As far as I can tell, the Windows version of POV-ray comes only with a GUI.

What do I need to do to get a command-line-compatible renderer?

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On 03/15/2013 01:19 PM, Timwi wrote:
>
> As far as I can tell, the Windows version of POV-ray comes only with a GUI.
>
> What do I need to do to get a command-line-compatible renderer?

I don't use windows version so maybe this isn't relevant:
http://wiki.povray.org/content/Documentation:Windows_Section_3#Special_Command-Line_Options

and doing google search for: batch/command line render AND POV-Ray AND 
Windows

I found this:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2207472/povray-for-windows-using-the-command-line-to-render-several-pov-files

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On 15/03/2013 18:59, James Holsenback wrote:
> On 03/15/2013 01:19 PM, Timwi wrote:
>>
>> As far as I can tell, the Windows version of POV-ray comes only with a
>> GUI.
>>
>> What do I need to do to get a command-line-compatible renderer?
>
> I don't use windows version so maybe this isn't relevant:
>
http://wiki.povray.org/content/Documentation:Windows_Section_3#Special_Command-Line_Options
>
> and doing google search for: batch/command line render AND POV-Ray AND
> Windows
>
> I found this:
>
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2207472/povray-for-windows-using-the-command-line-to-render-several-pov-files

Well, neither of those turn the GUI off. All of them open a POV-ray 
editor window, do the render (visibly!) and then exit.

This way, rendering a hundred images requires me to either run 100 GUI 
instances, or run them one after the other. In both cases, my computer 
is completely unusable for quite some time while windows keep popping up.



Timwi

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On 03/15/2013 03:03 PM, Timwi wrote:
> On 15/03/2013 18:59, James Holsenback wrote:
>> On 03/15/2013 01:19 PM, Timwi wrote:
>>>
>>> As far as I can tell, the Windows version of POV-ray comes only with a
>>> GUI.
>>>
>>> What do I need to do to get a command-line-compatible renderer?
>>
>> I don't use windows version so maybe this isn't relevant:
>>
http://wiki.povray.org/content/Documentation:Windows_Section_3#Special_Command-Line_Options
>>
>>
>> and doing google search for: batch/command line render AND POV-Ray AND
>> Windows
>>
>> I found this:
>>
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2207472/povray-for-windows-using-the-command-line-to-render-several-pov-files
>>
>
> Well, neither of those turn the GUI off. All of them open a POV-ray
> editor window, do the render (visibly!) and then exit.
>
> This way, rendering a hundred images requires me to either run 100 GUI
> instances, or run them one after the other. In both cases, my computer
> is completely unusable for quite some time while windows keep popping up.
>

>
> Timwi
>
well what does /RENDER do when using -D

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On 15/03/2013 20:54, James Holsenback wrote:
> On 03/15/2013 03:03 PM, Timwi wrote:
>>
>> Well, neither of those turn the GUI off. All of them open a POV-ray
>> editor window, do the render (visibly!) and then exit.
>>
>> This way, rendering a hundred images requires me to either run 100 GUI
>> instances, or run them one after the other. In both cases, my computer
>> is completely unusable for quite some time while windows keep popping up.
>>

>
> well what does /RENDER do when using -D


-D all this time.

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Timwi <pov### [at] timwide> wrote:
> As far as I can tell, the Windows version of POV-ray comes only with a GUI.
>
> What do I need to do to get a command-line-compatible renderer?

I used batch files like this for Windows batch renders:
________________________________________________________________________________

setlocal
set PATH=%PATH%;"C:\Users\Ricky Callwood\AppData\Local\Programs\POV-Ray\3.7\bin"
:
start /w /min pvengine-sse2 /nr /exit +imyscenefile1.pov
start /w /min pvengine-sse2 /nr /exit +imyscenefile2.pov
start /w /min pvengine-sse2 /nr /exit +imyscenefile3.pov
start /w /min pvengine-sse2 /nr /exit 'myinifile[section1]'
start /w /min pvengine-sse2 /nr /exit 'myinifile[section2]'
start /w /min pvengine-sse2 /nr /exit 'myinifile[section3]'
:
endlocal
________________________________________________________________________________

The splash screen still showed, but it worked.  (Annoying, yes, but the POV team
has its reasons for insisting on the splash screen.)  You would set the PATH to
whatever is appropriate for your system.

Note that I used the /nr switch to keep it from wasting time loading the editor
windows.  If you don't want to lose your editor windows, you must keep one GUI
session open during the batch run and set Options | Keep Single Instance to OFF.

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Am 15.03.2013 20:03, schrieb Timwi:
> On 15/03/2013 18:59, James Holsenback wrote:
>> On 03/15/2013 01:19 PM, Timwi wrote:
>>>
>>> As far as I can tell, the Windows version of POV-ray comes only with a
>>> GUI.
>>>
>>> What do I need to do to get a command-line-compatible renderer?
>>
>> I don't use windows version so maybe this isn't relevant:
>>
http://wiki.povray.org/content/Documentation:Windows_Section_3#Special_Command-Line_Options
>>
>>
>> and doing google search for: batch/command line render AND POV-Ray AND
>> Windows
>>
>> I found this:
>>
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2207472/povray-for-windows-using-the-command-line-to-render-several-pov-files
>>
>
> Well, neither of those turn the GUI off. All of them open a POV-ray
> editor window, do the render (visibly!) and then exit.
>
> This way, rendering a hundred images requires me to either run 100 GUI
> instances, or run them one after the other. In both cases, my computer
> is completely unusable for quite some time while windows keep popping up.
>


There are various reasons for this, one being a series of "copyleft 
infringements": At some time various people thought it was ok to sell 
commercial software that deliberately hid the fact that the actual 
rendering was done with POV-Ray; at that point, it was decided to have 
the Windows version always fire up the GUI. (At least that's what I've 
heard tell.)

