You can reach the Top-menu by the F10-key. To select a special Top-menu- item press the Alt-key and the key with that letter which is highlighted in the item-name, e.g. press Alt-F to pull down the 'File'-menu.
You may press F1 at any time to get context-sensitive help. For further information on how to use Help read the Help
Help. 8
For a complete list of Help topics refer to the Index.
Dragmode
Use the Cursor-keys to drag the window around and Shift + Cursor-keys to resize it.
See also: Windows
Size/Move
How to use Help
Use the cursor-keys and PgUp/PgDn to scroll through the Help text.
Some words of the text may be appear in yellow. These are cross-references to other help topics. Use the TAB-key to highlight these keywords, then press ENTER to switch to that topic.
Like the editor-windows Help-windows may be resized, zoomed and moved across the screen (see the help on the Windows-command). 3
For a list of all help topics refer to the Index.
The Editor
The Editor uses WordStar-compatible keys. Here is a complete list: )
Cursor-movement:
Up or Ctrl-E: one line up
Down or Ctrl-X: one line down
Left or Ctrl-S: one column left
Right or Ctrl-D: one column right
PgUp or Ctrl-R: one page up
PgDown or Ctrl-C: one page down
Ctrl-Left or Ctrl-A: one word left
Ctrl-Right or Ctrl-F: one word right
Home or Ctrl-Q-S: go to line start
End or Ctrl-Q-D: go to the end of the line
Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-Q-R: go to the top of the text
Ctrl-PGDn or Ctrl-Q-C: go to the end of the text
Delete-keys:
Delete or Ctrl-G: delete character under the cursor
Backspace or Ctrl-H: delete character left of the cursor
Ctrl-T: delete word beginning at cursor position
Ctrl-Y: delete actual line
Ctrl-Q-H: delete line up to cursor
Ctrl-Q-Y: delete line beginning at cursor
Block keys:
Ctrl-K-B: activate select mode
Shift-Ins or Ctrl-K-C: paste block from Clipboard
Ctrl-K-H: toggle block-highlight
Ctrl-Ins or Ctrl-K-K: copy block to Clipboard
Ctrl-Del or Ctrl-K-Y: cut block to Clipboard
Other keys:
Ins or Ctrl-V: toggle Insert mode
Enter or Ctrl-M: new line
Ctrl-Q-A: replace a text string
Ctrl-Q-F: find a string
Ctrl-L: search again
Ctrl-U: undo
You may insert PovRay-command templates in the current text at the actual cursor position by selecting the Template-Command of the Top- menu. Or press Alt-M.
Other key combinations have nothing to do with editing but let you control the PovRay- options which is normally done by using the Top-menu-item Options. They are called the
Option keys:
Ctrl-O-A: AntiAliasing
Ctrl-O-B: Buffersize
Ctrl-O-C: Continue
Ctrl-O-D: Display-Adapter
Ctrl-O-E: End-Row/-Column
Ctrl-O-F: Outputformat
Ctrl-O-H: ImageHeight
Ctrl-O-J: AAJitter
Ctrl-O-K: Clock-Value
Ctrl-O-L: Library-paths
Ctrl-O-M: Bounding slabs
Ctrl-O-P: Pause when finished
Ctrl-O-Q: Quality
Ctrl-O-R: Number of AA-rays (to be squared)
Ctrl-O-S: Start-Row/-Column
Ctrl-O-V: Verbose
Ctrl-O-W: Image Width
Ctrl-O-X: Allow early exit
Finally you can influence the size and position of the editor-windows by using the Windows- commands.
File
(Alt-F)
Use the 'File'-menu to execute file-related commands. It consists of the following items: R
Open a file New file
Save file Save
as...
DOS
Shell Exit program
Edit
(Alt-E)
The 'Edit'-menu consists of the following items: P
Undo Cut
Copy Paste
Show
Clipboard Clear
Except of 'Show clipboard' these commands may also be executed by certain keystrokes (see Editor).
Search
(Alt-S)
The 'Search'-menu is for finding or replacing strings in your text. It consists of the items
Find Replace Search
Again
Windows
(Alt-W)
The 'Window'-menu contains commands concerning windows like closing or moving them.
Note that you can perform most of these tasks by using hotkeys or by mouse-clicking on the window symbols ( [
). T
Size/Move Zoom
Tile Cascade
Next Previous
Close
Options
(Alt-O)
By this menu you can control all the PovRay tracing-options and save them into DEF-files or restore them from there. s
The control panels can also be reached by using the Ctrl-O Quick key (see Option keys in the Editor-description).
