News items from www.povray.org main page

Y.A.P.R.M. 0.7 RC1 released

Sun, 2 Nov 2008 02:00:02 GMT

After almost a year the first release candidate of "Yet Another POV-Ray Modeller" 0.7 is available, featuring a switch to gtkmm, reworked look and feel and more efficient modelling process.

SymLab RANS Flow

Sat, 1 Nov 2008 09:00:01 GMT

Symscape's commercial range of simulation products has now been expanded to include SymLab RANS Flow for the simulation of realistic (viscous) gas and liquid flow with heat transfer. SymLab's viewer utility can, with the Viz Export add-on, directly output POV-Ray SDL. Examples of POV-Ray exports are available on their site.

But where is the shallow end?

Sat, 1 Nov 2008 22:01:00 GMT

French mathematician Xavier Caruso and Jos Leys have used POV-Ray to explain three common effects of refraction in their short film "But where is the shallow end?". It's released under Creative Commons license and can be viewed online here.

Bishop3D Distribution Release

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 19:02:00 GMT

Bishop3D, a Windows-based dedicated modeller for POV-Ray with SDL import, texture editor and native keyframe animation, has now reached its first distribution release. Bishop3D has been several years in the making and has a promising future with a new development cycle of enhancements and additions now beginning. Comments and discussion are encouraged on the Bishop3D forum. Download it now to give it a try!

LionSnake 1.7.14

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 14:02:00 GMT

LionSnake modeller has received a number of new features and updates including more advanced subdivision previews and face editing. For a complete list of changes and bug fixes, visit the LionSnake site. Feedback regarding performance from Vista and Wine users is appreciated.

Bishop3D reaches Release Candidate milestone

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 14:02:00 GMT

After more than two years of beta testing, Bishop3D, an interactive modeller and animation tool for POV-Ray, with native keyframe animation, POV-Ray SDL import, texture editor and POV-Ray integration has reached Release Candidate. You can download the RC now from the Bishop3D site!

Myst-like Java game using POV-Ray

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 14:02:00 GMT

Gil writes to tell us of his quest to develop a Myst-like Java game with graphics made using POV-Ray. Those interested in helping should visit the Amazon Systems blog.

neXtgen Povray Editor 0.9.5

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 14:02:00 GMT

The neXtgen POV-Ray Editor has been updated with new features like gamma correction in the colour picker (for clipka), rendering with ini profiles and bug fixes.

LionSnake 1.7.13

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 05:00:01 GMT

A new version of the subdivision surface LionSnake Modeler is available, fixing a .obj import crash and a bug where Bones were not being displayed. The latest version, including source code, is available from the LionSnake site.

LionSnake 1.7.12

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 22:01:09 GMT

The subdivision surface LionSnake Modeler has been updated. The latest version includes new display and editing enhancements such as better subdivision preview, bones editing, anti-aliasing, etc. A full list of changes and download links can be found on the LionSnake site.

Ani2Pov 0.57 is available

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 16:00:01 GMT

A new version of Ani2Pov, the .an8 Anim8or (a free modeller) to POV-Ray, Ase, Videoscape and Milkshape 3D convertor, is now available. The new version fixes several problems with the orientations/positions of elements.

XPE v0.9.4

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 10:00:03 GMT

The neXtgen POV-Ray Editor (XPE) v0.9.4 has been released (source tarball, various Linux distros, Windows). neXtgen is code editor designed specifically for POV-Ray SDL and can be downloaded from SourceForge. Documentation for configuring the editor is also available.

Y.A.P.R.M. 0.6.5 released

Fri, 2 Nov 2007 21:00:01 GMT

A new version of "Yet Another POV-Ray Modeller" is available with bug fixes, a new interactive 3D View viewport (allowing you to view your scene from any angle and assign the current view to the active camera), a wider range of 3D file formats supported for import and inline editing of objects.

