How do I save the POV-ray PICTURE file, instead of just the source *.pov
code?  i.e., as a *.gif or *.jpg?

asp### [at] yahoocom

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ELi### [at] worldnetattnet wrote:
> 
> How do I save the POV-ray PICTURE file, instead of just the source *.pov
> code?  i.e., as a *.gif or *.jpg?
> 
> asp### [at] yahoocom

This is a question that is probably the most often ased question there is.
Lucky for you we have the answer for you. Take a look at the VFAQ located
at the link below. It will answer that question as well as many more you
are likely to have in the future. If it doesn't tell you what you want to
know then come back here and I will try to fill in the blank spots for you.

http://www.students.tut.fi/~warp/povVFAQ.html

There is also a group on this news server called 
povray.announce.frequently-asked-questions

I have a faq of Pov tutorials in there that is the most comprehensive list
available on the net. More than you can visit in a day and you may learn
quite a bit by doing so. It covers everything from beginner to advanced.


-- 
Ken Tyler

mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net

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Hi...
Yes, this might be the most often asked question - its probably got a
lot to do with no- one bothering to answer in straight precise English.
As a newcomer to this subject I do find it annoying that there seems to
be a pathetic lack of plain English explanations and clear simple
examples of what is quite a difficult, yet rewarding subject.

I asked this question myself recently and was rudely ignored - I will
now show that it is possilbe to give a simple, clear answer.
If part of it is wrong, I trust some of you might come down from your
ivory towers and give a dignified correction.

Your pov effort is saved automatically as either a BMP or TGA file.My
new povray is saving my efforts as bmp format in an "images" folder it
created when I installed povray.
This is, of course, a useless format for most people in this era.
If you want a gif , you need to  open the saved file using a graphics
editor, such as Paint shop Pro, and resave the file as a gif file, or as
a jpg file if you want higher quality.

That is what I know from my humble experience.I hope it helps.
At least it is more precise and less smart alecky than the link you were
given.

Regards,
Eero Tarik
Adelaide
South Australia........sunny..........max 24C........lovely...........

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ET wrote:

> I asked this question myself recently and was rudely ignored - I will
> now show that it is possilbe to give a simple, clear answer.
> If part of it is wrong, I trust some of you might come down from your
> ivory towers and give a dignified correction.

> That is what I know from my humble experience.I hope it helps.
> At least it is more precise and less smart alecky than the link you were
> given.

Hello,

  The reason that myself and several other people spent a considerable
amount of time and effort compiling that list of common questions with
answers together is because of the frequent number of times they are
asked. I feel it is important to guide people to the best possible
resources for finding answers to their questions. This list was
designed with this in mind plus it saves the people in these groups
who normally respond to these types of questions from having to type
out the same answer time after time after time.
  Believe me there are no ivory towers or airs of superiority involved
with that reply. If I saw your request for similar information and did
not reply it was very unusual and I'm sorry you did not receive the
information the you needed at that time. If you need any other help
please ask again and I or someone else who knows the answer will be
more than happy to help you in what ever way is possible. We are a
friendly group of people here and really not that unpleasant once
you get to know us. I am sorry that you got the wrong first impression
but I hope that will improve with time.


 Regards from my tower to yours,

-- 
Ken Tyler

mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net

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Hi ET!

I just reread the text on the VFAQ and also Ken's reply, and there is
nothing rude or "ivory-tower" like about it.
On the contrary: It often happens that people ask the same questions over
and over in a newsgroup. This is quite natural: People logging on to a group
for the first time usually don't read all the older posts (which is
understandable, since there often are quite many). Instead they simply ask
the question they happen to have. And some questions simply show up more
often than others.

This is why FAQs where born: To help the regulars in answering those
questions. Now they don't have to retype the answer each time someone asks
it (which they would soon be tired of, leaving the question simply
unanswered), but can simply point to the FAQ. A very efficient and
comfortable thing for both sides.

If you get annoyed and feel rudly handled when Ken (quite politely and with
lots of understanding for the beginner) points you to the FAQ, then *you*
are the one showing bad netiquette - which leaves you in no position to
complain about those of others.

