122 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
122 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
[POV-Ray](http://www.povray.org/) - The Persistence of Vision Raytracer
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=======================================================================
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This document is a WIP
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--------------------------------------
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This document is still a work in progress. While the POV-Ray project itself
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has existed for more than 20 years, this is the first time we have done a
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release on github, so please bear with us - it's a little bare at the moment.
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Please also be aware that we are in the process of actually doing the 3.7
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release right now, and this document may refer to things that have not happened
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yet on the main website (e.g. the release of the binaries, updating of pages,
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and so forth).
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Last edit: 2013-11-06
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License
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--------------------------------------
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The source for POV-Ray v3.7 is licensed under the AGPL3. The documentation is under the
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license, and support files such
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as SDL includes, macros, sample scenes and so forth are under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
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3.0 Unported License (see each file header for the specific one).
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Forums
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Discussion regarding POV-Ray is traditionally done via our forums at http://news.povray.org/.
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These are also available via NNTP at news://news.povray.org/ for those preferring that.
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Please note that the POV-Ray developers do not monitor all forums regularly. The ones we
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tend to check most frequently are povray.general, povray.windows and povray.unix.
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Bug Reports
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--------------------------------------
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It's generally a good idea to mention a bug in the forums prior to lodging a formal
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report; this can save you some time if it's a non-bug or a solution is known. You
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should also check our bug tracker at http://bugs.povray.org/ first to see if it's
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been reported.
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If you're sure something is a bug then please do lodge a bugreport on the tracker.
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While we are aware that github has its own tracker, please keep in mind that POV-Ray
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is a long-established project (more than 20 years) and we prefer to use our own tracker.
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We do not do our primary develoment on github (at least, not at this point). Our RCS
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for the past 15 or so years has been Perforce. We will be pulling patches from here
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into perforce, and pushing changes out to github from time to time. At some point we
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will switch to using Perforce's Git Fusion product and this process will become
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automatic.
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Official Binaries
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--------------------------------------
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At this point in time, the only platform for which the project distributes pre-
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built 'official' (i.e. supported) binaries is Microsoft Windows. These may be
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obtained via http://www.povray.org/download/. We do intend to provide Mac OS X
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binaries shortly, but these will be console-mode only (based on the unix build).
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Building POV-Ray
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--------------------------------------
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At this point in time we recommend building from the 3.7-stable branch. POV-Ray
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should compile on any POSIX-compliant system with the required tools (please see
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[unix/README.md](unix/README.md) for build instructions),
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on Microsoft Windows systems that have Visual Studio 2010 or later installed (targeting
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XP or later, both 32 and 64-bit - be sure to see README.HTML in the windows source dir,
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otherwise your build *will not work*), and also on Mac systems (console mode only, using
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an appropriately-modified version of the unix build - not currently provided by us).
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If you are using an operating system with a package or ports system such as
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Ubuntu or FreeBSD, you may like to check whether or not POV-Ray 3.7 is available
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via that route.
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IDE versions
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--------------------------------------
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Currently the only version of POV-Ray with an IDE as such is the Windows build.
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We do want to change that, though. With the release of POV-Ray 3.7 we have added
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a clear split between the backend (renderer) and frontend (UI or console), along
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with a C++ layer which abstracts this into a fairly easily-understood set of
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classes (VFE, aka 'Virtual Front End').
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We will offer support to those wishing to use this interface layer to integrate
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POV-Ray into an open-source cross-platform IDE. We would also be interested in
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hearing suggestions as to what we could base such an IDE on, should we go ahead
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to integrate it ourselves.
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Putting it another way: we consider getting a cross-platform IDE a high priority.
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3D Modeller
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-------------------------------------
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POV-Ray does not currently have its own 3d modelling application (at least, not one
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in a usable state). We do own the rights to the Moray modeller, which was formerly
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commercial, but it needs a little work to get it working with v3.7. It is also
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windows only (due to its use of MFC). Nevertheless we will be adding the source
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to the repository at a future date.
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Authors of open-source modellers with a compatible licence wishing to directly
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integrate POV-Ray are welcome to contact us for support in doing so.
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Documentation
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--------------------------------------
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When built and installed via the means provided in the source tree, all versions
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of POV-Ray come with documentation. For the Unix build, this is in the form of a
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manpage giving basic usage, and full HTML-based documentation. For the Windows
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version, there is a HtmlHelp (.CHM) file provided.
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The official location for the online documentation is http://www.povray.org/documentation/,
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however please be aware that at the time of writing this still has the version 3.6 docs.
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This will be updated shortly.
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Contacting Us
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We prefer that you contact us via the forums mentioned at the head of this document.
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If the matter is one that requires direct email contact (and this generally will NOT
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include tech support requests, though exceptions are made for package maintainers)
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you may use the address listed at the bottom of http://www.povray.org/povlegal.html.
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