Control panels: 5
Output Display
Trace Library-paths
Misc
File commands: :
Save
Options Save
Default
Options
Retrieve
Options
Setup
(Alt-T)
The 'Setup'-menu is for setting up the PovShell-program. For more information see the description of the menu-items $
Directories
Editor
Colors
Templates
(Alt-M)
The 'Templates'-menu gives you a list of all the TPL-files that were found in the PovShell-directory on startup. z
If you select one of the files its contents will be inserted in the current editor window at the actual cursor position.
This command was designed to have quick access to PovRay command-templates, however, you may store *any* kind of text in a TPL-file, e.g. Copyright-notes, standard headers and so on. k
It is recommended that you use the editor autoindent-mode when inserting templates (see Editor
settings).
Run
(Alt-R or Ctrl-F9)
'Run' will launch the POV-Raytracer with the POV-file you are currently editing and the tracing-options you have set. f
If you have chosen to produce an output-file you will be prompted for its name in a file
select
box.
About
(Alt-A)
The 'About'-box displays informations on the PovShell-program such as author, version number and release date.
File
Open...
(F3)
Use the File
Open-command to open a POV-file (or any other text file) with the editor. -
The command will display a File
select-box.
File
This command will open a new empty and untitled editor window.
File
Save
(F2)
The File
Save-command will save the file of the current editor window. If this file is still untitled Save will work exactly like Save
as...
File
Save As...
This command lets you save the current editor file using a new name. You will prompted to choose the new name in a File
select-box.
File
DOS Shell
The File
DOS Shell-command will exit PovShell temporarily and open a DOS-shell. To leave the DOS-shell and resume the PovShell-program again enter EXIT at the DOS-prompt.
File
Exit
(Alt-X)
This command will end your PovShell session.
Edit
Undo
(Ctrl-U)
The Edit
Undo-command lets you undo your last deletion/insertion.
Edit
(Shift-Del)
The Cut-command deletes the selected text block from the file and places it in the Clipboard. "
See also Edit
Copy Edit
Paste *
Edit
Clear Edit
Clipboard
Edit
Copy
(Ctrl-Ins)
The Copy-command copy the selected text block to the Clipboard. "
See also Edit
Cut Edit
Paste *
Edit
Clear Edit
Clipboard
Edit
Paste
(Shift-Ins)
The Paste-command will insert a text block from the Clipboard to the current editor window. !
See also Edit
Cut Edit
Copy *
Edit
Clear Edit
Clipboard
Edit
Show Clipboard
This command will show you a special editor window which is reserved for interchanging text blocks between multiple file editor windows. It is normally hidden and may be accessed by the following commands: 5
Edit
Cut Edit
Edit
Paste Edit
Edit
Clear
(Ctrl-Del)
This command will clear the selected text from your file. c
Attention: The text block will *not* be moved to the Clipboard, Undo will *not* work after Clear!
Search
Find...
(Ctrl-Q-F)
In the Search
Find-dialogbox you may specify a text string to be find in the current text and options to influence the search. 3
The dialogbox consists of the following elements: c
Text to find
Enter the text to be found in this inputline.
[ ] Case sensitive
Mark this checkbox if you want to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase.
[ ] Whole words only
Mark this checkbox if you only want to search for whole words. Example: If you are searching for the string 'light' and have this checkbox marked the string 'light' will be found but not the string 'light_source'.
Search
Replace...
(Ctrl-Q-A)
In the Search
Replace-dialogbox you may specify a string to be found and replaced by another string. 3
The dialogbox consists of the following elements: c
Text to find
Enter the text to be replaced in this inputline. _
New text
Enter the new text in this inputline. You can also leave this line blank to delete the occurence(s) of the search strings.
[ ] Case sensitive
Mark this checkbox if you want to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase.
[ ] Whole words only
Mark this checkbox if you only want to replace whole words. Example: If you are replacing for the string 'light' and have this checkbox marked the string 'light' will be replaced but not the string 'light_source'.
[X] Prompt on replace
Mark this checkbox if you want to be asked each time the string is found before it is replaced. This is the default.
[ ] Replace all
Mark this checkbox if you want all matching strings to be replaced. By default only the first occurence of the string will be replaced.
Search
Search Again
(Ctrl-L)
This command will repeat the last Find- or Replace-command.
Window
Size/Move
(Ctrl-F5)
By this command you can change the size and position of the current window.
Size
By using the cursor-keys while holding down the shift-key you change the size of the active window. {
If the active window has got a mouse corner (
) you can also use the mouse to resize the window by dragging this corner.
