"Carl Hoff" <hof### [at] wtnet> wrote in message news:402d5d67@news.povray.org...
> I'm getting ready to make my first short animations.  There are so many
> different formats out there I'm not really sure where to start.  If I were
> to post one to povray.binaries.animations is their a preferred format?  If
> not is there an FAQ for beginners out there that explains the pros and
cons
> of the different formats?  I'm also curious what software most POV-Ray
users
> use to turn their POV-Ray outputted frames into animations.  The docs say
> "There are a number of programs available" so I'm looking for
> recommendations on something simple and easy to learn and free (as I'm
> unemployed at the moment).

The IRTC accepts MPEG-1 files. For more information, see:
http://www.irtc.org/anims/rules.html#anims

I'd stick with that format just in case you make something really incredible
and you want to submit it.

Also, if you're unemployed and looking for free stuff, I'd use UNIX and get
the netpbm library to build your MPEG file. It's a little tedious, but you
have very fine control over your frames. Most package installers (like rpm,
up2date, dselect, RPMDrake, etc. based on your flavor of Linux or UNIX)
include netpbm now. If you want to go to the website, go to:
http://netpbm.sourceforge.net

In my experience, if you're lazy (like me) and don't want to go get the more
obscure players, you'll find that RealPlayer works fairly well for MPEG-1
animations and Windows Media Player absolutely flatulates on it.

Hope this helps!

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