I just discovered the existence of POV-Ray. I found an online tutorial
(http://library.thinkquest.org/3285/) and typed in the source code for a simple
red ball exactly as they had it:

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

light_source {
  <0,-10,0>
  color rgb <1,1,1>
}

sphere {
  <0,0,0>, 5
  pigment { color rgb <1,0,0> }
}


But when I click "Run," a little box pops up that says "Parse Error." What does
'parse' mean and why won't it render the image? I even copy and pasted the above
source code and still nothing.

Anyone mind helping a first-timer?
Thanks!

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On 25.06.11 09:20, Marina wrote:
> I just discovered the existence of POV-Ray. I found an online tutorial
> (http://library.thinkquest.org/3285/) and typed in the source code for a simple
> red ball exactly as they had it:
>
> camera {
>    location<2,5,-10>
>    look_at<0,0,0>
> }
>
> light_source {
>    <0,-10,0>
>    color rgb<1,1,1>
> }
>
> sphere {
>    <0,0,0>, 5
>    pigment { color rgb<1,0,0>  }
> }
>
>
> But when I click "Run," a little box pops up that says "Parse Error." What does
> 'parse' mean and why won't it render the image? I even copy and pasted the above
> source code and still nothing.
 >
> Anyone mind helping a first-timer?

Sure, for the meaning of "parse", see <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parse> 
and <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing>. Basically, the error message 
says that POV-Ray cannot make sense of your input.

Now, it also says more than just "Parse Error", it also tells you want it 
cannot make sense of following the "Parse Error" text in the message window. 
What does it say there? - Most likely it is a sentence that contains a 
"cannot" or "expected [...] found instead".

	Thorsten

PS: Note that POV-Ray includes a tutorial. Go to the Help menu for the full 
documentation of POV-Ray, both reference and tutorial.

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Am 25.06.2011 09:20, schrieb Marina:
> I just discovered the existence of POV-Ray. I found an online tutorial
> (http://library.thinkquest.org/3285/) and typed in the source code for a simple
> red ball exactly as they had it:
>
> camera {
>    location <2,5,-10>
>    look_at <0,0,0>
> }
>
> light_source {
>    <0,-10,0>
>    color rgb <1,1,1>
> }
>
> sphere {
>    <0,0,0>, 5
>    pigment { color rgb <1,0,0>  }
> }
>
>
> But when I click "Run," a little box pops up that says "Parse Error." What does
> 'parse' mean and why won't it render the image? I even copy and pasted the above
> source code and still nothing.

In layman's terms, "parsing" is the process of a program (in this case 
POV-Ray) analyzing the source code, trying to figure out what you want 
the program to do; consequently, "parse error" means that there's some 
problem that causes the program to not understand the source code (or 
some part thereof).

I don't see any problems with the above code though - except that the 
ball is a very dark red and therefore barely visible. It renders with 
both POV-Ray 3.62 (which is the latest release declared officially 
stable) and POV-Ray 3.7RC3 (which is the latest release candidate for 
version 3.70).

BTW, which version are you using?

Could it be possible that you made a typo in the code you fed to 
POV-Ray, while posting excactly as shown on thinkquest.org?

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Thanks for responding!

OH! I found the problem. When you asked what the error message said.. the only
place I was looking was the box that popped up saying "POV-Ray Error Message
Sound" but then I didn't realize there was text at the very bottom of the screen
too, saying "Failed to start render: Cannot open file."

I realize it can't open the file because the file doesn't exist - I didn't save
it. I just typed in the code, clicked "Run" and clicked "No" when it asked to
save because I thought I didn't want to save it yet. I didn't realize you HAVE
to save it as a file in order to render the image. OOPS! :) Thanks for making me
observe extra carefully.

The version I have is 3.6, downloaded from www.povray.org. I don't see any other
versions available there except a "Beta of POV-Ray 3.7" but I'm not sure what it
means to be a beta version. Which one is better for a beginner?

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On 6/25/2011 11:57, Marina wrote:
> but I'm not sure what it
> means to be a beta version. Which one is better for a beginner?

A "beta" is a version that the developers are asking people to test. 
Probably not a good idea for beginners, since the point of a beta is to let 
users look for mistakes in the program.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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Darren New wrote:
> On 6/25/2011 11:57, Marina wrote:
>> but I'm not sure what it
>> means to be a beta version. Which one is better for a beginner?
> 
> A "beta" is a version that the developers are asking people to test. 
> Probably not a good idea for beginners, since the point of a beta is to 
> let users look for mistakes in the program.

However, 3.7 is actually in a release candidate state now and
pretty stable. I'd go with that one now, if only so you don't have
to worry about things that changed between 3.6 and 3.7 later. Also,
it will render much faster if you have a multicore CPU.

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Forgot to mention: There is also a newsgroup "povray.newusers",
where people are extra friendly to beginner questions ;)

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Am 25.06.2011 20:57, schrieb Marina:

> The version I have is 3.6, downloaded from www.povray.org. I don't see any other
> versions available there except a "Beta of POV-Ray 3.7" but I'm not sure what it
> means to be a beta version. Which one is better for a beginner?

As already mentioned by Christian, despite the website saying "Beta of 
POV-Ray 3.7" it'll actually take you to a POV-Ray 3.7 release candidate, 
which is what we recommend nowadays.

While "Beta", as Darren mentions, essentially means a version intended 
for public testing to hunt down bugs expected to still be there, 
"Release candidate" means to say a version intended for public testing 
to verify that we addressed all the bugs, i.e. we don't expect to find 
any additional bugs.

As a beginner, you should indeed head straight for version 3.7, to get 
acquainted with what is currently the latest and the greatest right from 
the start.

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I should've noticed the special section for new users. Thanks Christian :) And
thanks clipka, I'll stick with 3.7 so I don't fall behind once I actually do get
the hang of this program.

Thanks everyone for all of your replies!

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