| The KPovModeler Handbook |
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Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
KPovModeler is a graphical 3D modeler, which can generate scenes for POV-Ray
Table of Contents
| Introduction |
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KPovModeler is a 3D modeling application to generate POV-Ray scenes.
While it is not necessary to fully understand the POV-Ray application in order to make good use of KPovModeler, it is highly recommended that you read and try to understand the POV-Ray documentation.
To find out more about POV-Ray go to www.povray.org.
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| The KPovModeler Handbook | Up | The KPovModeler Interface |
| The KPovModeler Interface |
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When you start KPovModeler, the default layout is as follows:
The object tree displays the objects inside the scene and their hierarchy.
In the object tree you can select objects. Once you select an object, its attributes are displayed in the properties view and rendered yellow in the wireframe views.
You can select multiple objects. However, you cannot select a child of an already selected object, because all children are selected indirectly with the parent.
If only one object is selected, it is referred to as “the active object” from now on.
To add a new object to the object tree, select the object where you want to insert the new object and either click the icon in the toolbar or choose a menu entry in the Insert menu.
There are three possible positions for new objects:
As the first child of the active object
As the last child of the active object
As a sibling of the active object
If there is more than one position possible, the following popup menu prompts you to select the correct position:
To remove objects, select them and select Delete from either the Edit menu or the right mouse button context menu.
| The Properties View |
| Prev | The KPovModeler Interface | Next |
The properties view displays the attributes of the active object.
If you changed some properties, click the Apply button to make the changes permanent. If you entered invalid data, a message box will show up with an error description. You can then adjust the properties and press Apply again, or revert your changes with the Cancel button.
If you set the path to your POV-Ray user documentation in the settings dialog, you can open the POV-Ray reference page for the displayed object with the Help button.
You need the POV-Ray 3.1g or 3.5 HTML user documentation in order to use this feature. If your distribution does not contain this documentation you can download it here. The POV-Ray 3.5 package contains the html user documentation.
If you edit a texture or a part of a texture, you can preview it inside the properties view.
Press the Preview button inside the properties view and a small sample scene with the selected texture will be rendered. By default the whole texture will be rendered, even if not the top item is selected. If you want to render only a part of the texture (for example a texture inside a texture map and not the whole texture map), check the local check box.
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| The KPovModeler Interface | Up | The Wireframe Views |
| The Wireframe Views |
| Prev | The KPovModeler Interface | Next |
The orthographic wireframe views show the scene as an orthographic projection on one of the coordinate planes.
There are six types of orthographic wireframes views:
Top
Bottom
Left
Right
Front
Back
Each type renders the scene from a different perspective.
In the orthographic views you can change object attribute properties graphically with the mouse.
The above screenshot shows the control points of the camera. You can drag the control points around to change the camera's position and direction.
If a transformation is selected, the control points are removed and a small cross is displayed in the wireframe view. The cross marks the center for scaling and rotation, as well as the position for translations. You can change the transformation with the mouse by dragging inside the whole view.
Some objects like the bicubic patch support selection and modification of multiple control points.
| left mouse button | Selects one control point and deselects all others |
| Ctrl-Left Mouse Button | Selects or deselects one control point |
| Shift-Left Mouse Button | Drag a rectangle. All control points inside the rectangle are selected, the others deselected |
| Shift-Ctrl-Left Mouse Button | Drag a rectangle. All control points inside the rectangle are selected |
The camera view displays the scene from the camera's point of view.
The blue box displays the field of view when the scene is rendered.
You cannot change control points in the camera view.
By default all objects are displayed in the wireframe views.
Each object with a wire frame has a visibility level. You can specify a visibility level relative to the parent's visibility level or an absolute value. Objects are only displayed if they are selected or their visibility level is smaller or equal the chosen scene visibility level in the toolbar.
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| The Properties View | Up | View Layouts |
| View Layouts |
| Prev | The KPovModeler Interface | Next |
KPovModeler comes with a default view layout: The object tree and the object properties view to the left and four graphical views to the right.
If you don't like the default layout, or need another layout, you can freely configure it. You can even save multiple view layouts and switch between them on the fly.
You can move the existing views by dragging the handle on top of the views around.
To dock a widget above or below an existing view, drag the handle to the top or bottom of a view. A rectangle will indicate the new position.
