



                POVLAB 4.0

                A fast 3D graphic modeller for POV-Ray
                by Denis Olivier
                All rights reserved, national and international
                Copyright  1994-1996.

                For more information please, contact :

                ChromaGraphics
                Denis Olivier
                58, rue Robert Ballion
                33700 Mrignac
                France

                Fax 1 : (33) 56 47 29 54 (always ready)
                Fax 2 : (33) 46 05 67 43 (always ready)
                Phone : (33) 56 47 29 54
                Internet : dolivier@cyberstation.fr
                Compuserve : >INTERNET:dolivier@cyberstation.fr

                Home page : http://www.cyberstation.fr/~dolivier/povlab.html
                (POVLAB support site and news).
                Gallery                        page                        :
                http://www.cyberstation.fr/~dolivier/author.html   (raytraced
                pictures).

                Persistence of Vision Raytracer (tm).
                POV-Ray and Persistence of Vision Raytracer are trademarks of
                the POV-Ray Development Team.






















                Please, see WHATSNEW.TXT for whats new in this version !
                Read README.TXT before running POVLAB !




       POVLAB - Documentation                                        Page 1





       GENERAL INFORMATION

                POVLAB is a graphic modeller for POV-Ray. Here in Europe,
                many people use POVLAB because   they can make scenes very
                quickly with its intuitive interface. While  everyone cant
                be a Mike Miller, this software includes everything necessary
                to start creating and rendering scenes quickly. When I
                receive a particularly good scene from a user, I include it
                with this package. I work on implementing new functions for
                future updates every day. This software works VERY WELL!


                This documentation was created with Word for Windows 6.0,
                using the Arial, Windings, and Times New Roman fonts.

                Try it out, give it to your friends, and please register.

                If you think that this program is good, tell me. Send me
                textures and scenes youve created with it. I work on it
                everyday. You can find it on Compuserve (go graphdev), and on
                the Internet (povray.org). Share your ideas for features
                youd like to see in future versions with me, and we can
                discuss them.

                Im looking for correspondents (sysops, BBS for raytracing,
                Internet,  Compuserve)  from  all  over  the  world  to  help
                distribute Povlab. If you are interested, please let me know
                who you are!

                Have fun working with POVLAB, and remember, suggestions,
                criticisms, and bug reports are always welcome.



























       POVLAB - Documentation                                        Page 2





       RUNNING POVLAB



       Before Running POVLAB

                There are no ready-made thumbnail textures included with
                POVLAB because of the added size these would take up on the
                distribution disks. To create the textures, use the utility
                MAKETHEM.EXE (included with POVLAB) after youve read the
                .TXT file in the Texture directory.

       Directories


       Image

                Sample image files.

       Hfield

                Includes several TGA and GIF files with which you can create
                height-field objects.

       Maps

                Store GIF, IFF, and TGA files here to use as maps files
                (bump, map, opacity).

       Pattern

                Patterns for a nice, cool interface.

       Plugins

                Examples of how to manage and create plugins. You will find
                some functioning .EXEs, too.

       Povlab

                Default Root directory for POVLAB.
                Documentation, loader, etc.

       Raw

                .RAW objects.

       Scene

                .SCN files (scenes) for Povlab.

       System

                System files, overlays, etc.

       Texture

                Include files, texture thumbnail tiles, and libraries.

       Truetype




       POVLAB - Documentation                                        Page 3





                Truetype font demo files created by Guy Roger.

       Hardware Requirements

                Requires at least a 386 with 4 Mb of memory, a VGA card, and
                a mouse. For adequate performance, you will need to have at
                least a 486 with 8 Mb of memory. Of course, an FPU (floating-
                point unit) is required.
                30 Mb free space on your hard disk  is also recommended.

                SAMPLE boot files. (These files are examples only. If you are
                not CERTAIN of the meaning of each line in each file, get
                someone capable to help with modifying these files !) :

       Config.sys

                DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
                BUFFERS=5,0
                FILES=30
                dos=UMB
                LASTDRIVE=J
                FCBS=16,0
                dos=HIGH
                DEVICE=C:\DOS\MOUSE.SYS
                country=33,,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS
                DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DBLSPACE.SYS /MOVE
                shell=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /e:3072 /p

       Autoexec.bat

                @ECHO OFF
                PATH=C:\GDS;C:\UTIL;C:\DOS;C:\BAT
                VERIFY On
                PROMPT $P$G
                set BLASTER=A220 D1 I5 T1
                set TEMP=C:\TEMP
                set TMP=C:\TEMP
                LH C:\DOS\SMARTDRV 2048 2048 /L (depending on your memory)
                LH C:\DOS\DOSKEY
                LH C:\DOS\KEYB FR,,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS
                LH C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:SONY_000 /L:E /M:10

       Environment for dos

                Adding  this  line  to  your  config.sys  file  will  improve
                POVLABs performance
                shell=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /e:3072 /p

                If you want to run POVLAB from a DOS prompt, add its path to
                the environment variable PATH in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

                Add a small (512kb) SMARTDRV cache if you have less than 8 Mb
                RAM.







       POVLAB - Documentation                                        Page 4





                Set the DOS option VERIFY to ON. This is not just for
                POVLAB-
                       -
                       -it will be better for your disks in general (just
                type VERIFY on the command line to see if it is ON or OFF).

                Please, add C:\POVLAB to your PATH variable, in AUTOEXEC.BAT

       Using POVLAB and Windows 95

                With the following exceptions, there are no known problems
                running POVLAB under Windows 95. First, you can run it from a
                shell from the DOS command line, but only in a full-screen
                mode (because of the graphic interface). Second, on some
                graphic cards, Windows 95 will close the POVLAB session when
                you are swapping from one application to another, so you
                should be carefull and test it before working with it a lot.

       Running POVLAB

                Type POVLAB on the command line to run POVLAB and create a
                new scene called NONAME.SCN.

                or

                type POVLAB [path\]scene_name[.scn] to run POVLAB and load a
                previously created scene.

                If the specified scene does not exist, POVLAB will create a
                new, blank scene with that name.

       POV-Ray and POVLAB

                POVLAB works with either POV-Ray 2.2 or FTP 2.2. If you want
                to include .INC files, such as COLORS.INC and TEXTURES.INC,
                add the environment variable POVRAYOPT to your AUTOEXEC.BAT,
                or add the full path in the .INC library file.

                Example :

                If  the  files  you  want  to  include  are  in  the  path
                C:\POVRAY\INCLUDE,   add   the   following   line   to   your
                AUTOEXEC.BAT :

                set POVRAYOPT=-lc:\povray\include

                There are many compiled versions of POV-Ray available. The
                WATCOM version, called IBMWAT386, is preferred because it
                uses the same DOS extenders for both POV-Ray and POVLAB.
                There are sometimes conflicts in accessing memory when a
                different VMM has been used.

