🚀 go-pugleaf

             Persistence of Vision Raytracer information.

The following message has been placed in this newsgroup because I thought
it may be of some interest/relevance to the readers. It tells you -

  o what POV is
  o what platforms it runs on
  o where to get it via FTP
  o how to get it via email
  o how to be notified of new releases

POV-Ray is a raytracer. It is freely (subject to the conditions given in
POVLEGAL.DOC) distributable copyrighted software. POV is not shareware and
no fee is charged for its use. Please use and enjoy !

POV is widely available via FTP, email, BBS's, Compuserve and other services.
Its current version is 2.2.

POV comes with full source code in 'C' and runs on the following platforms -

  o PC with DOS
  o PC with OS/2
  o PC under Windows (in DOS box)
  o PC with Linux or any other 32-bit Unix.
  o Apple Macintosh.
  o Commodore Amiga.
  o DEC Vax under VMS.
  o DEC Alpha under OpenVMS.
  o DEC Alpha under OSF/1.
  o and basically any other machine that runs Unix. X-Windows is optional.

It should also run OK on most other OS's that support C well (i.e. that
implement the standard 'K&R' C libraries.)

Minimum system configuration for PC's is a 386 with 4mB RAM. A coprocessor
is highly recommended (as it gives a 10x speedup).

A Raytracer allows a non-artistically inclined user to create superb
realistic-looking images. It works by simulating the effect of light on
a user-defined scene that consists of descriptions of objects in geometric
terms. Its input is an english scene file. These can be written by hand or
generated by a scene description program such as Moray or Povcad.

For an example of what can be done with POV, please retrieve some of the files
in pub/povray/HALL_OF_FAME at uniwa (as described below) and view them with a
GIF, TGA or JPEG viewer. I'd particularly recommend our current IOTM in
pub/povray/Images_of_the_month and also museum.jpg in pub/povray/HALL_OF_FAME.

POV can also be used to create animations with the assistance of animation
utilities such as RTAG (dos), AERO (X-Windows) and Moover (Mac). Check out
the animation subdirectory at uniwa for some examples.

*************************************************************************

HOW TO GET POV VIA FTP

There is a new official POV distribution site at uniwa.uwa.edu.au.

This site has become quite active and holds many POV scene files and utilities
as well as POV itself, including binaries for DOS, Mac and OS/2. We have a
HALL_OF_FAME subdirectory with some superb examples of ray-traced art, as well
as a Images_of_the_month subdirectory with this month's featured image(s).

To retrieve files, FTP to uniwa.uwa.edu.au and cd to pub/povray. Please
retrieve the files 'povinf.doc', 'CONTENTS_PLEASE_READ', and 'index'.

*************************************************************************

HOW TO OBTAIN POV-RAY, POV UTILITIES, POV IMAGE AND POV SCENE FILES VIA EMAIL

In response to requests from those who cannot access the uniwa.uwa.edu.au
POV-Ray site via FTP, a file mailing service has been set up that enables
requesters to obtain uuencoded files via email.

To use the service, please email povmail@uniwa.uwa.edu.au with a message
containing the word -

  HELP

on the first line.

The subject of the message is unimportant. What IS important is that the
belowmentioned commands be the very FIRST thing to appear in the message.

You should then receive a help file indicating how to use the service.
A list of files can be obtained by using the commands -

  SEND CONTENTS (long form, less complete list) and
  SEND INDEX    (short form, more complete list).

You can have multiple commands in each message.

NOTE that some of the requests received at the above site have contained
invalid addresses, so the replies have bounced. If you don't hear anything
from us after several attempts and several days, this is probably why.
Try placing a message in comp.graphics.raytracing and ask us about it.
Please remember that we probably can't mail you.

*************************************************************************

HOW TO BE NOTIFIED OF NEW POV RELEASES

As an adjunct to the above site, a mailer has been set up which permits file
requests to be made by email, and which also manages a mailing list.

The site and the list itself is maintained by a member of the POV-Team.

You can request that your name be placed on one or both of the POV mailing
lists. These are not normal mailing lists in that you cannot submit messages
for them ; only the POV-Team can. The lists are as follows -

  ANNOUNCE    Used when new releases of POV are made. This includes
              POV-related items from the POV-Team, such as the soon-to-be
              released hypertext help system.

  NEWS        Used to send new issues of POV-News and anything else relevant
              to POV, such as new publications, magazine articles, etc.

Volume on both of these lists will be extremely low ; perhaps only one message
per month if even that. This is the easiest way for POV users to be informed
of patches, bug fixes, new releases, new features, release dates for new
versions and the actual release of new versions.

To join these lists, mail a message to -

  povmail@uniwa.uwa.edu.au

The subject of the message is unimportant. What IS important is that the
belowmentioned commands be the very FIRST thing to appear in the message.

In the body of the message, place the commands -

  JOIN ANNOUNCE         (to join the announce mailing list)
  JOIN NEWS             (to join the news mailing list)

    - or -

  JOIN ALL              (to join both)

You should receive a reply indicating that your request was successful.
If you don't, please try again. For more information, please mail the above
address with a message containing the word -

  HELP

on the first line.

NOTE that some of the requests received at the above site have contained
invalid addresses, so the replies have bounced. If you don't hear anything
from us after several attempts and several days, this is probably why.
Try placing a message in comp.graphics.raytracing and ask us about it.
Please remember that we probably can't mail you.

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|             Chris Cason via the University of Western Australia            |
|                        cjcason@yarrow.wt.uwa.edu.au                        |
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