This is the help file for installing the programs for standalone use.
There is also much nicer web-based interface available, but this must be set up
on a local web server, so many small groups will prefer this simpler
unsophisticated standalone system. For those who want more information
on the web interface, go to the the Molray homepage at :
http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/notes/howto/molray.html.
First pick up the plt_pov source and executable along with POV-Ray include files from here :
at http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/notes/howto/plt_pov.tar
unpack the tar file somewhere interesting with the command :
% tar xf plt_pov.tar
which will create a subdirectory called plt_pov at that location.
If you have a fortran compiler, edit the plt_pov.f source file and set
'incl_dir' to point at the directory containing
the POV-Ray include files that you just installed, then build with the command :
% gfortran -O -ffixed-line-length-132 -m32 -o plt_pov plt_pov.f
If you don't have a fortran compiler you can use the plt_pov
executable but then in each shell that you run the program you
must first set the include directory through an environment variable thus :
% SETENV POV_INC_DIR /blah/blah/wherever/pltpov/plt_pov_inc/
Now pick up the first Mac MegaPOV version from this download page : http://megapov.inetart.net/download.html and follow
the instructions there.
Older installation instructions :
First you need to install POV-Ray. You can find distribution kits for various machines at : http://www.povray.org/, but I can't help you much with details, as we installed on a Dec Alpha, and it's unlikely that you will be doing that. I believe it's particularly easy to install POV-Ray on SGIs.
Then installing plt_pov is easy - First pick up the single FORTRAN source file
at http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/notes/howto/plt_pov.f
Edit the file and set 'incl_dir' to point at the directory containing
the POV-Ray include files and font files that came with the POV-Ray distribution, then build with the command :
% f77 plt_pov.f -o plt_pov
(On a mac use: % gfortran -O -ffixed-line-length-132 -m32 -o plt_pov plt_pov.f)
Move the executable to a public executable directory, or set up an
alias for you to use it privately, eg :
% alias plt_pov ~myhome/mydir/plt_pov
If you get compilation errors that mention dates (particularly on SGIs),
this is most probably due to there still being 2-digit/4-digit date
discrepances between compilers. Edit the source file, jump down to the
end of the file and uncomment the five-line alternative date subroutine that is
included but disabled by default. Recompile, and you'll probably be fine.
Unless you are running Linux. I just heard that it failed horribly,
and so I made some quick fixes to get rid of the error messages,
but I don't yet know what else I got rid of....
At your peril, try :
http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/notes/howto/plt_pov_linux.f
Because POV-Ray outputs TARGA format files, you will probably want
a conversion program to make JPEGs and GIFs. If you don't already have one,
I can recommend :
convert, which is part of the ImageMagick suite at : http://www.wizards.dupont.com/cristy/
If you get ambitious and start making movies, then for assembling animated GIFs, I can recommend :
gifsicle, at : http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/~eddietwo/gifsicle/index.html
and for mpegs :
mpeg_encode, at : http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/frame/research/mpeg/index.html
You can pick up an example parameter file for running this at http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/notes/howto/mpeg.params.
Now that you have these programs in place, read the plt_pov help file at http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/notes/howto/plt_pov_help.html to make your images.
Feel free to mail me for help at : markh "at" xray.bmc.uu.se
Mark Harris, 19 Jan 2000