This documentation assumes you already have POV-Ray
installed and
running however the POV-Team does distribute this file
by itself
in various formats including online on the internet.
If you
don't have POV-Ray or aren't sure you have the official
version
or the latest version, then the following sections will
tell you
what to get and where to get it.
Which Version of POV-Ray should you use?
POV-Ray can be used under MS-Dos, Windows 3.x, Windows
for
Workgroups 3.11, Windows 95, Windows NT, Apple Macintosh
68k,
Power PC, Amiga, Linux, UNIX and other platforms. The
latest
versions of the necessary files are available on our
web site
at http://www.povray.org and through various CD distributions.
See section "Where to Find POV-Ray Files"
for more info. If
your platform is not supported and you are proficient
in compiling
source code programs written in C then, see section
"Compiling
POV-Ray" for more information.
Apple Macintosh
The MacOS versions run under Apple's MacOS operating
system
version 7.1 or newer, on any 68020/030/040-based Macintosh-
compatible computer (with or without a floating point
coprocessor) or any of the PowerPC Macintosh-compatible
computers.
Required hardware and software:
A 68020 or better CPU without a floating point unit
(LC or
Performa or Centris series); at least 8 MB RAM
or
A 68020 or better CPU *with* a floating point unit
(Mac II or
Quadra series); at least 8 MB RAM or
Any PowerPC Macintosh computer and at least 8 MB RAM.
System 7.1 or newer and color QuickDraw (System 6
is no longer
supported).
Appearance Extension is also required now. This comes
standard
in MacOS 8, but can be downloaded from Apple's
web
site <http://developer.apple.com/sdk/> and
installed on any
Mac running 7.1 or newer.
Navigation Services is not required, but will enhance
the
open/save dialogs if it is present. It is also
a free
extension available from Apple's web site, which
can be used
in 7.5.5 or newer.
About 6 MB free disk space to install and an additional
2-10
MB free space for your own creations (scenes and
images).
Graphic file viewer utility capable of viewing Mac
PICT, GIF
and perhaps TGA and PNG formats (the shareware
GraphicConverter or GIFConverter applications are
good.)
Required POV-Ray files:
POVMACNF.SIT or POVMACNF.SIT.HQX - a Stuffit archive
containing the non-FPU 68K Macintosh application,
sample
scenes, standard include files and documentation
(slower
version for Macs without an FPU) or
POVMAC68.SIT or POVMAC68.SIT.HQX - a Stuffit archive
containing the FPU 68K Macintosh application, sample
scenes,
standard include files and documentation (faster
version for
Macs WITH an FPU) or
POVPMAC.SIT or POVPMAC.SIT.HQX - a Stuffit archive
containing
the native Power Macintosh application, sample
scenes,
standard include files and documentation.
Recommended:
68030/33 or faster with FPU, or any Power Macintosh
8 MB or more RAM for 68K Macintosh;
16 MB or more for Power Macintosh systems.
Color monitor preferred, 256 colors OK, but thousands
or
millions of colors is even better.
Optional: The source code is not needed to use POV-Ray.
It is
provided for the curious and adventurous. POV-Ray can
be compiled
using Apple's MPW 3.3, Metrowerks CodeWarrior Pro or
Symantec 8.
POVMACS.SIT or POVMACS.SIT.HQX - The full C source
code for
POV-Ray for Macintosh. Contains generic parts and
Macintosh
specific parts. It does not include sample scenes,
standard
include files and documentation so you should also
get the
executable archive as well.
All Versions
Each executable archive includes full documentation
for POV-Ray
itself as well as specific instructions for using POV-Ray
with
your type of platform. All versions of the program share
the same
ray-tracing features like shapes, lighting and textures.
In other
words, an MS-Dos-PC can create the same pictures as
a Cray
supercomputer as long as it has enough memory. The user
will want
to get the executable that best matches their computer
hardware.
In addition to the files listed above, the POV-Team
also
distributes the user documentation in two alternate
forms. Note
this is the same documentation distributed in other
archives but
in a different format. This may be especially useful
for MS-Dos
or Unix users because their documentation is plain ASCII
text
only.
POVUSER.PDF - Tutorial and Reference documentation
in Adobe
Acrobat PDF format. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader
available
for Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98/NT, Mac and some
Unix
systems. Go to
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html
to get
the reader for free.
POVHTML.ZIP - Archive containing Tutorial and Reference
documentation in html for viewing with any internet
browser.
POV31W97.ZIP - Archive containing Tutorial and Reference
documentation in Microsoft Word 97 format.
See the section "Where to Find POV-Ray Files"
for where to find
these files. You can contact those sources to find out
what the
best version is for you and your computer.
Where to Find POV-Ray Files
The latest versions of the POV-Ray software are available
from
the following sources.
World Wide Website www.povray.org
The internet home of POV-Ray is reachable on the World
Wide Web
via the address http://www.povray.org and via ftp as
ftp.povray.org. Please stop by often for the latest
files,
utilities, news and images from the official POV-Ray
internet
site.
The comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing newsgroup has
many
competent POV-Ray users that are very willing to share
their
knowledge. They generally ask that you first browse
a few files
to see if someone has already answered the same question,
and of
course, that you follow proper "netiquette".
If you have any
doubts about the qualifications of the folks that frequent
the
group, a few minutes spend at the Ray Tracing Competition
pages
at www.povray.org will quickly convince you!
Also the POV-Team operates its own news server on the
internet
with several news groups related to POV-Ray and other
interesting
programs. For more information about the server
see http://www.povray.org/groups.html.
Books, Magazines and CD-ROMs
Unfortunately all English language books on POV-Ray
are out of
print and there are no plans to reprint them. However
there
is now a POV-Ray 3.02 book and CD-ROM available in Japanese.
It talks about the Windows and Mac versions of POV-Ray,
and
various utilities. The CD-ROM is dual format, Windows/Mac.
It was written in Japan by Hideki Komuro-san, and published
by ASCII Corp. in June 1998, ISBN 4-7561-1831-3.
Many popular computer magazines have been authorized
to
distribute POV-Ray on cover CDs. Note that such distributions
of the official version of POV-Ray is permitted under
the terms
of the General License in the file POVLEGAL.DOC. The
POV-Team
does not endorse the distributor or its products. The
POV-Team
receives no compensation for this distribution.
The POV-Team does endorse some CD-ROMs containing POV-Ray
which
are prepared by team members. A portion of the proceeds
from
these CDs support our internet sites and other team
activities.
You can always find the latest information on what is
available
at our web site www.povray.org.
This page was created using TextToHTML. TextToHTML is a free software for Macintosh and is (c) 1995,1996 by Kris Coppieters