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Raytrace - The Official POV-RAY CDROM
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readme.txt
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=============================== README.TXT ==================================
Welcome to the Official POV-Ray CDROM!
This CDROM is a compilation of images, scene source, program source,
utilities, and tips on POV-Ray, the Persistence of Vision Raytracing
program. This CDROM represents the culmination of over 1000 hours of
effort by the editor. The contents of the CDROM itself represent, in
addition, countless thousands of hours of effort by programmers and
artists throughout the world.
============================================================================
Here is a list of some important files and directories of the disc.
VIEW.EXE MSDOS File Browser/Uncompressor
00global.txt Global index of the disc
DOCS\ Documentation regarding these discs
DOCS\VIEW.DOC Documentation regarding VIEW.EXE
SETUP.EXE Windows Installation Program
install.exe MSDOS Image Viewer installation program
_BBS\ BBS files
============================================================================
Macintosh Users:
For your convenience, this disc is Macintosh ready!
All of the JPEG and GIF pictures are ready to be viewed -- just
double click on the icons! For the other picture formats, you can
use your own image procesing program (Debabelizer, Adobe Photoshop)
to view, process, and convert the pictures. We also recommend
Graphic Converter, a shareware program located in the
MacUtils:Graphics folder. (Please be sure to pay the author of the
program if you plan to use it for an extended period of time.)
Please take a look in the red Mac_POVray folder on the CDROM for
ready-to-run versions programs contained on the disc. In here,
you'll find the Macintosh versions of POVRay and other assorted
utilities for the Macintosh.
We have also included a lot of wonderful shareware and freeware
utilities within the MacUtils folder. You'll find
Compression/Decompression programs, Graphics utilities, Sound
applications, and many, many other utilities to help you use this
disc to the fullest.
============================================================================
FILES TO LOOK OUT FOR
Here's a quick list of files to have a look at !
POWERVIEW - the powerful new DOS image file viewer, in the \utils\pv
directory. PV.EXE has support for Walnut Creek's file description
format, which means you can browse the image files on this CD using
it and still get the short and long descriptions of each file. PV
supports over 150 video cards.
If you only want to view image files, you will find browsing using
POWERVIEW more convenient. POWERVIEW supports all image formats on
this CDROM and will also display the file descriptions (both long
and short) !
Simply type pv in the root directory of the CDROM or use the view
program for full functionality.
NEW USERS - if you run Windows, please copy the file
\programs\winpvtut\winpvtut.exe
to your hard disk (if you have 12 meg of disk space free) and then
run it. If you don't have the space then run it from the CD-ROM. It
contains an interactive tutorial on how to use POV-Ray, complete with
pictures and animations!
The \text\tutorials directory also contains more tutorials.
Ready-to-Run versions of POV-Ray are in \programs\povray\unoff\compiles\
BEST OF THE BEST
If you're keen to see some nice images, check out the
\images\hallfame
directory for a selection of images in my Hall of Fame.
Run the SLIDES.BAT file in the root directory for a slideshow (using
powerview) of the Hall of Fame.
WINDOWS USERS
Run the setup program in the root directory of this CD-ROM to create a
Windows group which will contain at least one viewer.
============================================================================
DOS/UNIX CONSIDERATIONS
Many of the files on this CDROM came from the UNIX world. Additionally,
a number came from DOS. This poses a problem as DOS and UNIX have
incompatible text file formats.
Since this CD is targeted at a large audience, comprising of DOS,
UNIX and Mac users, the decision was made to use the DOS text file
format on all nonarchived files. This is because a Unix formatted
file (LF only) is usually unreadable in most DOS file viewers,
whereas a DOS formatted text file, when viewed under UNIX merely
shows some annoying but harmless ^M characters.
NOTE however that file in archives will not, in most cases, have been
converted from their native format. If the archive originated on a
UNIX system, files will most likely be LF only. A DOS archive will
have CR-LF pairs. Please use the provided DOS2UNIX and UNIX2DOS
programs to convert the files when needed.
============================================================================
ARCHIVE FORMAT
In an attempt to provide a archive format that is useful to all
target audiences of this CDROM, I made the decision to use the .ZIP
archive method. This is because .ZIP is probably the most widely
supported format in popular use today. In most cases, even
machine specific files (e.g., UNIX only programs) have been converted
from, say, .tar.gz to .zip, simply because people on other systems
may want to examine their contents or read/port the source.
When rearchiving UNIX files (i.e. any .tar archive), the Info-Zip
archiver was used with the DOS compatibility flag turned OFF. This
means that all of the original attributes of the files (permissions
and long filenames) are preserved.
If you unzip one of these archives under DOS, the DOS unzip program
should attempt to convert long filenames to DOS compatible 8.3
filenames. If, in this process, two separate files in the same
directory are truncated to the same filename, you should be prompted
to rename one of them. In this case, don't forget to rename the file
in any relevant makefiles that were in the archive.
============================================================================
WHY NOT ROCKRIDGE ?
