Particle tracking using IDL
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Running POV-Ray from Linux

This is a supplement to my main page on how to interface IDL and POV-Ray. This page explains some details on how to use POV-Ray on a linux computer.

The key thing is that there is a file called povray.ini which needs to be in the directory that you are running POV-Ray from, that is, the directory containing your file.pov that you are trying to visualize. povray.ini in turn needs to have information in it that points to where, on your linux system, you have stored various POV-Ray files -- in other words, wherever POV-Ray has been installed.

I tend to run x-povray from the command line in IDL:

IDL> $x-povray +Iimg01.pov +D +H300 +W400 2>err

WHEN X-POVRAY DOESN'T WORK: You have probably forgotten to place a copy of povray.ini in your current directory, or else povray.ini hasn't been updated for your linux system to point to the POV-Ray libraries.

Otherwise, try typing "which x-povray" at a linux prompt and see if x-povray is installed on your system.


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