                                xfpovray v1.1


                              Robert S. Mallozzi

                           <mallozzir@cspar.uah.edu>
                        http://cspar.uah.edu/~mallozzir/

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USAGE

    xfpovray [-geometry +x+y]


INTRODUCTION

    xfpovray is a graphical interface to the cool ray tracing program POV-Ray
    (http://www.povray.org).  It is written with the XForms library 
    (http://bragg.phys.uwm.edu/xforms), and supports most of the numerous 
    options of POV-Ray.  

    The interface was developed on a Pentium 100 running Linux 2.0.0, using
    the XForms shared library version libforms.so.0.81, and the gcc compiler
    version 2.7.2.  The POV-Ray version was 3.0, but things should 
    work OK for earlier versions...  

    Please read the documentation on POV-Ray before using xfpovray, 
    especially if you will be using the animation loop or antialiasing.

    E-mail me any comments, criticisms, bugs, etc., or links to your 
    pages of images developed with POV-Ray/xfpovray.
    
    The POV-Ray source code for the xfpovray startup image is provided
    in the file chains.pov

    Some POV-Ray options are not implemented; see below for a list. 
    

INSTALLATION

    0. You must have the XForms library installed (minimum version 0.8).
    
    1. Unpack the distribution.
       
    2. Run install.sh, like this:

           $./install.sh

       and answer the questions.  The script generates a header file that
       is required by xfpovray (xfpovray.h).  You can edit this file by
       hand later, but it is easier just to run install.sh again if you
       want to change any of the user options.

       There are also a lot of #define statements in povray-defaults.h
       that set the POV-Ray defaults.  You could change these if you really
       want to...

       Temporary files used by xfpovray will be written the the directory
       specified by the environment variable $HOME


NOTES

    There seems to be a minor bug in POV-Ray with Mosaic Preview under Linux.
    Some files render correctly, others give a segmentation fault.


    xfpovray lets POV-Ray output some text to the terminal from which xfpovray
    was invoked.  I suggest launching xfpovray from an xterm rather than an
    application launcher (i.e., a button on your desktop) so that this output
    text is visible.


    Do not invoke multiple instances of xfpovray.  The temporary files 
    written to $HOME will probably be corrupted if multiple instances of 
    xfpovray are running.
        

    POV-Ray options not implemented:

    INI files
	o Labeled sections

    Output options
	o test_about_count (not applicable, you can send SIGINT at any
	   time with the "Abort Render" function)
	o continue_trace
	o create_ini (see Config File->Save button)
	o video_mode
	o display_gamma
	o pause_when_done: Automatically on if your are displaying 
	   during rendering
	o draw_vistas
	o output_to_file: Output file is always based on the .pov filename
	o output_alpha
	o buffer_output
	o buffer_size
	o bits_per_color
	o CPU utilization histogram

    Scene parsing options
	o Shell-out commands to OS (pre_scene_command, etc.)
	o Text output streams are handled by the Verbose button.  They cannot
	  be output separately, nor output to files.
	o Help screen switches

    Tracing options
	o jitter_amount: In the POV-Ray 3.0beta documentation, this option 
	  is referred to once as "jitter_amount", and then again as 
	  "jitter_scale".  I implemented the option as jitter_amount, but 
	  this has not been verified as the correct option.    
    
    
    Click on the Options label to restore the .xpm image after you set
    your image options!
    
    
    Add your own image to xfpovray (320x240 .xpm)!




LEGAL STUFF

    Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for 
    any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the author's
    name and this notice appear in all copies and in supporting documentation.
    The author's name shall not be otherwise used publicity pertaining to 
    distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. 

    THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS", AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, 
    EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY 
    OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  IN NO EVENT SHALL 
    THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, 
    INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES 
    WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSS OF USE, 
    SAVINGS OR REVENUE, OR THE CLAIMS OF THIRD PARTIES, WHETHER OR NOT THE 
    AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS, HOWEVER CAUSED 
    AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
    POSSESSION, USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

    This software is in no way affiliated with the University of Alabama,
    or NASA and the US government.
