I am teaching a high school graphics course and decided to include PovRay in
the class.  At the moment I am barely one step ahead of my students though.
We ran into a problem today that I can't figure out.  We needed to print
their pictures they created so I had them go to photoshop and then go to the
same place they saved the code for their scene and open the graphic file (is
there an easier way?)  The problem is that about a fourth of the class had
no graphic file, only the povray code file and some file with the same name
and the extension .bak.  Can anyone tell me how to fix this so they can find
the picture?  Is there an easier way to print?

Thanks a bunch,
Colin

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wrestler wrote:

> I am teaching a high school graphics course and decided to include PovRay in
> the class.  At the moment I am barely one step ahead of my students though.
> We ran into a problem today that I can't figure out.  We needed to print
> their pictures they created so I had them go to photoshop and then go to the
> same place they saved the code for their scene and open the graphic file (is
> there an easier way?)  The problem is that about a fourth of the class had
> no graphic file, only the povray code file and some file with the same name
> and the extension .bak.  Can anyone tell me how to fix this so they can find
> the picture?  Is there an easier way to print?


I think you need to render the .POV file.  The .BAK is simply the 
version closest to the latest .POV that gets renamed to that 
extension upon a save of your POV file.

Your graphics file will most likely be a .TGA file (Targa).

What are you using to create the script files, hand coding them 
or a modeler such as Moray?

-Peter


> 
> Thanks a bunch,
> Colin
> 
> 


-- 
Current obsession: "Ballet pour ma fille."
http://www.applesnake.net

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We're just hand coding them.  We have rendered and rerendered them and still
can't find any type of graphic file.
Colin


"Dearmad" <dea### [at] applesnakenet> wrote in message
news:3C5### [at] applesnakenet...
> wrestler wrote:
>
> > I am teaching a high school graphics course and decided to include
PovRay in
> > the class.  At the moment I am barely one step ahead of my students
though.
> > We ran into a problem today that I can't figure out.  We needed to print
> > their pictures they created so I had them go to photoshop and then go to
the
> > same place they saved the code for their scene and open the graphic file
(is
> > there an easier way?)  The problem is that about a fourth of the class
had
> > no graphic file, only the povray code file and some file with the same
name
> > and the extension .bak.  Can anyone tell me how to fix this so they can
find
> > the picture?  Is there an easier way to print?
>
>
> I think you need to render the .POV file.  The .BAK is simply the
> version closest to the latest .POV that gets renamed to that
> extension upon a save of your POV file.
>
> Your graphics file will most likely be a .TGA file (Targa).
>
> What are you using to create the script files, hand coding them
> or a modeler such as Moray?
>
> -Peter
>
>
> >
> > Thanks a bunch,
> > Colin
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Current obsession: "Ballet pour ma fille."
> http://www.applesnake.net
>

Post a reply to this message

On Thu, 31 Jan 2002 18:22:05 -0800, wrestler wrote:
> We're just hand coding them.  We have rendered and rerendered them and still
> can't find any type of graphic file.

Check their povray.ini for a nondefault output directory.  If they weren't all
installed by the same person, some of them might have given a directory when
the installer asked for it.  If so, you can find the images in that directory.

-- 
#macro R(L P)sphere{L F}cylinder{L P F}#end#macro P(V)merge{R(z+a z)R(-z a-z)R(a
-z-z-z a+z)torus{1F clipped_by{plane{a 0}}}translate V}#end#macro Z(a F T)merge{
P(z+a)P(z-a)R(-z-z-x a)pigment{rgbt 1}hollow interior{media{emission T}}finish{
reflection.1}}#end Z(-x-x.2y)Z(-x-x.4x)camera{location z*-10rotate x*90}

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Might run a search for (your POV-file name)+.bmp (or .tga, .png, etc.) with
your OS's file-find app.

- Kevin R.

