Knowledgebase:Utilities

Topic 1

What is the best animation program available?

Check the POV-Ray Animation Utilities links page.

Topic 2

How can I create/view mpeg-files in Windows/Linux/...?

See the IRTC Animation FAQ page.

Topic 3

Where can I find models/textures to use in POV-Ray?

Check the POV-Ray Include, Macro and Object Files Object and Scene Files page.

Topic 4

What are the best modelers for use with POV-Ray?

Check the POV-Ray Modelling Programs page.

Topic 5

Are there any modelers for POV available on the Mac?

(Answer by Henri Sivonen)

Yes there are. However, a text editor is still needed.

Most of the available modelers are listed on the Official POV-Ray MacOS Info Page.

In addition to the programs on the above-mentioned list, there are a couple of others: D-form and Stomp3D. Stomp3D is a Java application, so MRJ is needed to run it. (You should already have MRJ installed if you are running Mac OS 8.) JBindery is needed for turning Stomp3D into a doubleclickable Mac OS application. JBindery is part of MRJ SDK. Drop the Stomp3D JAR file onto JBindery. Enter stomp/Stomp as the class name. The other setting should be self-explanatory. Use the command Save As... in the File menu to save Stomp3D as a doubleclickable application. Stomp3D expects the stomp.config file (if any) to reside in the Preferences folder inside the System Folder.

DOS, Windows and Linux i386 modelers can be used with an Intel PC emulator. With MkLinux or LinuxPPC , Linux-compatible applications with freely available source code can be compiled and then run natively.

Topic 6

Is there a user gallery of POV-Ray images somewhere?

There are literaly hundreds of POV-Ray users galleries. Almost anybody that uses POV-Ray and has a web page has some sort of picture gallery set up. Look for web page addresses at the bottoms of the messages posted to the newsgroup comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing and the povray newsgroups.

There are 2 places officially supported by the POV team. They are:

1. The POV-Ray users Hall of Fame gallery.

2. A private news server (not connected with USENET) operated by the POV Team: http://www.povray.org/groups.html in the povray.binaries.images newsgroup, you will find many images posted from other POV-Ray users. There are also discussion groups, and plenty of sample code and scenes.

• You should also check the Internet Raytracing Competition homepage.

Topic 7

What's the best program to produce a height field for use with POV-Ray?

Check the POV-Ray Height Field Modelling Programs and Utilities links page.

Topic 8

Does anybody know an easy way to produce trees for POV-Ray?

A program called Tree designer by Johannes Hubert is an excellent modelling program for trees.

There are also a several good include files for this purpose. Check the POV-Ray Include Macro and Object Files page.

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