Sphere Sweep Tutorial

Fri, 2 Nov 2007 17:00:07 GMT

An excellent tutorial on using the sphere_sweep object has been made available. The Sphere Sweep Tutorial (also available in German) provides a general introduction followed by increasingly more complex applications of the object, with illustrated examples, code and scene files.

Animation Palace

Fri, 2 Nov 2007 17:00:07 GMT

A new POV-Ray animation website has appeared with some interesting animation projects. The site, Animation Palace, has downloadable projects you can render, as well as examples and other interesting info.

New hard disks needed

Sat, 8 Dec 2007 04:01:00 GMT

The POV-Ray server needs two new hard disks. Currently the system is running on a single drive with no redundancy. Our plan is to upgrade to a set of mirrored drives using the two new disks, with the current drive running as a backup unit. We've set up an amazon.com wishlist for this purpose, in case anyone wishes to donate the hardware required.

Update: The disks are on their way. Thanks very much to those who ordered them!

Bishop3D 1.0.2.8 beta

Sat, 8 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT

Bishop3D, the interactive Windows modeler and animation tool with native POV-Ray SDL import and keyframe animation, has been updated. The new beta includes improvements and bug fixes and is available for download now.

LionSnake 1.7.11

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 22:01:09 GMT

A new update of the subdivision surface LionSnake Modeler is available. This release fixes some bugs and includes improvements to Bones editing and representation.

POV-Ray for Windows v3.7 beta 27

Fri, 7 Dec 2007 02:00:07 GMT

The Win32 build of POV-Ray version 3.7 beta 27 is now available. This is the first in the POVWIN beta series to have a full installer (provided as a Microsoft Installer .MSI file). While not a final version of the installer (currently it only installs for one user), it's a step in the right direction. The beta should be much more Vista-friendly as a result of this and some internal changes to the location files are stored.

GDesign 2.0 - L-Systems and Cellular Automata

Thu, 6 Dec 2007 23:00:03 GMT

GDesign, a 2D/3D L-System program to generate complex fractal, organic and inorganic objects for POV-Ray and 3D Studio MAX, has now reached version 2.0. The new version includes many new features, such as a better display and interface, new objects, interactive rules, improved language grammar and symbols, automatic behaviours and new image processing 3D filters.

In addition to a gallery of examples, the GDesign website includes new documentation for the program and information on L-Systems.

Dimensions: A two hour movie made in POV-Ray!

Thu, 6 Dec 2007 19:02:03 GMT

Jos Leys, working with Etienne Ghys and Aurélien Alvarez (both mathematicians from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France) produced a two hour movie in POV-Ray which explores in beautiful visuals the concepts of dimensions and mathematics.

View the trailer, then head over to the Dimensions website where you can download all 9 chapters or purchase it on DVD for the very reasonable price of 10 Euros (which, as a non-profit project, covers the cost of production and includes worldwide shipping!). The project is released under a Creative Commons license (see site for details).

A spoken commentary is available in French, English, Spanish and Arabic on both the DVD and the downloads, with subtitles provided in Arabic, Dutch, Chinese, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian. Instructions on how to use the subtitles are available on the website, which also includes pages with more detailed explanations on the topics in the different chapters of the project.

Check out and support this fantastic project and send in some feedback and comments!

PovEdge released - draw edges and creases of mesh objects

Wed, 5 Dec 2007 22:00:01 GMT

PovEdge, a new tool for rendering the edges of POV-Ray mesh objects (allowing for the creation of various drawing, sketch-like and cartoon styles) has been released by Thibaut Jonckheere. PovEdge combines a Windows application and POV-Ray macros to create the final edge geometry, with control over silhouette and crease edges. A complete set of examples, instructions, tips/tricks and technical information is available on the PovEdge website.

Ani2Pov 0.5 released, new file format support

Wed, 5 Dec 2007 21:00:01 GMT

Version 0.50 of the Anim8or (a free modeller) .an8 to POV-Ray file converter, Ani2Pov, is now available. This new version supports files created with the Anim8or v0.97 Preview release, conversion to POV-Ray, .ase and Videoscape .obj (for use in, for example, Blender).

