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- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- How to set up POVRay v3.02 on the Atari for optimal ease of use
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- POVRay can be launched from the Desktop, or from a command line
- shell, or even from a special POV shell - but there are other
- ways to achieve a quick edit/render turnaround time. This text
- file explains one of the better alternatives.
-
- Why not launch POV is from the text editor itself?
-
- If you have a version of the Hisoft Devpac (or Lattice) editor,
- you can install POVRay as a tool in the tool menu. This will
- allow the user to launch POVRay directly from the text editor
- without the hassle of saving and quitting, and without having to
- resort to multitasking (which can often slow POVRay down - not
- something you really want, since POVRay takes it's time anyway).
-
- To install POVRay as a tool, you hold down CTRL and click on the
- tool you wich to replace in the TOOLS dropdown menu. The layout
- of the resulting dialog box will depend on the version of the
- editor you have, but it will generally allow you to create a
- name for your tool and set up various path details for running
- programs.
-
- You should use the following options (where available):
-
- (quotes "" are for clarity and indicate text, and should not be
- typed into any of the specified fields)
-
- Menu entry: "POVRay v3.02"
- Make resident: No
- Command line: As shown
- Directory: Tool's
- Save files: Yes
- Path: "f:\povray3\pov3_881.ttp" (or whatever)
- Command: "-i%?.pov -o%?.tga povray.ini"
- Pause on exit: Yes
- Report errors: No
- Run as TOS: Yes
- Run as GEM: No
-
- And then save preferences!
-
- To use POVRay v3.02 from The Hisoft editor, simply load your POV
- scripts into different windows, and load the POVRAY.INI file into
- another window. You will need to edit the POVRAY.INI file before
- rendering in order to choose the size of the resulting image and
- to set quality and detail modes.
-
- You can edit the POVRAY.INI file as much as you want, and you
- don't have to save it manually. It will be saved any time you
- make changes when you launch POVRay itself.
-
- You can have as many POV scripts loaded as you wish, and when
- you select 'POVRay v3.02' from the Tools menu, any changes you
- have made to any of the files in memory will be saved. The POV
- script in the _current_ window will be rendered to the screen.
- You can render any scene you wish by 'topping' the appropriate
- window and selecting 'POVRay v3.02' from the tools menu.
-
- To return to the Hisoft editor, simply hit any key and POVRay
- will present you with the statistics for the last rendered scene.
-
- Once you have got used to this system, it's hard to use anything
- else!
-
- Notes for ST/STE users
- ----------------------
-
- Because the 68000 versions of POVRay don't support rendering to
- the screen, you will have to render the image first and *then*
- view later. This can be achieved by setting aside one entry in
- the TOOLS menu for the 'NIFTYTGA.TTP' PhotoChrome viewer which
- will let you view the image rendered by the currently highlighted
- window in 4096 or 32768 colours.
-
- The tool options for setting this up are:
-
- Menu entry: "View TARGA"
- Make resident: No
- Command line: As shown
- Directory: Tool's
- Save files: Yes
- Path: "f:\povray3\viewers\niftytga.ttp" (or whatever)
- Command: "%?.tga"
- Pause on exit: No
- Report errors: No
- Run as TOS: Yes
- Run as GEM: No
-
- And then save preferences!
-
-
- Other good alternatives come in the form of POVShell, and the
- upcoming Shelly (still under development, but it sounds great).
- These should be available from all well supported FTP sites,
- and I hope to include Shelly with this package if possible.
-
-
- Doug Little ~ July 1997
-
-