There actually still exists an old Windows command-line version of 
POV-Ray, but it has not been maintained for quite.

The last word hasn't been spoken on this issue though, and chances are 
the command-line-only version will see a revival.

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On 15/03/2013 22:30, clipka wrote:
> Am 15.03.2013 20:03, schrieb Timwi:
>> Well, neither of those turn the GUI off. All of them open a POV-ray
>> editor window, do the render (visibly!) and then exit.
>>
>> This way, rendering a hundred images requires me to either run 100 GUI
>> instances, or run them one after the other. In both cases, my computer
>> is completely unusable for quite some time while windows keep popping up.
>>

>
> There are various reasons for this, one being a series of "copyleft
> infringements": At some time various people thought it was ok to sell
> commercial software that deliberately hid the fact that the actual
> rendering was done with POV-Ray; at that point, it was decided to have
> the Windows version always fire up the GUI. (At least that's what I've
> heard tell.)

Surely the correct response to that is to sue the perpetrator, not to 
massively inconvenience all Windows users...

Timwi

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Am 16.03.2013 16:55, schrieb Timwi:
> On 15/03/2013 22:30, clipka wrote:
>> Am 15.03.2013 20:03, schrieb Timwi:
>>> Well, neither of those turn the GUI off. All of them open a POV-ray
>>> editor window, do the render (visibly!) and then exit.
>>>
>>> This way, rendering a hundred images requires me to either run 100 GUI
>>> instances, or run them one after the other. In both cases, my computer
>>> is completely unusable for quite some time while windows keep popping
>>> up.
>>>

>>
>> There are various reasons for this, one being a series of "copyleft
>> infringements": At some time various people thought it was ok to sell
>> commercial software that deliberately hid the fact that the actual
>> rendering was done with POV-Ray; at that point, it was decided to have
>> the Windows version always fire up the GUI. (At least that's what I've
>> heard tell.)
>
> Surely the correct response to that is to sue the perpetrator, not to
> massively inconvenience all Windows users...

Lawsuits were filed, as a matter of fact - but law is slow to take 
effect, and it didn't help that the copyleft concept was still 
comparatively new back then. (Not to mention that quite a lot of money 
had to be thrown at those lawsuits to fight them through; AFAIK the last 
of them was still ongoing at the end of the POV-Ray 3.7 beta phase, and 
one of the problems slowing down 3.7 development in those days was that 
Thorsten was working hard to make the necessary money to keep those 
lawsuits running.)

As for "massively" inconveniencing "all" Windows users: Most Windows 
users have been happy to run their renders from within the GUI, and 
Windows never really made batch processing easy anyway, so people 
requiring batch processing would typically turn towards Linux in the 
first place.


Times are changing, and judging past decisions based on today's 
circumstances is cheap, and moot besides if the decision is already 
being revised. As I said, we're likely to see a revival of the 
command-line-only POV-Ray version for Windows.

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On 3/16/2013 10:27 AM, clipka wrote:
> Am 16.03.2013 16:55, schrieb Timwi:
>> On 15/03/2013 22:30, clipka wrote:
>>> Am 15.03.2013 20:03, schrieb Timwi:
>>>> Well, neither of those turn the GUI off. All of them open a POV-ray
>>>> editor window, do the render (visibly!) and then exit.
>>>>
>>>> This way, rendering a hundred images requires me to either run 100 GUI
>>>> instances, or run them one after the other. In both cases, my computer
>>>> is completely unusable for quite some time while windows keep popping
>>>> up.
>>>>

>>>
>>> There are various reasons for this, one being a series of "copyleft
>>> infringements": At some time various people thought it was ok to sell
>>> commercial software that deliberately hid the fact that the actual
>>> rendering was done with POV-Ray; at that point, it was decided to have
>>> the Windows version always fire up the GUI. (At least that's what I've
>>> heard tell.)
>>
>> Surely the correct response to that is to sue the perpetrator, not to
>> massively inconvenience all Windows users...
>
> Lawsuits were filed, as a matter of fact - but law is slow to take
> effect, and it didn't help that the copyleft concept was still
> comparatively new back then. (Not to mention that quite a lot of money
> had to be thrown at those lawsuits to fight them through; AFAIK the last
> of them was still ongoing at the end of the POV-Ray 3.7 beta phase, and
> one of the problems slowing down 3.7 development in those days was that
> Thorsten was working hard to make the necessary money to keep those
> lawsuits running.)
>
> As for "massively" inconveniencing "all" Windows users: Most Windows
> users have been happy to run their renders from within the GUI, and
> Windows never really made batch processing easy anyway, so people
> requiring batch processing would typically turn towards Linux in the
> first place.
>
>
> Times are changing, and judging past decisions based on today's
> circumstances is cheap, and moot besides if the decision is already
> being revised. As I said, we're likely to see a revival of the
> command-line-only POV-Ray version for Windows.
>
Of course, there is also the "alternative", which is to have the GUI, 
but allow for a "batch" processing queue. I could see a case where even 
working on something in the GUI could either branch a new instance, to 
run a quick test render, while the queue is still running, or insert it 
as "next in line" (possibly less useful, given the render times involved 
in many cases). This would, in effect, not only allow work with it was 
doing other things, if needed, but also provide a clear list of what was 
"up and coming", which a person could halt, edit, rearrange, etc. None 
of which is exactly plausible using a pure "batch from command line" 
solution.

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