Additionally, the source code is now available under the GPL v3 licence and Ani2Pov utilises WinForms (and thus requires the .NET framework). A Linux version will be available in the future and contributions to the project (as well as bug reports) are encouraged. See the Ani2Pov site for more details.

Y.A.P.R.M. 0.6 released

Sun, 2 Nov 2008 02:00:02 GMT

A new version of "Yet Another POV-Ray Modeller" is available, featuring saving of view port setups, command line parameters, inclusion of Imlib2 (for improved colour selection) and image importing. Additionally several memory leaks have been fixed.

POV-Ray df3 import/export for ImageJ

Wed, 5 Dec 2007 02:00:03 GMT

Stephan Saalfeld has developed an ImageJ import/export plugin for POV-Ray's df3 format. ImageJ, a Java-based image processing program developed by the National Institutes of Health, can be used to edit volumetric data supported by thousands of freely available plugins. This ImageJ plugin adds seamless support for the POV-Ray's df3 format for arbitrary volumetric density functions and turns ImageJ into a powerful df3 editor.

Tkxture - Fast POV-Ray patterned material textures

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 23:01:01 GMT

A new utility for Linux and Windows, Tkxture, has been released. Tkxture allows for the rapid creation of POV-Ray textures, especially those involving patterns, with the ability to specify finish, interior, warp and other parameters and easily preview the result.

LionSnake 1.7.10

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 23:01:01 GMT

A new version of subdivision surface LionSnake Modeler has been released. This release includes bug fixes, changes to bones display, texture mapping in subdivision preview and other usability enhancements.

Symscape's SymLab Now Available for Linux

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 21:02:00 GMT

Symscape's free SymLab viewer is now available for Linux as well as Windows. The Linux version has full support for all the SymLab add-ons including SymLab Viz Export with its ability to export to the POV-Ray SDL format.

LionSnake 1.7.9

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 03:00:02 GMT

A bugfix release of LionSnake Modeler is available for download (see the LionSnake site for details).

LionSnake 1.7.8

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 03:00:02 GMT

Subdivision surface LionSnake Modeler now features better viewport zooming functions and increased efficiency in the subdivision previews.

Surface Subdivision Suite updates and LionSnake 1.7.7

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 00:02:00 GMT

New versions of LionSnake and the Surface Subdivision Suite are now available, fixing several bugs. It is recommended that users update to the latest version of each.

LionSnake 1.7.5 available

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 13:00:05 GMT

Another update to the subdivision surface LionSnake Modeler project is now available for download. This update fixes several bugs relating to Bones editing, subdivision macros and mesh editing.

IRTC being resurrected!

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 04:01:02 GMT

David K Buck (creator of DKBTrace which was later used as the basis for POV-Ray), after discussions with Chris Cason and the community, is pleased to announce the assembly of a group of developers to resurrect the dormant Internet Ray Tracing Competition!

A bimonthly online rendering competition (which also included concurrent animation rounds), the IRTC ran for more than 10 years until, in late 2006, administrative issues prevented further rounds from being conducted.

The site will now be redesigned by the team of volunteers (which includes David K Buck and Randal Schwartz) to address the issues which led to its cessation. Previous competition entries/results will also be retained on the new site for viewing.

During its hiatus the passion in the community for the IRTC has remained strong, so we look forward to a new era of the IRTC and, of course, great ray tracing creations!

Surface Subdivision Suite updates and LionSnake 1.7.4

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 00:02:00 GMT

Updated versions of John VanSickle's surface subdivision modeller LionSnake and Catmull-Clark Surface Subdivision Suite are now available. The Surface Subdivision Suite update fixes a bug with normal calculations, while LionSnake has seen significant feature additions, speed enhancements and bug fixes (a complete list of which is available on the LionSnake home page).