The povray newssever is especially friendly and helpful. There are almost no
flamewars here, and the ones that happen wouldn't be even noticed in other
groups, calm as they are. Actually your reply to Ken's post was the rudest I
have read on this server for quite some time.
The group is also very helpful to beginners.

Just how friendly and helpful, you can see by the fact, that Ken did not
answer with a brandishing flame to your post, but once again was helpful and
friendly - he even apologized to you, when he had actually done nothing
wrong.
As another example for that he was in *no* way speaking from an ivory tower,
I quote from his first post:

> If it [the VFAQ] doesn't tell you what you want to know then come
> back here and I will try to fill in the blank spots for you.

Sounds *very* helpful to me!

I, as friendly as possible, suggest that you check *your* attitude if you
plan to make friends on and get help from the net.

yours,

Johannes.


ET wrote in message <370DBD43.1E2246A8@primus.com.au>...
>Hi...
>Yes, this might be the most often asked question - its probably got a
>lot to do with no- one bothering to answer in straight precise English.
>As a newcomer to this subject I do find it annoying that there seems to
>be a pathetic lack of plain English explanations and clear simple
>examples of what is quite a difficult, yet rewarding subject.
>
>I asked this question myself recently and was rudely ignored - I will
>now show that it is possilbe to give a simple, clear answer.
>If part of it is wrong, I trust some of you might come down from your
>ivory towers and give a dignified correction.
>
>Your pov effort is saved automatically as either a BMP or TGA file.My
>new povray is saving my efforts as bmp format in an "images" folder it
>created when I installed povray.
>This is, of course, a useless format for most people in this era.
>If you want a gif , you need to  open the saved file using a graphics
>editor, such as Paint shop Pro, and resave the file as a gif file, or as
>a jpg file if you want higher quality.
>
>That is what I know from my humble experience.I hope it helps.
>At least it is more precise and less smart alecky than the link you were
>given.
>
>Regards,
>Eero Tarik
>Adelaide
>South Australia........sunny..........max 24C........lovely...........
>

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Don't get riled up now guys ;}
A side note about the POV-Ray saves, just to remind some and let others
know, the GIF file format is a license-only format and cannot be
expected to be output (however input is okay) by a "free" program (is
this in the VFAQ?). JPG was incorporated partially by Andreas Dilger in
a unofficial POV-Ray 2.2 compile. It writes output to the jpeg format
yet does not work for anything else but image_map internally. Think
because of the lossy compression is one of the reasons it didn't make a
whole lot of sense for official POV-Ray to be using such a "unclean"
format anyway.
Here's the URL link to jpegpov for the curious:

 http://www-mddsp.enel.ucalgary.ca/People/adilger/povray/jpegpv.html


Johannes Hubert wrote:
> 
> I, as friendly as possible, suggest that you check *your* attitude if you
> plan to make friends on and get help from the net.
> 
> yours,
> 
> Johannes.
> 
> ET wrote in message <370DBD43.1E2246A8@primus.com.au>...
> >Hi...
> >Yes, this might be the most often asked question - its probably got a
> >lot to do with no- one bothering to answer in straight precise English.
> >As a newcomer to this subject I do find it annoying that there seems to
> >be a pathetic lack of plain English explanations and clear simple
> >examples of what is quite a difficult, yet rewarding subject.
> >
> >I asked this question myself recently and was rudely ignored - I will
> >now show that it is possilbe to give a simple, clear answer.
> >If part of it is wrong, I trust some of you might come down from your
> >ivory towers and give a dignified correction.
> >
> >Regards,
> >Eero Tarik
> >Adelaide
> >South Australia........sunny..........max 24C........lovely...........
> >

-- 
 omniVERSE: beyond the universe
  http://members.aol.com/inversez/homepage.htm
 mailto:inv### [at] aolcom?Subject=PoV-News

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G'day Ken,
yes it may be that you and others spent a great deal of time putting
together such faq's etc, and no doubt your intentions are honourable and
your efforts laudable -
but this is a problem common to most programs and those who are literate
in the program...
 a person technically advanced in a particular subject is not
necessarily the best at explaining it simply.
I did go to your faq link and whilst a lot of work has obviously gone
into it, and I'm sure I'll get a lot of benefit from looking at  it -
the faq's did come across a little opinionated, and in relation to the
persons original question yesterday about saving pics  - the faq's did
not adequately or simply answer the question.

