AAHH! NO RENDER WINDOW! I CAN'T SEE MY TEXTURED SURFACES!!

[arush]

SOMEBODY HELP PLEASE! (newbie, of course)

I followed the pov-ray tutorial in this forum, read thousands of posts on rendering, read the manual but can't fix my issue.

I've installed pov-ray, set up a header file, set the settings in AC3D, written the desired textures/finishes in the object property editor of the desired objects, BUT WHEN I RENDER, POV-RAY OPENS UP AND DISPLAYS ALL THAT CRAZY CODE. NO PICTURE! NO RENDER WINDOW AS THE AC3D MANUAL SHOWS!!! please HELP THIS IS SOOO FRUSTRATING!!


i can't seem to link a picture to this post, so sorrry i don't have an example

[Andy]

This is probably a problem with the render command that's being sent to Povray. Check that you have a '%s' in the render parameters.

Test the whole command from the command line (i.e. type it in to a command prompt) to ensure it's working.

Andy

[arush]

you mean this?

+UV +UL +A0.2 +FT32 %s

what command prompt? please help


in the "result" area theres this:
GENERATING Povray : "ac3dpovfile.pov".
EXCECUTING : "C:\Program Files\POV-Ray for Windows v3.5\bin\pvengine.exe +UV +UL +A0.2 +FT32 ac3dpovfile.pov".
468

there's no %s there, but i dont' know how to change it

[Andy]

Perhaps try editing the povray file name and making it "c:/ac3dpovfile.pov" or something similar (with a full path)?

Andy

[arush]

nope didn't work

this is really quite frustrating. i think i need to find a more powerful program

[Andy]

Start a command prompt (usually from the start menu->accessories?)

Enter the full command line that AC3D shows you and see if any errors come up. I'm surprised that you don't see any error messages. Many people use AC3D with povray.

Andy

[Kevin A.]

DUDE ARE YOU SURE YOU DOWNLOADE POVRAY 3.5 cause it thought i dowloaded POVRAY 3.5 but when I edited this "C:\Program Files\POV-Ray for Windows v3.5\bin\pvengine.exe
to this:"C:\Program Files\POV-Ray for Windows v3.6\bin\pvengine.exe it worked. Or this is an example you have windows right but you dont know what tipe of sistem you have and you downloaded version 64 bit one

tip :64-bit version requires Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. It will not install on a 32-bit OS, even if it is hosted on a 64-bit CPU. Just having an AMD64 is not sufficient - you must also have the above x64 edition of XP installed. If you don't know what version of POV-Ray for Windows you need, you want the above 32-bit one. SO try downloading the 32 bit one. :D

[Thaellin]

You could also try simply exporting the file as a POVRay file, then opening that in povray and rendering. Not as convenient, but it might help you to get going until you figure out what the actual problem is.

-- Jeff

[Terry Capps]

I used to use Pov-ray version 3.6 with ac3d5.X and, when I clicked on Render, the Pov-ray code would appear on the screen and then the render window would be automatically painted on top of the code. Now, however, with ac3d6.X, the Pov-ray code appears, but no render window until I click on Run.

I started playing around with both ac3d5 and ac3d6 and I noticed a difference. After rendering a image using ac3d 5.X, turn off POV-ray and look at what the info in the Result: section of the Render Window. In ac3d5, the parameters being passed to Pov-ray are +UV +UL +A0.2 +FT32 ac3dpovfile.pov &.

Doing the same thing in ac3d6.X, results in:
+UV\ +UL\ +A0.2\ +FT32\ ac3dpovfile.pov &.

I suspect that pov-ray doesn't quite know what to do with those "\" marks.

[Terry Capps]

I quit trying to make Pov-ray for Windows 3.6 work, went back to the Pov-Ray web site, and downloaded Pov-Ray for Windows 3.5. This works great once you set up the Parameters in the ac3d Render Window. With the Render button selected in the ac3d Render Window, a Render Button on the tool bar allows me to render the scene with one click.

One hint about using Pov-Ray from ac3d: Whatever you want to show in the render scene needs to be centered on the origin in ac3d in the x,y dimensions or else you will get a corner of what you wanted or maybe nothing at all if what you wanted to show is very far away from ac3d's origin.