       WINPOV and POVLAB

                The Windows version of POV-Ray by Chris Cason works well with
                POVLAB. POVLAB will automatically look for PVENGINE.EXE in
                the specified directory and write a POVLAB.INI file for it
                (POVLAB.DEF file for POV-Ray dos version). In this version,




       POVLAB - Documentation                                        Page 5





                theres a pause when re-entering POVLAB after a rendering
                because some graphic cards have a problem automatically
                restoring POVLABs graphic interface.

       Memory with POVLAB

                POVLAB  is  compiled  with  the  Watcom  10.0a  C/C++  32-bit
                compiler, with options to make it run better on a Pentium,
                but it works normally on a 386. It uses a DOS-extender (VMM,
                or Virtual Memory Manager) called DOS4GW.EXE, and can manage
                virtual memory (up to 32 Mb).

                When you run POVLAB, it automatically configures VMM with 16
                Mb of virtual memory. There are two ways to change this
                setting :

                - Type POVLAB [scene[.scn]] /novm

                This deactivates the VMM, and just uses the physical memory
                you have (RAM).

                - edit the file MODELLER.MEM, and modify the parameters to
                match your requirements. Please refer to the DOS4GW.DOC file.

                Please refer to the OBJECTS section, where I explain how
                memory and object allocations work.

       Trouble-shooting Common Problems

                If POVLAB doesnt run properly, please check your computer
                for the following:

                - POVLAB works best with  8 Mb of memory or more, so make
                sure you have enough RAM (sorry, I am doing my best to save
                memory space...).

                - Make another config.sys and comment out SHARE.EXE and
                EMM386.EXE.  Sometimes there are confilcts with those TSRs.

                - Be sure not to run Windows 3.x or 95, or for Windows 95,
                boot for a full DOS session (POVLAB can run under Windows
                3.x, but I cant support any problems you encounter).

                - POVLAB needs some additional disk space for the disk
                extender. You need approximately 5 Mb more than the size
                specified in MODELLER.MEM in the section  virtualsize .

                - If you have less than 8 Mb of physical memory, dont add
                values  that  are  too  high  to  maxmim  and  maxmem  in
                MODELLER.MEM. The best values are 512 and 2048.

                - Be sure you have your VESA tsr loaded (version 1.2), or use
                a universal VESA driver, such as UNIVESA or UNIVBE. There are
                some problems with Matrox graphics cards. If someone could
                help me...




       POVLAB - Documentation                                        Page 6






                - If you have an ATI MACH 64 graphic card, there are problems
                with 640x480x256 mode. Edit the file SYSTEM\MODELLER.CFG and
                try changing the following parameters :

                GraphicMode=640     to  GraphicMode=800    (if  your  card
                supports 800x600)

                or

                PaletteInterface=256to  PaletteInterface=16

                This configures POVLAB in standard VGA graphics mode.

                - If you have problems with the mouse, make sure the driver
                is not too old. Sometimes problems arise in 640x480x256 mode
                with the Microsoft mouse driver v8.20. Try to find version
                9.x. Logitech mouse drivers work normally. Sometimes, putting
                your mouse driver as the last driver in your CONFIG.SYS or
                AUTOEXEC.BAT will fix the problem.

                - Inhibit virtual memory :

                Run POVLAB with the parameter /NOVM as the last parameter on
                the command line, but be sure that you have enough memory-
                                                                          -
                                                                           - 8
                Mb MINIMUM.

       Using a log file

                If you have other problems running POVLAB, send me the log
                file  created  by  POVLAB.  To  create  a  log  file,  change
                DebugMode= to equal 1 in the file MODELLER.CFG. Restart
                POVLAB and play with your scene until you encounter the
                problem, then quit. The POVLAB.LOG file will be created in
                the POVLAB root directory.

                To get more information about your system, please use a
                diagnostic program that can output a text file describing
                your  system  configuration,  like  Microsoft  Diagnostic
                (MDS.EXE). Generate a set of system report files and compress
                them with Pkzip, as follows:

                pkzip -exa plab_log.zip povlab.log report.txt

                Then send them to me via e-mail or postal mail.
                With these file I will have more information about your
                computer, and can more easily solve your problems.











       POVLAB - Documentation                                        Page 7





       INTERFACE


                POVLAB uses the mouses left button to validate, and the
                right button to escape. You can also use ENTER to validate
                and ESC to escape. To access menus, move the mouse to the top
                of the screen, and then click on the menu you want.

       Axes

                In POVLAB, the positive Y axis points up, the positive X axis
                points to the right, and the positive Z axis points INTO the
                screen (the same as POVRay).

       Bottom Toolbar Buttons


       General information

                These buttons allow you to center, zoom, and move in the
                scene without altering the objects.
                This is great for working in the 3D universe, and for making
                better scene compositions.

       Zooming out button (-)

                Zooms out the viewport. Use ALT to zoom out all viewports.

       Zooming in button (+)

                Opposite of the zoom-out function.

       Recentering button

                Recenters the scene based on all objects (except for ignored
                objects) in the current viewport-
                                                 -
                                                 - use ALT for all viewports.
                Cameras and light sources are considered objects in this
                case. If you dont want to use them in this function, hide
                them.

       Zooming in a selected area

                Zoom in on an area in the selected viewport that you have
                selected with the mouse..

       Translating scene in viewport

                Translate the scene to another area in the selected viewport.

       Full screen button (TOGGLE)

                With this function, you can obtain a full-screen display of
                the current viewport. Its very useful for doing accurate
                work. When you are finished with full-screen mode, click on
                this button again to display all four viewports.

       Refresh the viewport (blue arrow)






       POVLAB - Documentation                                        Page 8





                Refresh  the  viewport-
                                        -
                                        -  holding  ALT  displays  all  the
                viewports.

       Saving session button (floppy)

                Save the scene.

       Fast rendering button (eye)

                You can use this feature to run a render session quickly. If
                you want specific parameters for rendering, prepare them in
                the  parameters  dialog box, and then render the scene with
                this button as many times as you want.

       Translate object

                Allows you to enter translation parameters for an object
                directly from the keyboard. There are two options. The first
                (set) places the object at this new point.  The second (add)
                adds these values to the position of the currently  selected
                object(s).

       Rotate object

                Works the same as for translate, but rotates the object
                instead of translating it.

       Scale object

                Works the same as for translate, but scales the object
                instead of translating it.

       Modifying object button (?)

                Click on this button and then on an object-
                                                           -
                                                            -a dialog box will
                be displayed allowing you to enter coordinates for the
                selected object. You can modify other parameters, like the
                objects name, or for some objects (e.g., blobs), specific
                parameters.

