3DS2POV Version 1.7 May/93 Copyright (c) 1993 by Steve Anger and Jeff Bowermaster This program reads a 3D Studio .3DS file and writes a POV-Ray, Vivid or Polyray raytracer scene file. Nested bounding shapes are automatically generated for POV-Ray to greatly reduce the rendering time. It writes the camera and light positions, but unfortunately it doesn't handle the textures automatically, (although we haven't given up). They currently default to a white shiny plastic, and you must go in manually and adjust them to what you need. Hardware requirements: The 3ds2pov.exe executable requires a minimum of a 386 or a 486 with a math co-processor. At least 2MB RAM is recommended. It is compatible with most 386 memory managers but will not run under a DPMI server (Windows, OS/2). Syntax: 3ds2pov inputfile[.3ds] [outputfile] [options] Options: -snnn - Generates smooth triangles. The boundaries between triangles are only smoothed if the angle between the triangles is less that nnn degrees. -s0 will not smooth any triangles while -s180 will smooth all triangles. Values from -s45 to -s90 usually work well. If unspecified smoothing defaults to -s60. -l - Specifies a file containing texture declarations for common 3DS materials. Up to 10 libraries can be specified. -a - Use animation information in specified .vue file. -fnnn - Generate frame nnn of animation (must be used with -a parameter). -x - Exclude this object from the conversion. If the object name contains any spaces it must be enclosed in double quotes. e.g. -x"BEACH BALL" -u - Do not add nested bounds to output (unbounded). -v - Turn on verbose status messages. -op - Output to POV-Ray 1.0 format (default) -op2 - Output to POV-Ray 2.0 format (2.0 is unreleased as yet) -ov - Output to Vivid 2.0 format -ol - Output to poLyray format -or - Output to Raw triangle format. Use: 3ds2pov birdshow -l3ds.inc assumes the input file is birdshow.3ds and outputs to birdshow.pov and birdshow.inc in the current directory. The file birdshow.pov will contain the camera, light sources, and list of materials used (basically everything you may want to edit) and birdshow.inc contains the triangle mesh data. Predefined materials in 3ds.inc will be automatically used if the names match (case is important), otherwise materials default to white shiny plastic. For a start, simply modify the material colors in the main file for each material to an appropriate color and take it from there. The file 3ds.inc is only included as an example. You'll likely want to build up a more complete texture library. Smoothing: 3ds2pov doesn't yet use 3D Studio's smoothing group information and instead does it's own smoothing. The amount of smoothing applied is controlled by the -s parameter and specifies the maximum angle that will be smoothed. The default of -s60 usually works for most scenes but you may find that some scenes require more or less smoothing. This parameter works just like the Auto Smooth option in 3DS. Animation: The animation information is exported from 3ds via a .vue file that can be created in the 3DS keyframer (Render/Setup/Make .VUE). By specifying the name of the .vue file and a frame number 3ds2pov will generate a scene file for that specific frame. e.g. 3ds2pov robot -arobot.vue -f5 The option -arobot.vue tells it to get the animation information from file robot.vue and option -f5 tells it to render frame #5. To generate a whole animation you can create a batch file that runs 3ds2pov and the raytracer for each frame in the animation. The program 3dsani is included to make the generation of this file a little easier. Syntax: 3dsani inputfile [options] Options: -a - Specifies the name of the 3ds animation (.vue) file. If unspecified defaults to inputfile.vue. -t - Specifies the name of the template (.tpl) file. If unspecified defaults to inputfile.tpl. -o - Specifies the name of the output (.bat) file. If unspecified defaults to inputfile.bat. -snnn - Start animation at frame nnn. If unspecified the start frame is taken from the .vue file. -ennn - End animation at frame nnn. If unspecified the end frame is taken from the .vue file. -pnnn - Render