POV-Ray 3.7 beta source code available

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 04:00:05 GMT

The source code for the 3.7 beta of POV-Ray has been made available for download for Windows and Unix/Linux platforms. The windows source includes easy-to-follow instructions for getting the source built with Visual Studio 2005 and 2008, including express editions, while the Linux/Unix source has similarly clear instructions for GNU C++.

SCC5: POV-Ray Short Code Contest #5 - Winners Announced!

Sun, 2 Dec 2007 18:01:01 GMT

The 5th POV-Ray Short Code Contest, a competition to produce the most artistic animation in a tiny POV-Ray file of no greater than 512 bytes, has now been completed and the winners announced!

Animations of the amazing entries can be found on the POV-Ray Short Code Contest #5 website. In first place, Jeff Reifel's "Rays" animation weighs in at a mere 464 bytes!

Subdivision Surface Macro Suite

Sun, 2 Dec 2007 18:01:01 GMT

An updated version of John VanSickle's Subdivision Surface Macro Suite is now available, supporting polygons with any number of sides, properly subdivided texture mapping and corner behaviour changes. Check the website for examples and further information, along with the related subdivision surface LionSnake Modeler project.

HTTPov distributed rendering via HTTP

Sat, 1 Dec 2007 06:02:03 GMT

2007 brought updates to existing distributed rendering systems, as well as the introduction of brand new ones. HTTPov is one of the latter and is built around an unpatched POV-Ray, designed to be run unobtrusively in the background of plain "unixish" machines as well as Windows with Cygwin. The communication with the central server is done via HTTP allowing greater flexibility, and the system is capable of handling animations as well as sliced still images. Check out the HTTPov website to get started!

A3dsViewer 1.1

Thu, 2 Nov 2006 16:02:00 GMT

A3dsViewer 1.1, a free Windows 3DS file viewer which also exports to POV-Ray, is now available. This release fixes many bugs in the export system and adds diffuse management.

neXtgen POV-Ray Editor Beta 1

Thu, 2 Nov 2006 16:02:00 GMT

The first public release of neXtgen Povray Editor (XPE) is here! XPE is a full-featured code editor for POV-Ray, featuring auto-completion, internal image viewer, syntax highlighting, file explorer, POV-Ray file parser/navigator, rendering console, the ability to open large files without eating large amounts of memory, and much more! Available for Windows, Linux and Mac (contact for Mac binary).

LionSnake 1.6.8

Wed, 1 Nov 2006 20:00:09 GMT

Version 1.6.8 of surface subdivision modeller LionSnake is available with several UV mapping bug fixes. Binaries, source and download instructions can be found on the LionSnake website.

POV-Ray wiki site now active

Wed, 1 Nov 2006 10:01:00 GMT

wiki.povray.org is now open for contributions. POV-Wiki is an officially-sanctioned site that is intended to allow users to contribute to the overall POV-Ray knowledgebase.

See the announcement in povray.general for more details.

SymLab Exchange now supports Alias/Wavefront

Wed, 1 Nov 2006 08:00:00 GMT

Symscape's commercial SymLab Exchange can now import Alias/Wavefront (obj) models; with the SymLab Viz Export add-on it is possible to then export to POV-Ray SDL. SymLab's free 3D fluid-flow simulation viewer utility can, with the Export add-on, also export its results to POV-Ray.

PovClipse 1.0.1 available

Wed, 1 Nov 2006 05:00:01 GMT

1.0.1 of the Eclipse editor plug-in PovClipse for POV-Ray and MegaPOV is now available - use the Eclipse update function to obtain the latest version. This new release includes bug fixes, new entry types, a large performance boost and Render Messages View for jumping directly to error lines. See the PovClipse site for installation instructions and further details.

AmphiSoft POV Sphere Mosaic

Wed, 1 Nov 2006 00:00:05 GMT

AmphiSoft have released a freeware Photoshop plug-in, AmphiSoft POV Sphere Mosaic, for exporting a 3D sphere mosaic of images from Photoshop (and other compatible editors) to POV-Ray SDL.