HowTo:Configure your favorite text editor to work with POV-Ray
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POV-Ray supporting text editors
- BSD
- Linux
- eclipse with povclipse plugin
- neXtgen Povray Editor
- KPovModeler
- Kate
- Windows
Instructions
- SciTE on Windows (other platforms should be similar)
Syntax highlighting of POV-Ray SDL is already supported by default. However, an option for POV-Ray is missing from some of the necessary menus and dialogs. To fix this:
- Select the "Options" menu. Select "Open Global Options File". A text file with a bunch of SciTE configuration settings will open in the editor window.
- Scroll down to the section that looks like this:
source.files=*.asm;*.c;*.cc;*.cpp;*.cxx;*.cs;*.h;*.hh;*.hxx;*.hpp;\
*.idl;*.odl;*.rc;*.rc2;*.dlg;*.def;\
*.vb;*.vbs;*.bas;*.frm;*.cls;*.ctl;\
*.java;*.js;*.py;*.pl;*.rb;*.cgi;*.lua;*.conf;\
make*;*.mak;\
*.properties;*.html;*.xml;*.iface;*.bat;*.el
- Add the common POV-Ray file extensions to the list. These include the POV, INC, INI and MCR extensions. It should now look like this:
source.files=*.asm;*.c;*.cc;*.cpp;*.cxx;*.cs;*.h;*.hh;*.hxx;*.hpp;\
*.idl;*.odl;*.rc;*.rc2;*.dlg;*.def;\
*.vb;*.vbs;*.bas;*.frm;*.cls;*.ctl;\
*.java;*.js;*.py;*.pl;*.rb;*.cgi;*.lua;*.conf;\
make*;*.mak;\
*.properties;*.html;*.xml;*.iface;*.bat;*.el;*.pov;*.inc;*.ini;*.mcr
- After restarting SciTE Povray source files should now be listed in the "Open File", "Save File", etc. dialogs.
- Scroll to the section labeled "Define the Lexer menu". Uncomment the line that reads:
#P&OV-Ray SDL|pov||\
- It should now look like this:
P&OV-Ray SDL|pov||\
- After restarting SciTE an entry for POV-Ray SDL should now appear in the "Language" menu.
To set up SciTE to send files to POV-Ray for editing:
- Select the "Options" menu and select "Open pov.properties". A text file with POV-Ray-specific configuration settings will open in the editor window.
- Scroll down to where it says:
command.compile.*.pov=pvengine.exe $(FileName)
- Replace the line with the following. Also change the file path to reflect the location of your POV-Ray installation. On my system (Windows 7) it ended up being:
command.build.*.pov=cmd /c start "" "C:\Users\...username...\AppData\Roaming\POV-Ray\v3.6\bin\pvengine64.exe" /EDIT "$(FilePath)"
- Note: The cmd /c start "" part is necessary to keep SciTE from waiting for POV-Ray to quit.
- After restarting SciTE pressing the F7 key should now automatically send the file to POV-Ray for editing.
To set up SciTE to send files to POV-Ray for rendering:
- If not already open, select the "Options" menu and select "Open pov.properties". A text file with POV-Ray-specific configuration settings will open in the editor window.
- Scroll down to where it says:
command.go.*.pov=pvengine.exe $(FileName)
- Replace the line with the following. Also change the file path to reflect the location of your POV-Ray installation. On my system it ended up being:
command.go.*.pov=cmd /c start "" "C:\Users\...username...\AppData\Roaming\POV-Ray\v3.6\bin\pvengine64.exe" /RENDER "$(FilePath)"
- Note: The cmd /c start "" part is necessary to keep SciTE from waiting for POV-Ray to quit.
- After restarting SciTE pressing the F5 key should now automatically send the file to POV-Ray for rendering.
To set up SciTE for context-sensitive POV-Ray help:
- Select the "Options" menu. Select "Open pov.properties". A text file with POV-Ray-specific configuration settings will open in the editor window.
- Scroll down to where it says:
command.help.$(file.patterns.pov)=$(CurrentWord)!...
change the file path to reflect the location of your POV-Ray installation. On my system it was:command.help.$(file.patterns.pov)=$(CurrentWord)!C:\Users\...username...\AppData\Roaming\POV-Ray\v3.6\help\povray36.chm
- After restarting SciTE pressing the F1 key should now automatically open the POV-Ray help file to the correct entry based on the keyword you have highlighted in the scene description file.