HowTo:Configure your favorite text editor to work with POV-Ray

POV-Ray supporting text editors

BSD

• neXtgen Povray Editor
• Vimfeatures POV highlighting and POV CTags support file can be found on the newsgroups
• Blender has a text editor with POV features when native addon is activated

Linux

• eclipse with povclipse plugin
• neXtgen Povray Editor
• KPovModeler
• Kate
• Vim
• Blender's text editor

Windows

• Qwined
• SciTE
• neXtgen Povray Editor
• ConTEXT using a language extension
• Vim
• Blender's text editor

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:

1. 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.
2. 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

3. 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

4. After restarting SciTE Povray source files should now be listed in the "Open File", "Save File", etc. dialogs.
5. Scroll to the section labeled "Define the Lexer menu". Uncomment the line that reads:

   #P&OV-Ray SDL|pov||\

6. It should now look like this:

   P&OV-Ray SDL|pov||\

7. 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:

1. Select the "Options" menu and select "Open pov.properties". A text file with POV-Ray-specific configuration settings will open in the editor window.
2. Scroll down to where it says:

   command.compile.*.pov=pvengine.exe $(FileName)

3. 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)"

4. Note: The cmd /c start "" part is necessary to keep SciTE from waiting for POV-Ray to quit.
5. 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:

1. 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.
2. Scroll down to where it says:

   command.go.*.pov=pvengine.exe $(FileName)

3. 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)"

4. Note: The cmd /c start "" part is necessary to keep SciTE from waiting for POV-Ray to quit.
5. 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:

1. Select the "Options" menu. Select "Open pov.properties". A text file with POV-Ray-specific configuration settings will open in the editor window.
2. 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

3. 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.

External links

• Comfortable editor for POV-Ray under Debian Linux?
• Useful tools for POV-Ray for Unix