Move
By using the cursor-keys after selecting the Window
Size/Move-command you move the window across the screen. Press Enter to confirm the new position and finish moving/resizing. H
You can also use the mouse to move a window by dragging its title bar.
Window
Zoom
(F5)
The Zoom-command will expand the active window to its maximum size, resp. will restore its original size if it has already been expanded.
This can also be done by double-clicking on the window's title bar or by clicking on the symbols [
] resp. [
] in the upper right corner of the window.
Window
Tile
After tiling the editor-windows you will see them altogether on the screen. L
Tiled windows
Window
Cascade
The Window
Cascade-command will stack all the editor windows beginning in the upper left corner. Y
Stacked windows
Window
Next
(F6)
By 'Next' you select the next editor window.
Window
Previous
(Shift-F6)
By 'Previous' you select the previous editor window.
Window
Close
(Alt-F3)
This command will close the active window. u
You can also use the mouse to do this by clicking on the close-button ([
]) in the upper left corner of the window.
Options
Output...
In the Options
Output-dialogbox you can control all the PovRay-options that deal with the production of an outputfile.
Format
These radiobuttons control the format of the output:
( ) none : no outputfile
) TGA : 24-bit Targa format
(This is the default)
( ) Dump : The Atari DIS format
( ) RAW : produces 3 outputfiles
with the extensions
.R8, .G8 and B8
Continue
Control the continuation of an aborted trace with these radiobuttons:
( ) yes : If the output-file already exists
PovRay will assume that an aborted
trace is to be continued
) no : If the output-file already exists
it will be overwritten
(This is the default)
Buffersize
Enter the size of the outputfile-buffer in KB here. k
Note: Entering -1 will disable buffering, entering 0
uses the default. The maximum amount is 8192.
Options
Display...
In the Options
Display-dialogbox you can control the PovRay-options that concern the display of the traced picture. !
Adapter
Select the Display-Adapter and -mode to use with the Adapter-radiobuttons. The default is *not* to display the picture. !
Palette
Select the palette model to use: <
) 332 : the standard 8 bits 256-color VGA-mode
(this is the default)
( ) HighColor : 15/16 bits 32,768/65,536 colors
( ) HSV : use the HSV model in VGA-mode
( ) GrayScale : use Grayscale palette with VGA-display
( ) TrueColor : 24 bits 16,777,216 colors
Size/Width/Heigth
Here you can control the image size. The most common adapter resolutions are directly selectable. If you want to use different values select the 'Custom'-button and enter the 'Width' and 'Height' on the appropiate input-lines.
Options
Trace...
In the Options
Trace-dialogbox you can control the PovRay-options that influence the tracing process. !
Quality
Values from 0 to 9 are allowed. The higher the value the better the quality. The default is the maximum 9. ?
[ ] Anti-Aliasing
Mark this checkbox to enable Anti-Aliasing. The input-line following right is for controling the Anti-Aliasing amount. The lower the better. 3
[X] AA-Jitter
If anti-aliasing is used jittering is also used by default with a default jittering scale of 1.0. Unmark the checkbox to disable jittering or enter a different scaling amount on the input-line following right. o
Number of AA-Rays (to be squared)
For anti-aliasing a square of n x n rays is used whereas n is in the range of 1 to 9. The default value is 3 (meaning 3x3=9 rays). B
[X] Bounding Slabs
Bounding slabs are enabled by default with a threshold of 25. Unmark this checkbox to prevent the use of bounding slabs or enter a different threshold on the input-line. K
Version Compatibility
This checkbox is for selecting the PovRay version compatibility mode. Select V1.0 or V2.0 which is the default.
Options
Library-paths...
The Options
Library-paths-dialogbox consists of a single input-line where you can enter the PovRay-library-paths. Up to 10 directories are allowed, separate them by semicolons.
Options
Misc...
In the Options
Misc-dialogbox you can control all the 'miscellaneous' PovRay-options that do not fit in one of the main categories output, display, trace and Lib-paths. B
[ ] Verbose Output
Mark this checkbox to enable verbose output, PovRay will then display the number of the image-line currently processed during the trace. K
[ ] Pause after trace
Use this option to have PovRay wait for a keyhit after completing the trace. H
[ ] Allow early exit
Marking this checkbox enables you to abort a trace by keyhit. An aborted trace may be continued later if you have produced an output-file. N
[ ] Enable clock value
Mark this checkbox to pass a clock value to PovRay. Enter the value on the input-line following right. 0
Image Window
If you want only a part of the image to be rendered enter the start-row/-column- and the end-row/-column-values in the appropiate input-lines. By default the whole image will be processed.