       Bottom Parameter Bar


       General information

                This bar is located at the bottom of the screen, and shows
                you states of the following variables, as shown below :

                00000 00000 00 00 00 CL00 C00 0000Mb 640x480 FILE.SCN 00
                [TEXTURE]

                In order :

                Number of objects in the scene.
                Number of selected objects.
                Number of omnilights in the scene.
                Number of spotlights in the scene.
                Number of arealights in the scene.




       POVLAB - Documentation                                        Page 9





                Number of cylindrical lights in the scene.
                Number of cameras in the scene.
                Free memory (physical + virtual).
                Screen resolution in pixels.
                Current scene name.
                Number of raw objects in the scene.
                Current texture name.

       Objects in POVLAB

                POVLAB supports the following object primitives, as described
                bellow :

                Sphere                               Quarter  of  tube  (1/4
                Cube (box)                           torus) *
                Cylinder                             Pyramid
                Tube *                               Prism
                Ring *                               X-Plane
                Torus *                              Y-Plane
                Cone                                 Z-Plane
                Truncated cone *                     Disk *
                Raw objects                          Blob    (spheres    and
                Hemisphere (1/2 sphere)              cylinders)
                Quarter of torus (1/4             Heightfield
                torus) *                             Extrusion
                                                     B-Spline paths *

                All objects are scaled to a 2-unit cube when they are
                created.

                * These objects are constructed in the viewport, and are not
                scaled to a 2-unit cube.


























       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 10





       TOP MENU


                Where necessary, I explain some of the important details
                about  a  given  function.  I  have  intentionally  omitted
                explanations for some functions where it is obvious how to
                use them.
                If you find that something needs to be better explained,
                please let me know  so that I can explain it better in
                future versions of the documentation.

       General


       Environment

                Specify :
                Path to POV-Ray.
                Path for the  output .POV files created by POVLAB.
                Path for the  output pictures generated by a renderer.
                Path to POVLAB.TEX. You need to modify this path if you have
                not installed POVLAB in the root of the C: drive.
                Path for your own graphics viewer (POVLAB leaves  2 Kb  in
                memory when in use ).
                Check box to use (or not) WINPOV (only for Windows 95 users,
                not tested on other operating systems).

       Memory

                See parameters in the file DOS4GW.DOC, or in the MEMORY
                section.

       Microsoft mouse

                If  your  mouse  driver  is  too  old,  you  may  experience
                problems. This feature deactivates some recent functions
                that your driver may not support.

       Configure mouse

                Add a function to the right mouse button.

       Run image viewer

                Run your preferred image viewer.

       Run scene viewer

                Run a text viewer to see the POV script generated by POVLAB.
                The best utility to use is
                README.COM from Borland, a little utility that can read text
                files of any size.

       MS-DOS

                Shell to DOS.

       Quit




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 11





                Exit to DOS.

       File


       New

                Delete all objects, cameras, and lights, but don't change
                the name of the scene.

       Rename

                Rename the scene if you want to save it under another
                filename.

       Load

                Select a new scene and load it into memory.

       Save

                Save the current scene to disk.

       Save when exit

                Save the current scene when exiting POVLAB.

       -> .POV

                Generate the script for POV-Ray without rendering the scene.

       Set output tab

                Select the number of spaces you want when indenting lines of
                code in  .POV scripts created by POVLAB.

       Display


       Redraw viewport

                Redraw the current viewport.

       Redraw all viewports

                Redraw all viewports.

       Display axes

                Display/hide the axes in the viewports. (TOGGLE)

       Display grid

                Display/hide the grid in the viewports. (TOGGLE)
                You can't snap to the grid when it is hidden.

       Normal display

                Display objects normally (complex wireframe).

       Fast display




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 12





                Display objects quickly,  with just one or two segments per
                face.

       Cubic display

                Display only the bounding boxes of objects.

       Mesh precision

                Can display more or fewer faces for tori  and height-fields.
                Important: the greater the number of faces, the more time
                and memory is required to generate the display.

       Image control

                You can choose between three types of display dithering when
                reviewing the last rendered image; none (with beautiful
                Match bands !), ordered (fast, and good for previewing), and
                random noise (if you have a fast processor). The better the
                quality, the more time it takes to render....

       Interface


       General information

                Parameters for the graphic environment. Nothing to explain;
                this is very simple to use.

       Tools


       General information

                Power tools to generate objects. The extruder generates a
                triangle as a polygonal shape (like raw objects).

       Copy by translation


       Copy by rotation


       Extruder


       Object align


       Make 3D fonts

                Some fonts dont work with the parser, so please be careful
                of strange Truetype fonts. It is best to use the ones
                distributed with Windows (from Microsoft), because they have
                good font metrics.

                POVLAB is only able to accept words or individual letters,
                spaces are illegal characters.  To construct a sentence or a
                phrase you will need to enter each word separately and place
                them separately.




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 13





       Load Plugins

                This new feature is very powerful, especially for creating
                complex shapes.

                If you dont want to create a Plugin, you dont need to read
                the rest of this section. To use Plugins, click on the .EXE
                for the Plugin you want, fill out the parameter box, and
                wait for the process to be completed.

                Lets see how it works.

                While POVLAB is running, you can shell to DOS, run another
                program, and then come back to the modeller. Plugins are
                used a little differently. You can call a Plugin (an
                external .EXE file) from the POVLAB interface, ask it to
                send some graphic data to POVLABs interface, and the Plugin
                creates a dialog box for all the parameters you need.

                POVLAB displays the dialog box and lets you enter what you
                want, just as if you were in POVLAB (inline help, buttons,
                radios, cases, ....). Actually, you are still in POVLAB, but
                the dialog box has been created by the external Plugin. Ok
                so far?...

                Finally, click on the  ok  button and POVLAB will spawn
                the external Plugin. Now the Plugin is controlling the
                machine, while POVLAB waits for it to return the result.
                After the external process has finished, POVLAB checks the
                directory to see if a special scene has been created. If it
                has, it loads this file, just like a merge. (CAUTION: this
                object will be inserted into the existing scene!)

                Now, lets look at it again in more detail. First, you need
                to create a program with whichever compiler you want. For
                example, Borland C/C++ 3.1 or Watcom 16 C/C++. You can work
                in another language, such as Pascal, Fortran or BASIC, but
                you need to respect the following conditions:

                This program will not switch the processor to real mode
                (like PowerBASIC 2.10f, which I use). Try not to call
                expanded/extended memory. It must be compatible with the
                next procedure call. As an example, Ive included the source
                code for a small program written in Borland C that generates
                a 3D grid. Check it before running your own !

                The calling procedure, step by step :

                First, POVLAB runs the program with the argument  /ASK .
                This asks the external process to produce a file containing
                a set of commands describing parameters needed for the
                Plugin to work.  POVLAB will read this and create a dialogue
                box for the user to fill in within POVLAB.





       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 14





                TITLE : text_with_underscore_for_spaces
                The main title for the program, which is displayed in the
                dialog box.
                Theres one title, so its not available in the command
                list.