"Ron Parker" <ron### [at] povrayorg> wrote in message
news:slr### [at] fwicom...
> On Thu, 31 Jan 2002 18:22:05 -0800, wrestler wrote:
> > We're just hand coding them.  We have rendered and rerendered them and
still
> > can't find any type of graphic file.
>
> Check their povray.ini for a nondefault output directory.  If they weren't
all
> installed by the same person, some of them might have given a directory
when
> the installer asked for it.  If so, you can find the images in that
directory.
>
> --
> #macro R(L P)sphere{L F}cylinder{L P F}#end#macro P(V)merge{R(z+a z)R(-z
a-z)R(a
> -z-z-z a+z)torus{1F clipped_by{plane{a 0}}}translate V}#end#macro Z(a F
T)merge{
> P(z+a)P(z-a)R(-z-z-x a)pigment{rgbt 1}hollow interior{media{emission
T}}finish{
> reflection.1}}#end Z(-x-x.2y)Z(-x-x.4x)camera{location z*-10rotate x*90}

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Wasn't it wrestler who wrote:
>I am teaching a high school graphics course and decided to include PovRay in
>the class.  At the moment I am barely one step ahead of my students though.
>We ran into a problem today that I can't figure out.  We needed to print
>their pictures they created so I had them go to photoshop and then go to the
>same place they saved the code for their scene and open the graphic file (is
>there an easier way?)  The problem is that about a fourth of the class had
>no graphic file, only the povray code file and some file with the same name
>and the extension .bak.  Can anyone tell me how to fix this so they can find
>the picture?  Is there an easier way to print?

Probably the nicest way to go would be to rig things so that POV puts
the rendered images into a folder where it's handy for photoshop to find
them. I don't know where photoshop likes to look, but lets suppose that
you decide that "C:\My Documents\images\" is such a place. You can tell
POV to put its output there by clicking "Edit master POVRAY.INI" on the
"Tools" menu and adding this line at the end

        Output_File_Name=C:\My Documents\images\

-- 
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure

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"wrestler" <mew### [at] starbandnet> wrote in message
news:3c59e2f7@news.povray.org...
> I am teaching a high school graphics course and decided to include PovRay
in
> the class.  At the moment I am barely one step ahead of my students
though.
> We ran into a problem today that I can't figure out.  We needed to print
> their pictures they created so I had them go to photoshop and then go to
the
> same place they saved the code for their scene and open the graphic file
(is
> there an easier way?)  The problem is that about a fourth of the class had
> no graphic file, only the povray code file and some file with the same
name
> and the extension .bak.  Can anyone tell me how to fix this so they can
find
> the picture?  Is there an easier way to print?

Check that file output is turned on:
+fn (for png), +fs (for bmp), +ft (targa)
etc

Also, check the messages window (if it's the windows version), and look for
the section on file output.  It will tell you what type of file it is, and
where it is.

...Chambers

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"wrestler" <mew### [at] starbandnet> wrote in message news:3c59fb86@news.povray.org...
> We're just hand coding them.  We have rendered and rerendered them and still
> can't find any type of graphic file.

From the tools menu, select 'view last rendered file'.

Or, look at the output file name from the message window.

In 3.5, the output file name is also written to the status bar.

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"wrestler" <mew### [at] starbandnet> wrote in message
news:3c59e2f7@news.povray.org...

<snip>

As others have said, it's most likely that, when installing, some users didn't
follow the recommendation regarding output location.

Congrats on using POV in class - I've often thought that if I was teaching the
basics of programming, POV would be an excellent tool - it's output is SO much
more interesting than "hello world".

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I just wanted to thank everyone for the help.  You nailed the problem on the
nose.  The students that were having the problems were the ones that didn't
pay attention when I walked them through the installation directions.
We are just starting the learning process of using Povray and would like to
know if anyone out there has any suggestions about specific topics that I
should cover?  Right now we are just using the regular shapes with some of
the textures (some we can't figure out how to use) to make very basic
pictures.  I would like to go further but am not sure which direction to go.
I know there are some online tutorials, are there any that are particularly
good that you would recommend?  Eventually we are going to work on some
animation projects either using Povray's animation features(if I learn how
first) or animation studio (which I already know).  Any suggestions would be
appreciated by both me and my students.
Colin


"wrestler" <mew### [at] starbandnet> wrote in message
news:3c59e2f7@news.povray.org...
> I am teaching a high school graphics course and decided to include PovRay
in
> the class.  At the moment I am barely one step ahead of my students
though.
> We ran into a problem today that I can't figure out.  We needed to print
> their pictures they created so I had them go to photoshop and then go to
the
> same place they saved the code for their scene and open the graphic file
(is
> there an easier way?)  The problem is that about a fourth of the class had
> no graphic file, only the povray code file and some file with the same
name
> and the extension .bak.  Can anyone tell me how to fix this so they can
find
> the picture?  Is there an easier way to print?
>
> Thanks a bunch,
> Colin
>
>

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