Originally, I intended to make this CDROM ISO-9660 + Rock Ridge
extensions. This would have allowed Unix users to see long
filenames. However, I discovered that Macintosh computers cannot read
any CDROM that has Rock Ridge extensions present. Since POV-Ray is
officially supported on the Macintosh, I decided it would not be
acceptable to exclude this group of users from being able to use this
CD. Hence the decision to go with plain, vanilla ISO-9660. Note that
many of the .ZIP archives on this CD contain long filenames.
============================================================================
DUPLICATED FILES
You will note that there is some amount of duplication of files on
the disk, particularly in the wallpaper subdirectory, which consists
solely of images that are present in the images directory, converted
to Windows .BMP format.
In this and the other cases, I made the decision to increase the
usability of the CDROM rather than try to cram the maximum amount of
data onto it. This gives you, the purchaser, more value for money.
Anyone can cram data onto a CD, but it takes time and effort to lay a
CD out 'just so', in what I hope is a very usable manner.
============================================================================
COPYRIGHT
Many files on this CDROM did NOT come from publicly-accessible sources
such as the internet, Compuserve or BBS's. A number were contributed
specifically for this CD, and the right to use some others were
purchased by the editor.
These files may NOT be redistributed without prior written permission
from the author of the work. In almost all cases, work on this CD is
protected by the author's own copyright, but redistribution is
permitted as the author has granted permission to do so. You are only
permitted to redistribute copyrighted files that have such permission
granted by comments or information in the archive.
The list of subdirectories in the \_bbs directory contains all the
subdirectories where all the files are ok. You may mount any of the
files in any of these subdirectories on your BBS. You may not mount
any subdirectories that are not in this list.
The above guidelines should be sufficient to allow you to determine
which files may be redistributed. However, I will explicitly point
out that the version of QPEG on this CDROM is NOT shareware and may
not be redistributed. Also, Dan Farmer's FROSTY image source may not
be redistributed. The same applies to the Graphics Gems subdirectory.
WHAT IS REDISTRIBUTION ?
The term 'redistribution' refers to physically redistributing files
or to making them available for distribution, such as on a bulletin
board system. Most files on this CDROM may be used on a BBS but you
must respect the authors requests in each case. For example, you may
not make QPEG or the Frosty source available for downloading, nor may
you pass it on to third parties. It is your responsibility to ensure
you comply with copyright. The location of a file or its absence of
explicit mention in this document does not imply that it is free to
redistribute.
COLLECTION COPYRIGHT
The entire contents of this CD are protected by collection copyright
and may not be reproduced in whole or significant part without prior
written permission from Walnut Creek CDROM and Christopher J. Cason.
POV-Ray COPYRIGHT
The POV-Ray copyright places specific conditions on how it may be
distributed. Please read POVLEGAL.DOC in the povray/ subdirectory if
you intend redistributing POV-Ray. One of the conditions it places
on distribution is that no CDROM containing POV-Ray may be sold for
more than the equivalent of US$0.10 per megabyte. This means that if
you are reselling this CDROM you may not exceed that price without
violating copyright.
DERIVATIVE WORKS
A 'derivative work' is a work that incorporates portions of some
other person's work. A good example is a POV-Ray scene file that you
create that uses, in full or in part, one of the other scene files on
this CDROM. In most cases, you will not be permitted to distribute
the scene source OR the image that you create with it, unless the
owner of the original file has granted you permission to do so. Most
authors state their policy in the scene source itself. Absence of a
prohibition does not constitute permission. Please keep this in mind
if you modify any scenes here.
WINDOWS WALLPAPER
Note that despite the above, you ARE permitted to take the images in
the windows wallpaper directories and place them on your local area
network so that users may choose wallpaper backgrounds from them.
============================================================================
Where to get POVRAY.
POV-Ray is a free program and may be obtained from a variety of
sources. In particular, many good quality bulletin boards carry it.
It can also be found on Compuserve (GO GRAPHDEV), the Internet
(ftp.povray.org, ftp.uwa.edu.au, alfred.ccs.carleton.ca) and many
other online services. See POVINF.DOC in the povray/ subdirectory for
more details.
============================================================================
GENERAL INFORMATION
When I started this project, I had no comprehension of the amount of
time it would occupy. I wanted to produce a quality product, which
deserved the POV-Ray name. To achieve this, it would not be possible
to take the 'shovel the files on' attitude taken by some CDROM
producers. Each and every file on this CD was individually selected
and catalogued. In many cases, the author of the file had to be
contacted and permission obtained to use it. This is not a trivial
exercise.
In addition to the files obtained from the internet and Compuserve,
many of the files on this CD were contributed specifically for the CD
by the authors. In some cases, non-exclusive rights to use some of
the files were purchased by me from a few authors.
The purpose of this CD was to provide you, the reader, the means to
produce images with POV-Ray, a freeware ray tracer produced by the
POV-Team.
The POV-Team is a group of programmers (including myself) and artists
that spans the world. These people produce and give away free of
charge this superb graphic tool. Look in the images/ directory of
this CDROM to see what can be done with POV-Ray. To put it simply,
it makes it possible for a person with no traditional artistic
ability to produce superb images.