                COPYRIGHT : text_with_underscore_for_spaces
                Copyright for the process. Show it in the dialog box too.
                Theres one copyright, so its not available in the command
                list.

                WINDOW : X Y
                Width and height for the window. The window is displayed at
                the center of the four viewports. With X equal to 200, your
                window will extend from centerX-200 to centerX+200, making
                it 400 pixels wide. It works the same way for Y.
                Theres one window, so its not available in the command
                list.
                Attention : remember to design it for a 640x480 interface.

                TEXTZONE : X Y Label_text N Help_text
                Display a text zone where you can enter some parameters.
                X is for the left-right position, Y for the top-bottom one.
                They refer to the top-left corner of the dialog box.
                Label_text identifies what you need to enter. N for the
                initial parameter and Help_text for the inline help.
                With this command you just enter numbers, such as floats or
                integers.

                RADIO : X Y Label_text Bool Help_text Group
                Tells POVLAB to begin a radio case sequence. The first three
                parameters are all the same as TEXTZONE. Bool tells if the
                radio is checked or not. Help_text is like TEXTZONE and
                Group tells us which group of radios we are in. When POVLAB
                recognizes the keyword  RADIO , it first sees if theres
                already a group created with the number Group. If not, it
                creates it; if yes, it appends the new entry to the
                sequence. You can create eight groups of any entries you
                want but there wont be more entries than the maximum number
                of  commands  allowed.  Bool  initializes  the  entry  to  1
                (checked) or 0. In this type of command, you can only have
                one entry checked, because there is only one choice per
                group at one time. Checking two entries doesnt do anything.
                In this case, use the CASE keyword.

                CASE : X Y Label_text Bool Help_text
                The same as for the command parameters. With this command,
                you can either check the case or not; one case for one
                choice.

                MESSAGE : Message_text
                Send  a  message  to  the  bottom  line  parameter  of  the
                interface.





       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 15





                You can send just one message per data file. If you sendmore
                than one, the first message will be erased. Its not
                available in the command list.

                END :
                Show its the end of the script. Its not available in the
                command list.

                Okay, thats done. No more commands for now !

                All the spaces in the text for labels and help must be
                replaced by an underscore. Very important! The file you will
                generate needs to have the .PLG extension, and needs to have
                the same name as the executable.

                Now, POVLAB will send all the commands that you have already
                described.  They will be sent in the order they arrived in
                the data file. The following example is ffrom GRID3D.C, with
                entries modified a little bit for clarity:

                fprintf(Fichier,"TITLE: GRID_3D_1.0\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"COPYRIGHT:   Copyright_Denis_Olivier_1995_-
                _All_rights_reserved.\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"WINDOW: 410 180\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"TEXTZONE:    83    60  Width_of_Array  5
                Width_of_the_object's_array\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"TEXTZONE:    83    80  Height_of_Array  3
                Height_of_the_object's_array\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"TEXTZONE:    83  100  Depth_of_Array  7
                Depth_of_the_object's_array\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"TEXTZONE:    240        60    Nb_Width    2
                Nb_of_objects_in_Width\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"TEXTZONE:   240      80   Nb_Height   3
                Nb_of_objects_in_Height\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"TEXTZONE:    240    100    Nb_Depth    4
                Nb_of_objects_in_Depth\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"TEXTZONE:      83   130   Object_size   0.2
                Scale_for_object_(X-Y-Z)\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"RADIO: 345  60 Cube 1 Generate_cubes 1\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"RADIO: 345  80 Sphere 0 Generate_spheres
                1\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"RADIO:     345     100     Cylinder     0
                Generate_cylinders 1\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"CASE:      240      125      Pause      1
                Pause_after_computed\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"MESSAGE: The_array_begin_in_<0,0,0>\n");
                fprintf(Fichier,"END:\n");

                In this example, the parameters will be returned by POVLAB
                in order, unless the initial entries are changed:

                5 3 7 2 3 4 0.2 1 1






       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 16





                This corresponds to 7 text zones, 1 return of 3 radio
                buttons and 1 case.
                The float is formatted to send 5 decimal values by POVLAB.

                Now, you just need to read the command line parameters and
                compute the shape.

                The last thing to do is to generate a scene file. Like the
                .PLG file, it needs to have the .INC extension and the same
                name as the executable. You need to know the description for
                the .SCN file. This is described in detail in another
                chapter. After you have generated your include file and quit
                the process, POVLAB will load the .INC file, and remove all
                the temp files you have created (.PLG and .INC).

                To make it easier, Ive added a small library to the Plugins
                directory  that  sends  the  output  of  your  calculations
                directly to a file, without knowing what it does. It all
                files with the PLUGINS name (a .H and a .C file). Check all
                the samples done with this library and the other ones made
                by several users.

                No more for now !

       Create a B-Spline paths

                This interesting feature lets you create smoothed objects
                along a path. For example, you can use the draw function to
                draw  a  worm-like  shape.  Each  key  vertex  contains  a
                description of a sphere, with a radius. Smooth connections
                are made between these points, connected by tangent cones.
                The more the curve is subdivided, the smoother it will be..

       Edit B-Spline

                You can edit some of the B-spline parameters, such as the
                polynomial degree and the number of subdivisions between
                each control point.
                Play with the degree value to change the tension and
                vertices fitting.

       Move vertex on B-Spline

                Move a vertex in 3D, to create some incredible shapes.

       Delete vertex on B-Spline

                Delete a vertex in 3D.

       Add vertex on B-Spline

                Add a vertex between two others.

       Edit vertex on B-Spline

                Edit the diameter of the sphere in one key vertex.





       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 17





       Smooth vertices

                Smooth vertices between the two end vertices. In fact, the
                radius of the spheres are used
                to approximate each other between the first and the last
                point.

       Objects


       General information

                Use this menu to create objects. It is very simple to use.
                The last object created will be shown after the objects
                name. You can have up to 20,000 objects simultaneously in
                POVLAB. I think its a lot, but you can still get an  out
                of memory  error, if theres no memory left. In this case,
                try adding more virtual memory.
                You should also know that each object isnt initialized when
                POVLAB first runs. So, for 20,000 objects, POVLAB needs
                20,000x4 bytes (40 Kb) to prepare the array. But each object
                you allocate afterward will take more memory (when you are
                running POVLAB, a line  Allocate n bytes per object  shows
                you how much memory each object requires). Here, it really
                allocates n bytes so, if you get a memory error, find out
                how much memory all the objects you have in your scene need
                by calcualting n bytes multiplied by the number of objects.

                By default, POVLAB pre-allocates 16 Mb of virtual memory.
                With 20,000 objects allocated, you will use up 9 Mb of this
                memory. Keep in mind that you need to allocate space for
                triangles (raw objects, heightfields) too. If you change the
                amount of virtual memory, be careful !

