Koan Image Repository - Search Help

The database is indexed by pyramid. This means that the request you enter will be compared against each and every pyramid in each and every koan. Everything is converted to lowercase before parsing the search (ie. Purple = puRPlE = purple). The search syntax used is a subset of CQL. The list of categories and valid descriptors are as follows:

• Color: Red Green Blue Yellow Orange Purple Cyan Clear Black White
• Size: Small Medium Large
• Position: Grounded Stacked Floating
• Orientation: Upright Flat Weird

For each of the above categories, there is an associated count.

• count.red returns the number of red pyramids in a koan
• count.floating gives a count of floating pyramids
• etc…

Caveat: Searching for blue and upright will return all koans with at least 1 blue pyramid and at least 1 upright pyramid, but not necessarily with a pyramid that is both blue and upright. To do a more specific search you must use the pyramid keyword. Groups of terms must be separated by a space and enclosed by quotation marks. You can negate a term by prefacing it with an exclamation point(!).

There are also 3 special categories:

• Num: The number of pyramids in the koan
• Pips: The total pip-count of the koan
• Source: This is the actual source code for the koan. Enclose comparison strings in double-quotes(”).
• Series: (see below)

The following relational operators are available: <, >, <=, >=, =, <>, and, or, not ¹⁾ You can also use parentheses () to group queries together.

There is also a special relational keyword called exact. If you want koans consisting of only grounded pyramids, you could enter: position exact grounded. Koans with only medium koans: size exact medium.

• upright
  • Returns all koans cosisting of at least 1 upright pyramid.
• upright and color<>green
  • Returns all koans consisting of at least 1 upright pyramid and no green pyramids whatsoever.
• num>2 and (blue or purple) orientation<>weird
  • Would first select all koans that consist of 3+ pyramids. It would then weed out any of those koans that do not contain at least 1 blue or 1 purple pyramid. It would then remove all koans consisting of any weird pyramids.
• color <> (orange and purple and cyan and black and clear and white)
  • Returns all koans that have only red, yellow, blue, and green pieces.
• color exact green
  • Returns only koans consisting of all green pyramids.
• pyramid=“blue small grounded” and count.stacked = 1
  • First finds all koans consisting of at least one pyramid that is blue, small, and grounded. It then weeds out any koans that don't have exactly 1 stacked pyramid.
• pyramid=“blue small !floating”
  • Returns all koans with at least one pyramid that is blue, small, and either grounded or stacked.
• series=pall and pyramid=“small yellow” and pyramid=“small green” and pyramid=“small blue”
  • Returns the 10 pallBearer koans with yellow, green, and blue bearers.

The forums are the best place to ask for help with the Povray system. Simply visit the Koan Requests forum. As always, you can also email me directly if you have any questions or concerns. Enjoy!

A series is a specific type of koan layout that is duplicated using all the available colours. If you can think of a useful series that is not included here, or you have better code for an existing series, please let me know.

Also, series names are not case sensitive, and it does a broad search. So searching for just “sm” would also return “sml”.

Name	Description	Example Koan
NULL	A special keyword that means not belonging to a series.
allFallDown	4 small, grounded, flat pyramids pointing away from the center
away	A grounded flat pointing away from a grounded upright
cheerleaders	4 small grounded uprights supporting a large upright
couples	2 grounded upright mids next to each other but not touching
couplesTouching	Same as couples but they are touching at the base
dualFlatPointers	2 pyramids of varying sizes that are flat, grounded, and point towards each other
families	3 upright grounded pyramids, one of each size
fingerPointingS3	3 small, flat, grounded mids pointing at each other
fingerPointingS4	4 small, flat, grounded mids pointing at each other
fingerPointingS5	5 small, flat, grounded mids pointing at each other
fingerPointingM3	3 medium, flat, grounded mids pointing at each other
fingerPointingM5	5 medium, flat, grounded mids pointing at each other
fingerPointingL3	3 large, flat, grounded mids pointing at each other
fingerPointingL4	4 large, flat, grounded mids pointing at each other
inspection	4 small, flat, grounded pyramids in a line, with an additional small, grounded, flat marching in front of them
jumbled3a	A miscellaneous collection of three pyramids
llFlat	Same as llUp, but flat
llUp	2 large pyramids upright and stacked on each other
lllUp	3 large pyramids stacked on top of each other
loneBearers	Same as pallBearers but without the pall
mathochist063	Similar to notSpeaking with a medium upright stacked on the two flats
mathochist064	Same as mathochist063 except the stacked pyramid is a small
mathochist065	Same as mathochist064 except the small is resting “inside” the 2 flat larges
mathochist066	Same as mathochist065 except with a large resting inside
mathochist067	One flat grounded large with a small upright resting on the inside lip of the large
mathochist071	A picture is worth 1000 words…
mediator	Same as notSpeaking except with an upright grounded pyramid between them
mlUp	A medium upright stacked on a large grounded upright
mlWeird	Same as mlUp but the medium is “weird”
mmFlat	Same as mmUp, but flat
mmUp	2 upright mediums stacked on each other
mmWeird	Same as mmUp with a weird top
mmmUp	3 medium pyramids stacked on top of each other
notSpeaking	2 flat grounded pyramids facing away from each other
pallBearers	3 flat grounded smalls supporting 1 flat stacked large
passersBy	2 flat grounded mids pointing in opposite directions, but next to each other
passersByGoingAround	Same as passersBy with a grounded upright mid in the middle
rocket	1 grounded small supporting the tip of a weird grounded large
singleFlat	1 flat grounded pyramid
singlePointer	1 flat grounded pyramid to the left of and pointing at an upright grounded pyramid
singleUp	1 grounded upright pyramid
slUp	Small stacked on a large
smFlat	Same as smUp only flat
smUp	An upright small stacked on an upright grounded medium
smWeird	Same as smUp but with the top weird
ssFlat	Same as ssUp but flat
ssUp	2 small stacked uprights
sssUp	3 small stacked uprights
treeFlat	A flat “tree”
treeToppling	A “tree” with both stacked pieces weird
treeUp	A “tree”
treeWeird	A “tree” with a weird top
triforce	3 small pyramids in a pyramid formation
triosSmall	3 small, grounded, upright mids standing next to each other
triosMedium	Same as triosSmall with medium mids
triosLarge	Same as triosSmall with large mids
walkingTheDog	Upright grounded mid with a flat grounded one “walking” beside it
wheelS3	Same as wheelS6 but with 3 pyramids
wheelS4	Same as wheelS6 but with 4 pyramids
wheelS5	Same as wheelS6 but with 5 pyramids
wheelS6	A wheel of 6 small, flat, grounded mids, all pointing to the centre