When you purchased this CD, you did not purchase POV-Ray, which - as
I said - is free. In fact, you did not purchase any software. What you
purchased is a collection of files that is designed to allow you to
achieve maximum leverage in using POV-Ray. Of course, POV itself is here,
but so also is a large collection of POV utilities and scene source. I
also added a good range of 3d graphic utilities and source code to allow
those of you who are programmers to create your OWN utilities.
If a file which you use is marked as 'shareware' in the author's
documentation or the executable itself, please comply with the
author's instructions regarding registration if you continue to use
the program.
Enjoy! And, if you come up with what you think is a useful utility or
a very good image, please share them with the world !
Christopher J. Cason.
Perth, Australia.
10 December 1994.
Internet: Chris.Cason@povray.org
Compuserve: INTERNET:Chris.Cason@povray.org
--------------------------------- THANKS ---------------------------
This CDROM could not have happened without the efforts and belief of
many people worldwide. Thanks go to (in no particular order):
David K. Buck
David is the author of the DKBTrace raytracer. David contributed
the DKBTrace code, which formed the basis of POV-Ray.
Chris Young
Chris is the POV-Team leader. He coordinates and also works on the
development of POV and has authored several books on the subject.
Chris devotes a large amount of his time and tremendous energy to the
project.
David Combes.
Dave virtually camped over at my office the last few weeks of the
project. He lugged his 10-ton tower over and hooked it into my
network, where he helped with on the final indexing and arrangements
of the files most evenings and several weekends.
Matthew Kaustinen.
For invaluable logistical support and help with my email. (When I
was accepting contributions from the internet I was receiving an
almost-unmanageable 40 to 50 email messages a day, most of which
required replies). Matt also contributed the desktop scene on the
back of this CD, which was made especially for the purpose. Check out
his superb ELWOOD animation on the CD, too.
Linus Torvalds.
Linus is the author of what has become the Linux operating system.
Linux is a Un*x compatible operating system which aims towards POSIX
compliance. Most of the work done for this CD was done on a 486
running Linux. Like POV-Ray, Linux is free. Also like POV, it is (in
my ever so humble opinion <grin>) as good as or better than many
commercial offerings. Linus also impressed me as one of the few
people I've met who can walk into a Mexican restaurant, order extra-
hot food, and then not choke when he eats it.
Matt Drury.
Of the Go Graphics Group (see the featured/ggg subdirectory.) His
assistance with obtaining permission for the use of many files from
Compuserve is appreciated.
The POV-Team
For moral support and permission to include their copyrighted
program.
All contributors and persons whose work is featured.
For permission to use their work too !
And uncountable other people ...
I can't possibly name you all. You know who you are ... thanks !
---------------------------- About the Editor ----------------------
I'm calling myself an 'editor' rather than an 'author' since my work
was mainly in pulling together all the work that you see here. It was
not a simple task. It has occupied almost all of my spare time the
past four to five months. More than 1000 hours of my time went into
this project, 75% of which was probably administrivia.
I also manage two Internet FTP sites for POV-Ray, ftp.povray.org and
ftp.uwa.edu.au. If you have internet access I suggest you check out
povray.org, it's full of POV goodies. By the time this CD comes out
we hope that our World Wide Web page will be operational. If you use
the WWW check out http://www.povray.org.
I can be contacted via any of the following addresses -
Internet : Chris.Cason@povray.org
Postal : GPO Box 2270,
Canberra, ACT,
Australia 2601.
==========================================================================
Disclaimer:
This CDROM comes with a full money back guarantee. If you are
dissatisfied for any reason, you can return it for a full refund.
Walnut Creek CDROM makes no warranty about any file on this CDROM,
including any written by Walnut Creek. You, not Walnut Creek CDROM,
assume all risk of using any of the files on this CDROM. We reserve
the right to limit any effort on our part to rectify problems with
any file on this CDROM.
==========================================================================
You also need to be aware that we cannot accept any responsibility,
or liability in the event that using the software on this disk causes
you grief, malfunction, data loss or thinning of the hair. As with
any new software, make sure that you back up your system regularly so
that you can recover from unforeseen crashes.
Although we have made every attempt to examine every program on this
disc, some non-shareware or public domain programs may have slipped
by. If you find such a program on this disc, please notify us
immediately so we can rectify the situation. Thanks.
==========================================================================
Walnut Creek CDROM is an approved vendor and associate member of the
Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure
that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to
resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting
the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can
help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does
not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to
the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a
CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.
==========================================================================
All trademarks belong to their respective trademark holders.
Third-Party applications/software/information are copyrighted by
their respective owners.
==========================================================================
This CDROM copyright (c) 1995 Walnut Creek CDROM. All rights reserved.
==========================================================================
This CDROM is unconditionally guaranteed. If you are dissatisfied
for any reason, simply return it with a short note and your contact
information for a full refund.
Walnut Creek CDROM
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Walnut Creek CA 94596
USA
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=============================== README.TXT ==================================