       Raw objects

                The RAW format supported by POVLAB is :

                OBJECT_NAME
                X1 Y1 Z1   X2 Y2 Z2   X3 Y3 Z3
                ...

                With Xn, Yn, Zn for each vertex facet (triangle). Refer to
                the examples in the RAW directory.


       Height-field

                First, load a GIF or Targa (TGA) file. You can adjust the
                mesh tension if you want, but do this before you load an
                image file. It will take too much time to read the image
                file again and recompute the heightfield shape before it  is
                displayed.

                You will find the water_level keyword in the  ?  button,
                and then  parameters .




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 18






                Be careful! POVLAB doesn't support the GIF89a file format.
                By default, Fractint creates its GIF files in the GIF89a
                format. Please see Fractint's documentation about how to
                change this.





















































       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 19





       TOOL BAR BUTTON ON LEFT/RIGHT



       Camera Button


       General information

                Theres nothing very important to say here, except that you
                can manage up to 10 cameras per scene with the registered
                version of POVLAB. The camera you select with the select
                tools will become the current one.
                For some features, such as focal blur one, please refer to
                the POV-Ray documentation for a more complete explanation.

       Light Button


       General information

                There are three types of lights in POVLAB; spotlight,
                omnilight, and arealight.

                Spotlight and omnilight are easy to understand, but further
                explanation of how an arealight works may be helpful to you.

                The implementation may seem strange, but it works well. The
                area in arealight (in POVLAB, not POV-Ray) corresponds to a
                radius. When generating a scene for POV-Ray, the arealight
                will be R=radius : <-R,-R,-R> <R,R,R>. The parameter soft
                equals the number of lights you want between -R and +R.

                For advanced features, such as atmosphere, please refer to
                the POV-Ray documentation for a better explanation of their
                use.


       Material Button


       General information

                Managing textures is very simple. You need at least two
                files; one for the textures name (i.e., POVLAB.TEX), while
                the other is a simple POV-Ray .INC file (i.e., POVLAB.INC)
                where you declare textures as you usually do with POV-Ray.

                You can manage up to 300 textures per library. The current
                texture is displayed on the bottom-right of the screen.

       Texture files

                When you download POVLAB for the first time, you must have
                the following two files: POVLAB.TEX and POVLAB.INC. The
                first line of POVLAB.TEX  contains the path to POVLAB.INC
                (e.g.,   C:\POVLAB\TEXTURE\POVLAB.INC).   If   you   havent
                installed POVLAB on drive C:, you must change this line to




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 20





                match your installation drive. The rest of the file contains
                entries for each texture, each with two arguments. The first
                is the name of the texture, as described in the file
                POVLAB.INC. The second argument is the path to access the
                tiles so that the texture can be shown in the modeller.

                Example :

                PATH_TO_ACCESS_INCLUDE_FILE
                texture1       path_to_texture_1       // comments...
                texture2       path_to_texture_2       // comments...
                texture3       path_to_texture_3       // comments...
                ... ...

       Graphic tiles

                The files for graphic tiles are in GIF87a format, so you can
                manage you own library very easily in POVLAB. Just render
                all the textures you want in 100x100x256c pixels, and then
                convert them with an image processor, like Image Alchemy
                (preferred), Piclab, PhotoStyler, etc. You will need to use
                the palette file PALETTE.PAL to convert between TGA and GIF
                formats, or all colors will be off when you see the textures
                in the modeller.

                If you are using Image Alchemy:

                alchemy -fPALETTE.PAL -g TILE.TGA [TILE.GIF]

                If you are using Piclab, enter the following parameters on
                the command line :

                tload TILE.TGA
                pread PALETTE.PAL
                set dither on
                makepal
                map
                tsave TILE.GIF

                You need to delete the first two lines in PALETTE.PAL to use
                this file with Piclab.

                Then, just add the textures names and the path to access
                them  in  POVLAB.TEX,  and  the  texture  description  in
                POVLAB.INC.

       Texture button

                Shows the textures in POVLAB.TEX. Just click on the texture
                you want and assign it to your object or selection. You
                cant see graphic tiles in 16 color mode.

       Acquire button

                Acquire a texture from an object, and make it current.




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 21





       Assign button

                Assign the current texture to an object or selection (more
                than one object).

       Rotate button

                Rotate the texture on the object(s) from -180 to 180.

       Finish button

                Allow the user to specify finish specifications (such as
                phong, refraction, reflection, etc.). This can affect a
                single object, or the current selection of objects.

       Mapping

                Choose a mapping in .GIF, .TGA or .PNG format.
                The mapping will be placed in the X/Y dimension first, the
                ratio will be the same as for the picture.

       Setup

                This is the setup for the mapping texture.
                Note that the mapping will be represented with a cube when
                you modify it (with scale, rotation or translate), and the
                mapped face will have a little line in the upper left corner
                to indicate the origin of the picture (upper left too).

       Selection Button


       General information

                Selection groups objects so that you can perform operations
                on them.

                If Select is checked, then any changes made to one of the
                objects selected is passed onto all other obects.

                If you have a group of objects selected without the Select
                case being checked, the operation only affect a single
                object.

       Inverse

                Reverses the Select option. (TOGGLE)

       Area

                Select all objects that are completely within the bounding
                area defined by the mouse.

       Color

                Change the Selections color, whether single or multiple
                objects are selected.

       By names




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 22





                Select objects by their name. You can select them with the
                mouse, with the spacebar, or the   all  button . A mark
                appears next to the selected name. You can click again to
                deselect it. In the text area  name , you can specify
                directly the names matching the object, with or without
                wildcards  ?  and  * . The syntax is like a DOS command.
                Example :

                If you want to select all the objects beginning with
                 Sphere , then enter the argument  Sphere* 

       Parameters

                You can modify some parameters for all the selected objects.
                This is especially useful in cases where it would take a
                long time to change the parameters individually for each
                object.

       Render Button


       General information

                For more detailed information about specific parameters,
                please refer to the documentation given with POV-Ray.
                Just before rendering, POVLAB asks you whether you wish to
                save the scene. If the menu item  Save when exit  is
                checked, then this is automatic.

                There are four quick modes tfor rendering an image. Preview,
                quick, optimum, and region. They generate, respectively, a
                128x96,  320x240,  640x480,  or  a  user-defined  size  (in
                pixels), as a non-anti-aliased TGA image file.

       Final

                This is where you specify parameters for rendering an image.
                All of these parameters are described in the official POV-
                Ray documentation.

       Region

                Allows you to render a selected region of the cameras
                viewport.

       Background

                Defines the background color for the raytraced picture. You
                can specify one of up to 16M colors (in 24-bit mode).

       Palette

                Allows you to change the palette option for POV-Ray (option
                +d?x, where x is the palette option).

