:

- Placed right after the `tcb_spline` keyword, they set the default values for all ends of the spline segments. This placement is ignored in case of copying spline without adding new controls because previous defaults were already propagated to each side of control points.
- Placed between the time_value and the corresponding vector, the tcb parameters determine the properties of the spline segment ending in the vector that follows these parameters.
- For tcb parameters following a vector, the properties of the spline segment beginning after this vector are set.

What is controlled by these parameters?

- `tension` controls how sharply the curve bends.
- `continuity` controls how rapid speed and direction change.
- `bias` controls the direction of the curve as it passes through the control point.

| Note
A `tcb_spline` needs additional control points before and after the spline. This is required to control the first and last segment of the spline.

#### 2.2.6.4. x splines

A very nice property of x splines is that they can go through a control point as well as just approximate it.

##### 2.2.6.4.1. basic x spline

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

Syntax is:

    spline {
      basic_x_spline [freedom_degree FLOAT]
      time_Val_1, <Vector_1> [,]
      time_Val_2, <Vector_2> [,]
      ...
      time_Val_n, <Vector_n>
    }

| Note
A `basic_x_spline` needs additional control points before and after the spline. This is required to control the first and last segment of the spline.

##### 2.2.6.4.2. extended x spline

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

The `extended_x_spline` offers the possibility to mix smooth curves and sharp edges in an unrestricted way in one spline.

Syntax is:

    spline {
      extended_x_spline [freedom_degree FLOAT]
      time_Val_1, <Vector_1> [freedom_degree FLOAT ][,]
      time_Val_2, <Vector_2> [freedom_degree FLOAT ][,]
      ...
      time_Val_n, <Vector_n> [freedom_degree FLOAT ]
    }

##### 2.2.6.4.3. general x spline

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

Syntax is:

    spline {
      general_x_spline [freedom_degree FLOAT]
      time_Val_1, <Vector_1> [freedom_degree FLOAT ][,]
      time_Val_2, <Vector_2> [freedom_degree FLOAT ][,]
      ...
      time_Val_n, <Vector_n> [freedom_degree FLOAT ]
    }

#### 2.2.6.5. Spline accessed like array

### Włodzimierz ABX Skiba

Since MegaPOV 1.0 it is possible to read values stored in a `spline` with a notation similar to an `array`. Previously once the `spline` was declared, it was only possible to evaluate it for a specified argument. Now two new usages are possible: you can get the number of entries and read the exact values placed in splines.

    SPLINE_USAGE:
      SPLINE_EVALUATION | SPLINE_MEASUREMENT | SPLINE_ENTRY

    SPLINE_EVALUATION:
      #declare Spline_Value = MySpline(Val);
      #declare Spline_Value = MySpline(Val, SPLINE_TYPE);

    SPLINE_MEASUREMENT:
      #declare Number_Of_Entries = dimension_size( MySpline );

    SPLINE_ENTRY:
      #declare Float_Time_Parameter = MySpline[ Counter ][ 0 ];
      #declare Vector_Value_Of_Entry = MySpline[ Counter ][ 1 ];

### 2.2.7. Transforms

#### 2.2.7.1. The normal modifier for transforms

### Christoph Hormann

This patch adds a new option to the `transform` syntax that modifies the transform to be suited for transforming normal vectors.

When a mesh is transformed by the transformation matrix `M` the normals need to be transformed with the transpose of the inverse of `M`. This is handled automatically by this patch.

Syntax is:

    transform {
      ...
      normal on|off
    }

The default value is `off` so you get a standard transform.

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