every nnn'th frame. If unspecified defaults to 1. Example: 3dsani robot -tani1.tpl generates a batch file named robot.bat that will execute 3ds2pov and povray once for each frame of the animation. The beginning and ending frame numbers are determined from the file robot.vue. The format of the batch file is determined from the template file ani1.tpl. Basically the template file is duplicated once for each frame but with all occurrences of the characters $ and # replaced by the file name and frame number respectively. Several sample template files are included which can be tailored to your specific needs. Environment Variable: If you find that you're often using the same command options over and over again you can set up your default command line options in the 3DS2POV environment variable. e.g. If you generally use Vivid as your renderer you may want to add the following line to your autoexec.bat: set 3DS2POV=-ov Commands specified in the environment variable will be overridden by those specified on the command line. Known Bugs/Problems: Orthogonal/user viewports, and camera roll are not implemented yet. Solid background colors work with POV-Ray and Polyray but not with Vivid. Fog works with POV-Ray but not with Polyray or Vivid. Gradient and image mapped backgrounds are not implemented. The camera field-of-view conversion isn't perfect. The rendered FOV will be close to the original but it won't be exact. There is a known problem with the version of POV-Ray 1.0 that was shipped with the Image Lab book that prevents smooth triangles from rendering. If you have this version you can download the latest version from CompuServe or a local BBS (look for POVIBM.ZIP). Revision History: 05/7/93 Ver. 1.7 Directly reads .3DS files instead of the slow/bulky .ASC files. Added support for 3DS 2.01 .vue files and fixed some bugs with the .vue file parsing. Added morphing. Added support for the Polyray raytracer. Textures now move with animated objects. Default switches can be set in the 3DS2POV environment variable. 12/14/92 Ver. 1.6 Animation support added. Added support for Vivid output. Identifiers that begin with a digit are now prefixed with the letter 'N' rather than an underscore (for compatibility with Vivid). Fog works (I think). 10/18/92 Ver. 1.5b Correctly handles spotlight hotspot parameter. Multiple texture libraries can be specified. A bug that occasionally resulted in a zero length include file fixed. 08/06/92 Ver. 1.5 Fixed bug with spotlight falloff parameter. 07/27/92 Ver. 1.4 Modified for POV-Ray 1.0 output format. Uses 1.0's new box primitive for bounding. Bounding ellipsoids are no longer used. Added support for spotlights. 06/04/92 Ver. 1.3 Modified the parser to handle 3D Studio 2.0 ascii dump files as well as 1.0. Added limited support for automatic texture handling. 05/03/92 Ver. 1.2 Added the octree bounding code from txt2pov. The parser is now a little more bullet proof and should be able to handle minor changes in the format of the ascii dump file. 11/08/91 Ver. 1.1c Fixed the bug I inadvertently added to the txt output in v1.1b. Added texture names to the txt output. These are used by v1.3 of txt2pov (formerly txt2dkb). The 32 bit version no longer requires removal of 386 memory managers. SA 10/15/91 Ver. 1.1b Minor source code modifications to allow program to compile with GNU C 32 bit compiler. Note: The 32 bit version (3ds2dkbx.exe) requires a 386 /w 387 or a 486 to run. 2M or more RAM is recommended. Any 386 memory managers (386^Max/QEMM, etc) must be removed before the 32 bit version will run. SA 9/03/91 Ver. 1.1 RIGHT <1.33 0.0 0.0 > in VIEW_POINT produces much better circles. COLOR for the light sources moved outside the TEXTURE block (oops. I'm still learning...) Jeff 8/24/91 Ver. 1.0 Original release, DKB, simple TurboC parser by Jeff. Very slow by itself, workable when used in conjunction with Steve's optimizing bounder. (TXT2DKB). Addresses: Steve Anger, Guelph, ON, Canada CIS: 70714,3113 Internet: 70714.3113@compuserve.com Jeff Bowermaster, Greensboro, NC CIS: 72040,2117 Internet: bowerman@garfield.ncat.edu ADEnet Boards i.e.:TGA: (510)524-2780