       Video





       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 23





                Forces POV-Ray to render in a specific video card or graphic
                mode.

       View last

                View the last rendered image. If the size of the image is
                larger than the display setting, then it will be scaled. You
                can  view  it  with  one  of  three  dithering  types.  See
                 dithering type  for more information.

       Setup

                Specify special keywords for the global settings in a POV-
                Ray render.

       Modify Button


       Rotate

                Rotate  the  object  or  selection  between  -180  and  +180
                degrees.

       2D scale

                Scale the object or selection along one or two axes (TAB to
                change direction, ENTER to change axis).

       Move

                Translate the object or selection from its current position
                to another (TAB to change direction).

       Copy

                Works like the move function, but duplicates the object or
                selection (left mouse button).

       Delete

                Delete an object or selection.

       Center XYZ

                Place the object at  X=0, Y=0, and Z=0.

       Reinit.

                Restore  the  objects  default  parameters,  except  the
                translate vector for object and texture.

       Manual

                Allows you to enter parameters for the three vectors, scale,
                translate, and rotate, as well as for the object and
                textures.

       Color





       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 24





                Change the objects color. This is very useful when you want
                to group several objects by color to differentiate them from
                other objects.

       Smooth

                Works with raw objects only. Allows you to alternate the
                appearance of facets between smoothed and flat triangles
                (i.e., a diamond cannot be smoothed), or just for a special
                effect.

       Display Button


       General information

                This  allows  you  to  display  or  hide  some  objects  or
                selections. This provides a good way to reduce the number of
                objects visible in the viewports. You can render just the
                objects  that  are  shown.  Hidden  objects  cannot  be
                manipulated,  selected, or deleted.

       Object

                Hide an object. The object remains in the scene, but you
                cant see it. Remember, hidden objects wont be generated by
                POVLAB in the output file, or rendered through the display
                buttons, so dont forget to unhide them before running a
                final render.

       None

                Hide all objects in the current scene.

       All

                Show all objects hidden by the None command.

       Inverse

                Hide all objects you can see, and show currently hidden
                objects. (TOGGLE)

       Normal, quick and cubic

                Show objects with different appearence settings. Normal
                shows all triangles, quick only displays one or two segments
                per face, cubic is just a bounding box around the object
                (object is not visible within the box). In this way, you can
                display complex objects more quickly (e.g., raw objects).

       Freeze

                Freeze an object. You can see it, but cannot perform
                operations on it. Great for making a background for placing
                other objects. To use the feature, select Freeze and then
                click on an object. To unfreeze, repeat.





       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 25





       Ignore

                You can ignore an object when re-centering wiewports. When
                you create very large objects, like sea or clouds, its very
                useful to be able to ignore them, since the focus of the
                scene is usually very small in comparison.

       CSG Button


       General information

                POVLAB  handles  four  Constructive  Solid  Geometry  (CSG)
                boolean operations; union, intersection, difference, and
                merge.

       How does it work ?

                It is very simple. You click on the boolean operation you
                want, then on the root object on which all further objects
                will operate,  then on the object that will perform the  CSG
                operation (operator) on the root object of the CSG.

                Example: we have the root  object (OBJECTS1), the type of
                operation you need, and the operator object (OBJECTS2).
                All operators (OBJECTS2) appear as dashed lines.

       Very important !

                Root objects (OBJECTS1) can have as many CSG operators
                (OBJECTS2) as you want associated with them, but you cant
                perform CSG operations on an operator (OBJECTS2).

       Difference, union, intersection, merge buttons

                Performs boolean operations on objects.

       Remove CSG

                Delete a boolean operation (does not delete the object).

       Show, hide

                Show or hide a boolean operator in the scene (works with
                selection too).

















       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 26





       KEYBOARD ASSIGNMENTS


                A : Redraw all viewports
                C : Re-center current viewport
                R : Redraw the current viewport
                O : Show object's dialog box
                T : Show texture dialog box
                1/2/3 : Change view front/left/top in full screen

                + : Zoom into current viewport
                - : Zoom out current viewport
                Space : Use selection
                Up/down : Move scene to up/down
                Left/right : Move scene to left/right

                Alt-A : Qelect all objects
                Alt-B : Box display
                Alt-C : Hide/show camera(s)
                Alt-F : Fast dislpay
                Alt-H : Show this help screen
                Alt-L : Hide/show light(s)
                Alt-N : Normal display
                Alt-R : View last image
                Alt-S : Save the scene on disk
                Alt-U : Deselect all objects
                Alt-X : Quit POVLAB

                Alt-F1 : Align objects
                Alt-F4 : Quit POVLAB

                F1 : Shell to MS-DOS
                F2 : Run picture viewer

























       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 27





       MANAGING TEXTURES



       Generalities

                This file describes how to manage textures with the new
                utilities.   For   more   information,   please   read   the
                documentation POVLAB.DOC.

                The textures are described by 2 files, POVLAB.TEX and
                POVLAB.INC.
                The  first  contains  library  assignments  for  both  the
                texture's name and the thumbnail's name. POVLAB.INC is a
                POV-Ray filelike  TEXTURES.INC.

                I've  written  2  utilities  to  help  manage  the  textures
                library.
                MAKETHEM.EXE  is  the  program  that  actually  manages  the
                library.
                TGAVGIF.EXE is a program to convert TGA files to 8 bits GIF
                files, with good color reduction and dithering. You can use
                it for other images besides texture thumbnails.
                It needs DOS4GW.EXE in the path to run.

                Here is how to render each thumbnails for unallocated
                textures names.
                Go to the POVLAB\TEXTURE path and run MAKETHEM.EXE

                You will see :

                        MAKE   THEM   ALL   release   1.0,   (C)   Copyright
                ChromaGraphics, 1994-1996.
                        Texture library maker and manager for POVLAB.
                        All rights reserved, (R) Denis Olivier - Feb 29
                1996.

                            Syntax : makethem [option(s)]

                            -Ppath  :  specify  path  for  POV-Ray  (default
                current)
                            -Ipath  :  specify  file  library.TEX  (default
                POVLAB.TEX)
                            -D     : display while rendering (+d0)
                            -F     : enable Faster Than POV-Ray speedup
                options (2.2 only)
                            -A     : use antialiasing rendering option
                (+a0.3)
                            -?     : syntax and help screen

                            Example     :     makethem     -pc:\povray     -
                ic:\povlab\povlab.tex

                -P : to tell the program where POV-Ray  is(just the path)
                -I : choose one texture library for POVLAB.




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 28





                -D : display the rendering image while computing
                -F : only for POV-Ray 2.2 users
                -A : use antialiasing for better display


       Command line

                If POV-Ray is in the path and you want to add new thumbnails
                to your POVLAB.TEX, just enter "makethem" on the dos prompt.