Povray is obviously great - but why on earth save files in a manner not
consistent with this era?
The povray help files are very detailed - but not simple or exampled
enough for a non tech person. Only a novice could identify this. Is it a
crime to criticise this fault - I think not.

But back to the original question....
wanting to know how to save your files is obviously going to be the most
asked question - yet it is not answered simply and directly anywhere
that I have seen.
Nor, in my opinion, was it adequately answered in your faq's - that's
why I felt a should jump in.

Anyhow,
keep up the good work...

regards,
Eero Tarik

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I decided to jump into this flame.

<snipping opinions>
> Povray is obviously great - but why on earth save files in a manner not
> consistent with this era?
Wheee!!!
Come on... This era, in what ??
This program is a multi-platform, and yes, it does outpput like I expect. Just
like any compiler would. Filename.pov becomes Filename.<extension>

Now, this is easy to reglate, just like any other well written program you can
default it to output into another directory, or another filename.
For your help. +o Switch, and in the wonderful helpfiles, output ....

Simple, isn't it ?


> The povray help files are very detailed - but not simple or exampled
> enough for a non tech person. Only a novice could identify this. Is it a
> crime to criticise this fault - I think not.
Ok, there is an examples dir that explains the use of both INI files and the POV
language, this would be a great place to start.

> But back to the original question....
> wanting to know how to save your files is obviously going to be the most
> asked question - yet it is not answered simply and directly anywhere
> that I have seen.
> Nor, in my opinion, was it adequately answered in your faq's - that's
> why I felt a should jump in.
RTFM

I'm sorry for my rough tone, I may be the one on this group with the least
patience, I know this and post anyway. 

Well, hope it is what you are after.

-- 
//Spider
        [ spi### [at] bahnhofse ]-[ http://www.bahnhof.se/~spider/ ]
What I can do and what I could do, I just don't know anymore
                "Marian"
        By: "Sisters Of Mercy"

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ET <et1### [at] primuscomau> wrote:
: Povray is obviously great - but why on earth save files in a manner not
: consistent with this era?

  Because povray is not a windows-only program.
  It's intended to be portable to almost any platform.

  One question: Why in the earth do you want a save button when picture
is already saved on the disk? The button would be completely useless.

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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ET wrote in message <370E8137.64CCE6A8@primus.com.au>...
>
>Povray is obviously great - but why on earth save files in a manner not
>consistent with this era?

By default, your files get saved as BMP because BMP is the native format of
the Windows OS - you can always view a BMP in Windows. The other formats
require second-party viewers which you may or may not have. PNG is certainly
a contemporary format, and better than JPEG in that its compression is
lossless. Quality loss in a JPEG image is difficult to predict, so it's not
smart to save your renders as JPEG directly.

>The povray help files are very detailed - but not simple or exampled
>enough for a non tech person. Only a novice could identify this. Is it a
>crime to criticise this fault - I think not.
>
>But back to the original question....
>wanting to know how to save your files is obviously going to be the most
>asked question - yet it is not answered simply and directly anywhere
>that I have seen.
>Nor, in my opinion, was it adequately answered in your faq's - that's
>why I felt a should jump in.
>


Define "adequately explained". When it comes to the simplicity of tutorials
and help files, a line has to be drawn somewhere. Now, in my opinion POV's
help is certainly above average in quality. The file output options _are_
explained. I feel that it's not the part of POV to explain the meaning of
file paths, the various image file formats etc. There are other, more
suitable places for this.
As for the various raytracing terms - yes, they are difficult to understand
at first, especially for a non-native English speaker, like myself. Again,
some are so general that it's not the part of POV to give an in-depth
explanation. Other are specific to POV, and are the subject of vigorous
discussion here among both new users and not-so-new users. The rule of thumb
is to read the manual, look at the example files, test, test, test, and if
necessary, ask. I quarantee you, your questions will not be blatantly
ignored.

Margus

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