To create a new column, drag the handle to the right or left side of another view. The view will then dock to the left or right side of the view and span the full height.
If you want multiple views sharing the same space, drag the handle to the center of another view. You can then switch between the views by clicking the corresponding tab on top of the views.
The last layout possibility are floating views: views that are not docked into the main view. To undock a view, drag the handle to the desktop or press the little arrow in the view handle that points to the top left side.
To close a view, click the little cross in the handle. To prevent closing, click the little box between the arrow and the cross.
You can add additional views to the main window. The View menu contains entries for each type of view. New views will be created floating, which you can dock wherever you like.
You can save the current view layout with View->Save View Layout... A dialog opens that lets you select an existing layout or create a new one.
You can then fine-tune your view layout in the settings dialog.
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| The Wireframe Views | Up | POV-Ray Interaction |
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| Introduction | Up | The Properties View |
| POV-Ray Interaction |
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Once you have created a scene, you will want to render it. KPovModeler uses POV-Ray 3.1g to render the scene, so you need a correct installation of POV-Ray. At the time of writing POV-Ray 3.5 was released. This version is not supported in the KPovModeler 1.0 version.
Go to www.povray.org to get a version of POV-Ray and for installation instructions.
To render the current scene, press the render icon
in the toolbar, or select the
View->Render
menu entry.
A render mode is similar to POV-Rays ini file entries. It specifies the image size and quality levels for rendering. If you would like to render your scene with different qualities and sizes, you can add as many render modes as you need, from quick previews to fullscreen high quality images.
When you press the render settings icon
in the toolbar or select the
View->Render Modes...
menu icon, the following dialog opens:
This dialog shows the list of all available render modes.
Adds a default render mode to the list.
Removes the selected render mode.
Opens a dialog to edit the selected render mode.
Moves the selected render mode one position up.
Moves the selected render mode one position down.
The Edit Button opens the following configuration dialog:
Each render mode has a description. You can enter any description, but it should reflect the render mode's properties.
In the Size tab you can enter the width and height of the rendered image. If you want to render only a small part of the image, check the Subselection check box and enter the part of the image in the fields below.
In the Quality tab you can select various quality levels for the rendered image.
In the Quality combo box you can select the features POV-Ray uses while rendering. The possibilities range from a very simple coloring and lighting model, to one which has complex diffuse inter-reflection lighting. See the POV-Ray user documentation for a detailed description of the rendering features.
If an image is rendered with only one sample per pixel, various errors can occur. These images often have moiré or stepped effects in curves and lines, and details can get lost if they are smaller in appearance then one pixel. This effect is called “aliasing”.
POV-Ray uses a technique called “anti-aliasing” to reduce the impact of these errors. In general images will look smoother with this feature.
If you enable anti-aliasing, POV-Ray will calculate and combine more then one sample per pixel. This is called “super-sampling”.
POV-Ray supports two methods of super-sampling. The default is an adaptive non-recursive method; “adaptive” because the super-sampling depends on the local neighborhood of the pixel. Not every pixel is super-sampled with this method. The second method is an adaptive recursive one; “recursive” because every pixel is divided and sub-divided recursively, and “adaptive” because the recursion depth depends on the computed color values.
When you select the first method, povray traces one ray per pixel. If the difference between its color value and that of its neighbor exceeds the given threshold, both pixels are super-sampled by tracing a fixed number of additional rays. If you set the depth value to 4, a 4x4 grid of additional points will be calculated, a depth value of 5 will result in 5x5 (25) samples per pixel.
The difference between two pixels is computed as follows: r1, g1 and b1 are the red, green and blue values of the first pixel; r2, g2 and b2 are the red, green and blue values of the second pixel. The difference is then:
diff = abs(r1-r2) + abs(g1-g2) + abs(b1-b2)
The recursive method starts with 4 samples per pixel. If the resulting color values differ more than the given threshold, the pixel is sub-divided into 4 sub pixels that are separately traced and tested for further subdivision. You can specify the maximum recursive depth with the depth value.
An additional method to reduce aliasing effects is to add noise to the sampling process, called “jittering”. If you enable jittering, POV-Ray jitters the samples a tiny amount to reduce regular patterns.
The last quality setting is radiosity. Radiosity is an experimental POV-Ray feature that computes inter-diffuse light reflection. Be patient when rendering a scene with this feature.