       When POV-Ray isn't in the path

                type "makethem -pc:\povray".
                Here POV-Ray dir is C:\POVRAY


       How it works

                First, MAKETHEM will read the POVLAB.TEX file (or the one
                you've specified) and check for unallocated texture names.
                Then it prepares a .POV file, sends it to POV-Ray, and
                converts it into .GIF format with TGAVGIF.EXE.
                If you stop the rendering before the TGA file is complete no
                .GIF file will be created.


       Name the texture thumbnails

                MAKETHEM will automatically assign new names to textures
                thumbnails.
                The prefix is TEX, followed by 4 digits (e.g., 0000), and
                then .TGA or .GIF.
                You can have up to  9999 files.
                MAKTHEM will check when it finds an unallocated texture name
                whether TEX0000.TGA exists, and if it does will continue to
                check for TEX0001.TGA, TEX0002.TGA, etc. until it finds an
                unallocated name.


       Assign names and thumbnails together

                When  MAKETHEM  has  finished,  it  generates  the  file
                MAKETHEM.LOG, which has a similar structure to POVLAB.TEX,
                with names and thumbnails associated.
                You can edit the file POVLAB.TEX , add the match the new
                thumbnails file to their respective names, and then remove
                the .TGA files.


       Options used in MAKETHEM for POV-Ray and TGAVGIF

                POV-Ray : -iTEXTURE.POV -oTEX????.TGA +ft +w100 +h100 +v
                +mb2 +a +x
                TGAVGIF : TEX???? /f /i






       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 29





                Be carefull : TGAVGIF needs the DOS4GW.EXE extender to work
                properly.
                So put the directory where the dos extender can be found in
                the path (DOS, for example)


       FONT LIST




       POVLAB contains also TrueType fonts


                  - Balcco Bold
                  - Candle Bold
                  - Candle Bold Italique
                  - Cargo Bold
                  - Dekko
                  - Inca
                  - Sleed Medium
                  - Wire Book.

                The shareware versions of BALCCO BOLD, CANDLE BOLD, CARGO
                MEDIUM, SLEED MEDIUM
                and WIRE BOOK are without accentued chars. The complete
                versions can be
                found at the adress at the end of this text.


       Copyright

                BALCCO BOLD, CANDLE BOLD, CARGO MEDIUM, DEKKO, INCA, SLEED
                MEDIUM and
                WIRE BOOK are copyrighted by Guy ROGER. When you acquire the
                original
                disk version of these fonts, you can only use them on one
                computer at
                one time. You can only use them in personal, commercial or
                publicy documents,
                only made on your computer.

                All rights are retained by the author and are protected
                under French laws.
                Fonts should be use as any copyrighted documents (as books).
                You can't copy, distribute, sell or give these fonts without
                the explicit consent
                of the author.

                All diffusions, free of charge anyway, can be done after you
                have contacted
                the author.
                French  law  of  11  march  1957  for  books  and  artistic
                productions.





       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 30





       Author

                Guy ROGER
                Multimedia Designer
                3 Jardin Montaigne
                37300 JOUE LES TOURS
                FRANCE
                (33) 47672071


















































       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 31





       CREDITS


                Klaus Lepschi
                A fabulous guy who believe in me and produce a wonderfull
                illustrated tutorial (you will find it on the web) and some
                very interestings programs and utilities around POVLAB and
                3d.

                Nicolas Kelemen
                DP-Tools  (ASP  vendor)  very  good  programs,  especially
                 LAtelier dAton .+++ Has everything you need to make
                computer-generated pictures (cd-rom).

                Juan R. Migoya
                Correction and update of MAKETHEM. Support in mailing list,
                FAQ support.

                Alain lioret
                Distribution, publicy.

                Dan Farmer
                The first American to speak with me about  my proram and to
                discuss
                POV-Ray and POVLAB with me. Thanks also for his support on
                Compuserve.

                Chris Cason
                Sysop of povray.org and author of  Raytrace ! the official
                POV-Ray cd-rom).

                Adam Shiffman
                Sysop of The Graphic Alternative (TGA bbs and home page).

                The POV-Team and D.K.Buck for DKB-Trace.

                TOTO and their music (help for my spirit when Im coding
                sofware).

                As Steve Lukather says,  I want to take this opportunity to
                recognize my friends around the world who have given me
                incredible support and guidance  :

                Angus Chrisitan (documentation).
                Bart Wakkee & Ralph Gortzen (Sea dos viewer).
                Cess J. Van Der Mark (pictures, debug, plugins).
                David Anjo (debug).
                Edward Stodghill (debug and documentation).
                Eric Weber (beta tests, pictures, textures).
                Guy Roger (truetype font samples).
                Herve Martin (beta tests and scenes).
                Jay Sprenkle (debug).
                Jean Arnaud (truetype font files support).
                Karim Bentroudi (beta tests and scene).




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 32





                Lee  Bryars  (debug,  pictures,  textures,  support  on
                Compuserve).
                Martin Conlon (debug, pictures, OS/2 support).
                Mike Miller (stone and others textures).
                Paul Cleveland (beta, debug).
                Rene Schwietzke (debug).
                Richard DuPertuis (debug).
                Robert J.Hodkinson (plugins, pictures, documentation and
                debug)
                Robert Seidel (plugins and debug).
                Sebastien Guelt (beta tests and scene).
                Stephane Marty (C programming and Watcom support).
                Stephane Trolley (beta tests, pictures).
                Sylvain Bergeon (debug).
                Todd A. Prader (truetype font support - Font3d, not used at
                all).

                Many people ask me about ChromaGraphics. Its just a group
                name like  POV-Team  or  The Stone Soup Group  (creators
                of Fractint).

                We have developed a lot of raytracing programs, animations,
                and fractals since 1991,  and we are generating a lot of
                pictures for our own pleasure. I think the quality of our
                work  is  quite  good,  and  we  have  made  some  fantastic
                creations with our products. But its very hard for a French
                person to communicate with everyone; first, because of the
                language,  and second,  because there arent a lot of net
                connections here. We need to find out what you want in this
                program, and learn to speak and write more and more of your
                language (since its easier for us to learn English than for
                you to understand the French language ! Sorry...).


























       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 33





       CONTACT AND FEEDBACK



       General information for contact or feedback

                Id like to see what you do with my software, just to know
                what features are most used, and the level of quality it can
                manage.

                For feedback any technical questions and bugs, please report
                in the a sheet of paper, a fax or an email the following
                point.

                You : lastname,  address,  zipcode, city, country, e-mail
                address,  phone, fax.

                Your computer :  cpu clock, memory, type of bios, bus type
                hdd free space, video card, memory, vesa type, mouse type
                and version, resident softwares, dos type and version,
                Windows 95.

                Your POVLAB version : register number, modeler version, path
                to POVLAB, parameters in MODELEUR.MEM, pattern file name for
                interface, interface resolution,  buttons bar on left or
                right, how much colors for the interface, number of objects
                and light sources when problems.

