I was trying to render this and the coder uses a #declare #while structure
which 3.6 doesn't like.
Also I have found lots of POV files which have brackets { and } with several
lines in between and POV 3.6
says that there is no closing bracket. } Is there a utility or FAQ for
newbies how to convert a POV 3.1 or earlier
file so it will render correctly in 3.6?

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"Fred Smith" <paj### [at] verizonnet> wrote:
> I was trying to render this and the coder uses a #declare #while structure
> which 3.6 doesn't like.
> Also I have found lots of POV files which have brackets { and } with several
> lines in between and POV 3.6
> says that there is no closing bracket. } Is there a utility or FAQ for
> newbies how to convert a POV 3.1 or earlier
> file so it will render correctly in 3.6?

POV files are nothing more than text files. You do *not* need to convert
anything! From the little information you give it looks like you just have
a broken file that has newlines where it should not and thus is *not* a
valid POV file that *any* version of POV-Ray could read. You should be
looking for a copy of the file that is not broken, or repair the file you
have by removing the newlines in the places where they do not belong.

Post a reply to this message

"Fred Smith" <paj### [at] verizonnet> wrote:
> I was trying to render this and the coder uses a #declare #while structure
> which 3.6 doesn't like.
> Also I have found lots of POV files which have brackets { and } with several
> lines in between and POV 3.6
> says that there is no closing bracket. } Is there a utility or FAQ for
> newbies how to convert a POV 3.1 or earlier
> file so it will render correctly in 3.6?

Unfortunately, I couldn't open the archive you posted, so I'll just have to
guess what the problem is.

Make sure the old files have a proper version line at the top, eg

#version 3.0

or, even better

#version 3.1;

POV versions 3.5 and above need a semicolon (;) at the end of #declare and
#local statements for floats and vectors (this semicolon was optional in
3.1, IIRC). POV can (currently) cope with the older syntax if the proper
#version statement is used. However, it's a good idea to update older scene
& include files with the new syntax, especially if you plan to use them
again in the future.

See 3.2.2.5  The #version Directive in the POV 3.6 docs.

I hope this helps.

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Fred,

The online documentation for the #version directive is at

http://www.povray.org/documentation/view/3.6.1/240/

PS. This area is for messages that are Windows-specific. General questions
like yours are better suited to the 'general' or 'new-user' areas, where
you'll get more responses.

PPS. Welcome to the forum!

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