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How to start PovRay from a 3d-application coded with Pascal (Delphi)
1. set appropriate PovRay preferences
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- Menu: Editor / Auto-Reload / * Always
- Menu: Options / * Keep single instance
- add '+FN' to command line option field to save PNG pictures
2. export a 3d-scenery as PovRay file
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- build filename: povfilename = <name> + '.pov'
- save scenery as ASCII file named 'povfilename'
3. get PovRay execution path from registry
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- get execution command from registry
povStartCommand := GetRegistryString (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
, '\Applications\pvengine.exe\shell\open\Command', '');
- from povStartCommand cut away the text after 'pvengine.exe'
4. start PovRay with saved PovRay file
--------------------------------------
- set execution parameter to:
param := ' /EDIT ' + povfilename + ' /RENDER ' + povfilename;
- start povray without waiting for ending
errorCode := ShellExecute (Application.Handle, 'open'
,PChar(povStartCommand), PChar(param), nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
5. handling PovRay after execution
----------------------------------
- if you want to restart rendering press 'Stop' at PovRay
and continue with point 2
- to change resolution press 'Stop' change it and press 'Run'
- if rendering ends you can restart rendering
during PovRay is still running
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I was extracting the needed code to a console application for testing.
Hope this implemention is useful for all Delphi coders and for coding in
other languages too.
With Delphi create a new console application, save it as 'PovRayStarter'
and replace the whole code with this one...
//********************************************************************
// PovRayStarter v1.0
// a console program for testing start of PovRay rendering with Delphi
//********************************************************************
{$D+,L+,Y+,R+,S+,Q+,O-,C+}
program PovRayStarter;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses SysUtils, ShellApi, Windows, Registry;
const CRLF = #13#10; // carriage return + linefeed
PovRayStartCommand36
= 'C:/Programme/POV_Ray/POV-Ray 3.6/bin/pvengine.exe ';
PovRayStartCommand37
= 'C:/Programme/POV_Ray/POV-Ray 3.7/bin/pvengine-sse2.exe ';
var povStartCommand, povStartParams: string;
//*********************************************************
// Gets a string value from the registry from the given key.
// Converts integer value to a string
// Returns '' if the sub key or value name are unknown.
//---------------------------------------------------------
function GetRegistryString (const rootKey: HKEY;
const subKey, name: string): string;
var
reg: TRegistry; // registry access object
valueInfo: TRegDataInfo; // info about registry value
begin
Result := '';
reg := TRegistry.Create;
try
reg.RootKey := rootKey;
if reg.OpenKeyReadOnly (subKey)
then if reg.GetDataInfo (name, valueInfo)
then begin
// check if registry value is string or integer
case valueInfo.RegData of
// string value: just return it
rdString, rdExpandString: Result := reg.ReadString (name);
// integer value: convert to string
rdInteger: Result := IntToStr (reg.ReadInteger(name));
end;
end;
finally
reg.CloseKey;
reg.Free;
end;
end;
//*********************************************************
// get start command of PovRay Renderer
//---------------------------------------------------------
procedure GetPovRayStartCommand;
var si: integer;
begin
povStartCommand := GetRegistryString (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
, '\Applications\pvengine.exe\shell\open\Command', '');
if povStartCommand = ''
then povStartCommand := PovRayStartCommand36
else begin
// cut text after 'pvengine.exe '
si := pos('pvengine.exe ', povStartCommand);
delete (povStartCommand, si+12, 999);
end;
end;
//*********************************************************
// execute Windows application
// input: name: string application name
// param: string application start parameters
// result: boolean =true application started
// errorCode <= 32 --> error
// e.g. 2 = ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
// examples:
// started := RunApplication ('pvengine.exe', '/RENDER example.pov');
// started := RunApplication ('ReadMe.txt', ''); // view text file
// RunApplication ('notepad', 'info.txt'); // view text file with notePad
// RunApplication ('Explorer', 'C:\'); // start windows explorer
//---------------------------------------------------------
function RunApplication (const name, param: string): boolean;
var
errorCode: cardinal;
begin
writeln (CRLF,'starting PovRay with command...', CRLF,' ', name, param);
errorCode := ShellExecute (0, 'open'
,PChar(name), PChar(param), nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
result := (errorCode = 0) or (errorCode = 42);
if result
then writeln (' successfully started ')
else writeln ('RunApplication: ', CRLF
,' can not start application ''' + povStartCommand + '''' + CRLF
,' error code = ' + IntToStr(errorCode));
end;
//*********************************************************
// start rendering of povray scene
//---------------------------------------------------------
procedure StartPovRayRendering (const povfilename: string);
var
result: boolean;
begin
povStartParams := ' /EDIT ' + povfilename + ' /RENDER ' + povfilename;
// try to start PovRay 3.6
result := RunApplication (povStartCommand, povStartParams);
if not result
// try to start PovRay 3.7
then RunApplication (PovRayStartCommand37, povStartParams);
end;
//*********************************************************
// create povray test scene file
//---------------------------------------------------------
procedure SavePovRayTestFile (const povfilename: string);
var pov: text;
begin
Assign (pov, povfilename);
ReWrite (pov);
writeln (pov, '// File: ' + povfilename, CRLF
,'camera {location -3*z}', CRLF
,'light_source {<9,9,-9> 1 parallel}', CRLF
,'sphere {0 1 pigment {rgb<1,1,0.5>}}', CRLF);
Close (pov);
end;
//*********************************************************
const
povFilename = 'Test1.pov';
begin
writeln (CRLF, '=== PovRayStarter v1.0 ===', CRLF);
SavePovRayTestFile (povFilename);
GetPovRayStartCommand;
StartPovRayRendering (povFilename);
sleep(7000);
end.
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