I am a new user to POV-Ray (I use Mechanisto but am a bit of a novice with
it too) . I downloaded POV and started up, and, with the help of a
tutorial, put in this really simple code:

camera {
 location <2,5,-10>
 look_at <0,0,0>
}

//now, some light
light_source {
 <0,-10,0>
 color rgb <1,1,1>
}

//the SPHERE, baby!
sphere {
 <0,0,0>, 5
 pigment {color rgb <1,0,0> }
}

So, I've put that in and I want to render. I don't know how to initialize a
render (because I'm a novice or an idiot, you decide). But that is not the
main question here. When I try to do anything beyond typing this in, such
as press the stoppy sign thing (is that the render button?), or go to
Render Benchmark, my Messages window displays the following errors...

Possible Parse Error: Could not find file 'functions.inc'

File benchmark.pov line 3
Parse Error: Cannot open include file functions.inc.

File benchmark.pov line 3
Parse Warning: Check that the file is in a directory specifed with a +L
switch or 'Library_Path=' .INI item. Standard include files are in the
include directory or folder. Please read your documentation carefully.

File benchmark.pov line 3

Meh. What the heck does all that mean..?

Post a reply to this message

> So, I've put that in and I want to render. I don't know how to initialize
a
> render (because I'm a novice or an idiot, you decide). But that is not the
> main question here. When I try to do anything beyond typing this in, such
> as press the stoppy sign thing (is that the render button?), or go to
> Render Benchmark, my Messages window displays the following errors...

Render Benchmark renders a separate scene (not the one you made) to evaluate
the performance of your computer. You don't need that option.

Instead, use Render -> Start Rendering (Go!), or just press the shortcut key
alt+g (assuming you're using Windows.)

The stop sign thingy only appears when a render is currently running (maybe
you had already started the benchmark when you noticed this button).
Normally, it should be a green circle with a guy running in it and should
say "Run;" it should do the same thing as the menu option I mentioned above.

All that said, I'm not sure why you got those errors while running the
benchmark (specifically, "Could not find file 'functions.inc'" worries me);
when your scenes get more complicated you might have some issues with your
POV-Ray installation to fix, but for now don't worry about it.

 - Slime
 [ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

Post a reply to this message

Sorry--forgot to mention that all the options on the Render menu (I'm on a
Mac, by the way) are grayed out and unselectable. That is, except for
Benchmark Render. This, I assume, is NOT normal, seeing as I have a
full-fleshed scene typed in. Do you think this should go to the Error
Reports topic?

Oh yeah--I've already tried reinstalling, and even re-downloading from a
different source.

Post a reply to this message

ParkAvenger wrote:
> Sorry--forgot to mention that all the options on the Render menu (I'm on a
> Mac, by the way) are grayed out and unselectable. That is, except for
> Benchmark Render. This, I assume, is NOT normal, seeing as I have a
> full-fleshed scene typed in. Do you think this should go to the Error
> Reports topic?
>
> Oh yeah--I've already tried reinstalling, and even re-downloading from a
> different source.

Obviously not because obviously thousands of others are using POV-Ray for 
Mac and this should already tell you that the problem is on your side and 
not with the official version you downloaded ;-)

Either your scene is not saved, your scene does not have a ".pov" and 
rendering only files with ".pov" xtension is enabled in the preferences or 
you just don't have the scene's window in front.

If you are a new users it really makes sense to follow the tutorial 
documentation (via the Help menu or the online version), in particular 
<http://www.povray.org/documentation/view/3.6.1/11/>

     Thorsten

____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich
e-mail: mac### [at] povrayorg

I am a member of the POV-Ray Team.
Visit POV-Ray on the web: http://mac.povray.org

Post a reply to this message