Options
Save Options...
Use the Options
Save Options-command to save the currently selected PovRay-options in a standard DEF-file. You will be prompted for a filename in a file
select
box.
See also Retrieve
options.
Options
Save Default Options
This command will save the currently selected PovRay-options in the file DEFAULT.DEF in the PovShell-directory. Each time you start PovShell it will retrieve the options stored in that file, so these values will override the PovRay default values.
Options
Retrieve Options...
Use the Options
Retrieve Options-command to retrieve the PovRay-options that were once saved in a DEF-file using the Save
Options-command. You will be prompted for the name of the file in a file
select
box.
Setup
Directories...
Here you have to specify some DOS-paths for the use with PovShell. If you are running PovShell for the very first time this dialog-box will pop up automatically. K
Default POV-file-path
This is the directory where PovShell will first look for POV-files when you choose to open one using the File
Open-command. Note that you can change to a different directory in the file
select
box. E
Default output-path
This is the directory where PovShell will suggest to write the output-files. If you leave this line blank, PovShell will suggest to write the output-file to the directory where the POV-file resides. B
Path to Executable
Enter the full filename of the PovRay-executable here (e.g. C:\POV\POVRAY.EXE).
Setup
Editor...
In the Setup
Editor-dialogbox you can control various editor options. Q
[X] Create Backup files
Mark this checkbox to make the editor create backup copies of each file you edit (i.e. change and save). The backup files will have a .BAK extension. This option is enabled by default. 9
[X] Insert Mode
If this checkbox is marked the editor-cursor will be in insert-mode on startup. You may toggle between insert-mode and overwrite-mode any time by using the Ins-key or Ctrl-V. E
[ ] Autoindent mode
Mark this checkbox to place the editor cursor in autoindent-mode. If you start a new line in autoindent-mode by pressing Enter the cursor will be automatically placed under the first non-blank character of the line above, so you may easily write indented paragraphs.
Note: If you insert Templates in your
script while using the autoindent
mode the text of the templates will
also be indented.
[X] Save Desktop on exit
If this option is enabled PovShell will save the filenames and positions of all open editor windows whenever you exit the program. The next time you start PovShell these informations will be used to restore the desktop, so you can immediately continue you work where you have once left off. !
TabSize
Here you may control the number of blanks to display a TAB-character. Values in the range of 2 to 16 are allowed, the default is 3.
Press the OK-button or ENTER to continue!
Yes/No/Cancel
Answer 'Yes', 'No' or 'Cancel' your request!
OK/Cancel
Answer 'OK' to confirm or 'Cancel' your request!
Setup
Colors...
In the Setup
Colors-dialogbox you can change the colors of PovShell.
Note: This command is NOT available if you have told PovShell to use the Black&White-palette by calling it with the commandline-switch '/b' ! y
The dialogbox consists of two lists (groups and items), two color palettes (background and foreground) and a text area.
Group
Desktop
Menues
Dialog boxes
Editor windows
Help windows
The group list contains the names of the views whose colors can be changed. e
Item
Color
If you choose a group from the group list its items will be shown in the itemlist.
Foreground
Background
Finally you can select a different fore- and background-color for each item from the palette panels. Q
Text Text Text
Text Text Text
The current selection is shown in the sample text area. d
Note: The changes you make in this dialogbox will not apply until you close it with the OK-button.
File select box
A file select box contains a filename-inputline, a file list, an information field, an Open-button, a Cancel-button and a history-list which is assigned to the filename-inputline. |
Name
In the filename-inputline enter the name of the file to be opened or a wildcard-mask for the file list (e.g. *.*). ^
Use the history-list button or the Cursor-Down key to pick a filename from the history-list.
Files
FILENM01.POV
FILENM09.POV
FILENM02.POV
FILENM10.POV
FILENM03.POV
FILENM11.POV
FILENM04.POV
FILENM12.POV
FILENM05.POV
..\
FILENM06.POV
LEVEL1\
FILENM07.POV
LEVEL2\
FILENM08.POV
LEVEL3\
The file list includes the files of the current directory, the upper directory (..) and all the sub-directories as far as their names match the current file mask.
C:\POV\SCENES\LEVEL1\*.POV
BALLBOX1.POV 2469 Jan 6, 1994 12:00pm
The information field displays the path, the name, the creation date and the size of the file. 4
[ Open ]
or Enter
The Open-button will open the currently selected file. If you have entered just a wildcard mask in the filename-inputline the open-button will cause the file list to be updated. ;
[ Cancel ]
or Escape
The Cancel-button cancels the current operation and removes the dialog-box.
(.txt)