This file contains the documentation specific to the Amiga version of
POVRay v2.1.
Differences From Original Distribution:
The original distribution of POVRay is in ZIP format and contains
files in MS-DOS format. The filenames are restricted to 8.3 characters
and the text files contain CRLF line terminators. A script and a
utility to strip CRs, restore the long Amiga filenames, and create
icons is provided in the POVRAY/MACHINE/AMIGA directory. Note that
none of the POVRay data files need be stripped of CRs as POVRay
accepts data files both with and without CRs.
There are custom Amiga executable, documentation, and scene archives
that have been converted to LZH format and have been stripped of all CR
characters and include long Amiga filenames and Amiga icons. The Amiga
executable archive contains two executable versions of POVRay, a
68881 and an IEEE version, two executable programs that perform image
postprocessing, one to HAM6 and one to IFF24, and two programs that
convert TGA files, one to GIF and one to DUMP. Otherwise, the Amiga
distribution is identical to the ZIP distribution.
SEE POVLEGAL.DOC FOR USE AND DISTRIBUTION TERMS.
The Amiga archive in LZH format is an officially supported and
distributed format.
Executables:
Six executables are provided:
povray881 - The version for systems with 68881 math coprocessors.
povrayieee - The version for systems without a coprocessor.
dump2iff - Converts POV output files to Amiga HAM6.
dump2i24 - Converts POV output files to Amiga IFF24
tga2dump - Converts TARGA format to dump format.
tga2gif - Converts TARGA files to GIF.
Running POVRay:
When running POVRay, be sure that you have a large stack set. If
the stack is too small, POVRay could crash without warning. Mine
is set to 80,000 bytes.
Memory Requirements:
POVRay can run on simple files with 1 Meg of memory. I would
highly recommend having more memory to render more complicated
scenes. There is a known bug in this version which prevents POVRay
from cleaning up gracefully if it runs out of memory in some instan-
ces. If this occurs, the cancel requestor will not be closed. If you
click on it, the system will probably hang or reboot.
Display Formats:
The Amiga version of the raytracer supports four types of display
formats:
+d, +d0 - default
+d1 - HAM6
+d2 - HAM8
+dE - HAME
+dF - Firecracker
By default, a display will be generated in HAM6 according to the image
size. If the image is wider than 368 pixels, the display's horizontal
mode is hi-res, otherwise it is lo-res. If the image is taller than
241 pixels, the display's vertical mode is interlaced, otherwise it is
non-interlaced. Images that are smaller than the nominal screen size
are centered in the display screen. Images that are larger than the
nominal screen size are displayed in overscan. Note that not all
machines can display a hi-res HAM6 screen or an AGA screen. If your
machine cannot display a particular screen, the screen-open call will
fail and an error will be displayed.
The HAME mode is always 320 x 200 pixels.
The firecracker mode adjusts the resolution according to the -w
(width) parameter of the raytracer.
320 <= w < 0 use 320 x 482
640 <= w < 320 use 640 x 482
768 <= w < 640 use 768 x 482
1024 <= w < 768 use 1024 x 482
File Formats:
The default file format for the Amiga is "dump" format (+fd). Targa
or raw may be specified on the command line or in the povray.def file.
Building The Source:
POVRay was compiled using SAS C version 5.10b. I'm sure that later
versions will work. If you're compiling with another compiler, you'll
have to edit the makefile to set the proper compiler options. As far
as that goes, you're on your own.
To compile POVRay from the original source, follow these instructions:
1) From a shell, CD to the POVRAY/MACHINE/AMIGA directory and
"execute dos2ami", which is a script that will strip CRs from
the text files, restore long filenames, and install some icons.
2) Copy the files in the POVRAY/SOURCE directory into a POVRAY/
BUILD directory.
3) Copy from the POVRAY/MACHINE/AMIGA directory files 'amiga.c',
'config.h', and 'makefile' to the POVRAY/BUILD directory.
4) If you're building an IEEE executable, you must edit the
makefile and comment out the line for "CFLAGS = ..." for the
'881, uncomment the line "CFLAGS = ..." for the IEEE emulator,
and type "lmk povrayieee".
5) To compile a 68881 version of POVRay, leave the original
makefile unaltered and type "lmk".
Post-Processing Images:
Two utilities called dump2iff and dump2i24 have been included in the
executable archive to convert the POVRay format output to HAM6 and
IFF24 format. To run these utilities, you must provide the names of
the input and output files.
eg.
dump2i24 picture.dis picture.i24
or
dump2iff picture.dis picture.iff
The dump2iff program can also write out a file containing the palette
it used to make the image. It can then be told to use this palette
when converting other images. This is useful for making animations for
animation players that can't change color palettes between frames.
To output a palette, use the -p option of dump2iff:
dump2iff -ppicture.pal picture.dis picture.iff
To use this palette for other images, simply add it to the command
line:
dump2iff picture.dis picture.iff picture.pal
By default, dump2iff will perform dithering to help smooth out the
color changes. To disable dithering, use -d on the command line.
The dump2i24 program does not generate a palette. The 24-bit pixel
data is stored directly into 24 bit-planes.
Two other utilities called tga2dump and tga2iff are also included in
the executable archive to convert TARGA format files. To run these
utilities you must provide the names of the input and output files.
eg.
tga2gif -d -m picture.tga picture.gif
or
tga2dump picture.tga picture.dis
"The Art Department Professional" by ASDG does a fine job of post-
processing images. ADPro can accept QRT format images (which is the
format output by POVRay with the +fd command-line parameter). Al-
ternatively, you can output Targa (+ft) or raw (+fr). To read the raw
format into ADPro, use the Scuplt reader. You'll have to type in the
resolution you used to generate the image.
This document is based on text originally by David K. Buck.
Comments and suggestions about the Amiga version can be directed to me:
Dave Park
Internet: 70004.1764@compuserve.com
CompuServe: [70004,1764]