                After that, describe in details the problem.

       e-mail

                Send me e-mail from anywhere, about anything (support, bugs,
                new releases, pictures, scenes, comments, etc.). Please tell
                me before sending large files.

       Postal Mail

                If you want to send large files, postal mail is prefered.
                You should only send me the registration form.

       Image and Scene Files

                I would really like to see what youve done with POVLAB. I
                just need to see pictures, so you can keep the
                .SCN for yourself. I want to put a POVLAB gallery and
                 image of the month  in POVLABs home page. So, send me
                your pictures (by e-mail if <300 kb).

       Where to Find Out More about POVLAB and Utilities

                The first best way is to go to the POVLABs Home Page on the
                Internet, at :

                 http ://www.cyberstation/~dolivier/povlab.html






       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 34





                Here youll find utilities, links, bugs, pictures , a full
                illustrated tutorial and tips about POVLAB.
                The other way is to go to Persistence Of Vision Home Page on
                Internet, at :

                      http ://www.povray.org

                Then     go     to     the     ftp     site,     directory
                pub/povray/utilies/modellers/povlab. Here theres the latest
                version, with another directory with plugins for POVLAB.
                You can search with robots to or FTP Search for POVLAB
                sites.

                Finally,           check           the           newsgroup
                comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing, THE newsgroup related to
                the POV-Ray raytracer. Here youll find the POV-Team, a lot
                of POV-Ray users, questions and comments, tips, links,
                discussions, me, and more.....








































       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 35





       UPDATES AND HOW TO REGISTER



       General Information

                There are two ways to register POVLAB. Please read the
                following carefully.


       Limitations in the shareware version

                The limitations in the shareware version are :

                - You cannot continue an aborted rendering (+c option for
                POV-Ray disable).
                - You cannot render a image larger than 640x480 pixel wide.
                - You will not have the output for the .POV source generated
                via POVLAB.

                All the rest is totally the same as the registered version.

       Why Register

                All features requested by registered users will receive a
                higher priority than other requests.

       How to Register ?

                There are two ways you can register. You need to fill out
                the form at the end of the documentation and send that to
                me, either by postal mail or fax.

                I will send you a registration code by postal mail, that you
                will need to enter in the program. A full registered version
                of POVLAB (3 HD disks only) will arrive with it.

                If you have any problems reading the documentation (because
                you dont have Word for Windows 6.0), please let me know.
                Ill try to send it to you in another format (RTF, TXT, WRI,
                WordPerfect, Works). Tell me the format you want me to
                convert to.

       Bank Transfer

                This is the best way to pay for your registration, since it
                involves the lowest fees, takes the shortest time, and the
                banks get as little money as possible.

                Get your bank to transfer FF 300 (or $60 US) to my bank
                account. Please make sure that no further costs are charged
                to us. Don't forget to fax or mail me the registration form.

                Bank :         LA POSTE
                           CENTRE DE CHEQUES POSTAUX
                           33900 Bordeaux
                           France




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 36






                Phone :        (33) 56 48 78 44

                Account Nr :   7 083 44 H BOR

                Account Owner :Mr. Denis Olivier
                           58, rue Robert Ballion
                           33700 Merignac
                           France

                As you can see, I dont receive postal mail at the same
                adress, but unless there is an unusual problem, it will be
                transfered. Please write the check to DENIS OLIVIER.

       Check

                Please, fill this in  with just my name (Denis Olivier, but
                NOT ChromaGraphics), and put international currency only (as
                $US, FF, DM,  and all international convertible currencies
                - check with your bank).

       Cash

                For those of you who are brave enough to entrust cash to the
                postal service, you can put either FF 300 or US$60 in an
                envelope, together with the registration form, and send it
                to my address. I disclaim responsibility if there are any
                problems with this method.

                But finally, its the best solution, for you and me. For
                you, because everything arrives at the same time and theres
                no  problem  coordinating  the  registration  form  and  the
                payment, and for me, because with with the extra money I can
                register software in the US with companies that dont
                support credit cards (and maybe have enough left over to
                send $20 to the TOTO fan club !).

       Very low-cost Updates

                You need to meet the following conditions :

                - Already be registered for POVLAB.

                - Have an old version that onlydiffers from the new version
                by the minor version number.  Example : version 2.2 and
                2.1qualifies, 2.2 and 3.0do not.

                - Fill out the order form and specify that its a very low-
                cost update.

                - YOU NEED TO : send me the old registerstration form that I
                sent to you originally.

       Low-cost Updates

                You need to meet the following conditions :




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 37






                - Already be registered for POVLAB.

                - You have an old version that differs from the new version
                by the major version number. Example : version 2.2 and
                3.0qualifies (2.2 and 2.7would qualify for a very low cost
                upgrade).

                - Fill out the order form and specify that its a low-cost
                update.

                - YOU NEED TO : send me the old registration form that I
                sent to you originally.

       Full  PRO  Version

                When you register POVLAB, you will receive a full, unlimited
                version, with all the scenes, textures, patterns, and raw
                objects. You can also have full technical support, by postal
                mail or internet.

       Order Form

                Please print clearly and send with your money to :

                                       ChromaGraphics
                                        DENIS OLIVIER
                                   58, rue Robert Ballion
                                       33700 Mrignac
                                           FRANCE





























       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 38





                ORDER FORM FOR POVLAB

                q I would like a full PRO copy of POVLAB. I understand that
                I will receive a copy of the software with a registration
                number, that I may freely use for any personal purpose that
                I wish.

                Firstname.....................Lastname..................

                Address..................................................

                 .........................................................

                Country.......................*Age......................

                Tel.No........................Fax.No....................

                If you are on some nets, your ID/e-mail adress...........

                Add your name in the auto electronic mailing list (tips, new
                versions, beta) ?........................................

                q Paid by :

                    Bank transfer in francs
                    Cheque in your money equivalent to FF 300 or US $60
                    Cash (in Francs or US$) enclosed

                q Pay for :

                    US$ 15/FF  50 : Very low cost update
                    US$ 35/FF 150 : Low cost update
                    US$ 65/FF 300 : Full version, I wasnt registered

                q Total FF.......or $US...........

                For update, your registration number is..................

                q  Please  specify  exactly  what  should  appear  in  the
                registered version (if you don't specify, your lastname and
                firstname from above will be used) :

                String (max. 50 characters, 2 words only) ...............

                q Where did you find POVLAB ?............................

                q What version of POVLAB do you already haveYoure
                registered for .......................

                q Date and sign........



                * Items marked are optional




       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 39





                I'd still like to hear from you if you have comments about
                this program. Please use the space below, or attach some
                more pages. THANK YOU.  Suggestions :























































       POVLAB - Documentation                                       Page 40