In the last tab, you can configure whether or not the alpha channel should be calculated by povray. A pixel will then be transparent if the corresponding ray did not hit a single object.
When you started to render a scene, this window will open:
It shows the rendered image, the progress and the current rendering speed.
Terminates POV-Ray.
Suspends rendering.
Resumes rendering.
Opens another window that displays the POV-Ray console output. If POV-Ray exits abnormally, you can find the reason in that window.
Lets you save the image when it is rendered.
Closes the render window.
| Exporting and Importing |
| Prev | POV-Ray Interaction | Next |
You can export a scene to POV-Ray with the File->Export Povray... menu entry.
The file save dialog will allow you to choose a name and location to save the file.
KPovModeler will automatically add the .pov extension.
To import a POV-Ray scene select the File->Import Povray... menu item and choose a file in the file open dialog.
Not the full POV-Ray syntax is supported by KPovModeler at the moment. If there are errors or warnings during importing, a dialog will show up that lists all messages.
If you want to import unsupported code to KPovModeler, put the source between the two special comments “//*PMRawBegin” and “//*PMRawEnd”.
You can drag objects from the object tree to an editor to export POV-Ray code. This will insert the objects code into the current text file in the editor. To import objects into the scene, simply select the code in your editor and drag it on to the object tree.
You can use the copy and paste functionality of KPovModeler and your editor to exchange POV-Ray code as well.
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| POV-Ray Interaction | Up | Configuring KPovModeler |
| Prev | Home | Next |
| View Layouts | Up | Exporting and Importing |
| Configuring KPovModeler |
| Prev | Next |
The povray command is called when KPovModeler renders a scene. Common commands are “povray” or “x-povray”.
If you press the Help button in the properties view, KPovModeler opens the POV-Ray user documentation for the displayed object. Set here the path to your documentation and your documentation version. Supported versions are 3.1g and 3.5.
POV-Ray searches for external files (height field data as example) in the POV-Ray library paths. If you refer to files not in the scene's folder, you have to add the folder to the list. If a file exists in multiple library paths, that one in the first path is used.
You can change the order with the Up and Down buttons.
| The Graphical view Tab |
| Prev | Configuring KPovModeler | Next |
The color tab lets you configure the used colors for the graphical views.
The background color.
The colors for wire frames. The second color is used if the object is selected.
The color for control points. The second color is used if the control point is selected.
The colors for the x-, y- and z-axis.
The color for the field of view rectangle in the camera view and the view type labels.
This page lets you configure the grid in the wire frame views.
You can configure the detail levels for various objects here.
Higher values lead to a finer wireframe and therefore to a better approximation for the displayed objects, but slow down rendering. For some objects like the sphere you can configure the detail level for two directions separately.
If you check the High detail for enhanced projections check box, all wire frame lines are subdivided further if the camera uses an enhanced projection. Enhanced projections are all projections except the perspective and orthographic projections. This feature greatly improves the approximation of these projections but slows down rendering.
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| Configuring KPovModeler | Up | The Properties view Tab |
| The Properties view Tab |
| Prev | Configuring KPovModeler | Next |
This page lets you configure the texture preview in the properties view.
The preview image size.
The gamma correction.
Defines the small sample scene. At least one object has to be selected.
If the Enable wall check box is checked, a wall will be rendered behind the objects. The wall is textured with a checker pattern with the two configurable colors.
If the Enable floor check box is checked, a floor will be rendered below the objects. The floor is textured with a checker pattern with the two configurable colors.
If the Enable antialiasing check box is checked, the non-recursive antialiasing method will be used for rendering the scene. You can configure the depth and threshold values. See render modes section for a detailed description of the parameters.
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| The Graphical view Tab | Up | The View Layout Tab |
| The View Layout Tab |
| Prev | Configuring KPovModeler | Next |
In this page you can fine-tune existing view layouts or manually create new ones. See section View Layouts how to create and save view layouts.
The combo box Default view layout: lists all available view layouts. KPovModeler uses the selected view layout at program start.
The list Available View Layouts shows all available view layouts. You can add a new layout with the Add button and remove the selected layout with the Remove button.
The selected view layout is displayed in the box View Layout
Each view layout is identified by its name. The name has to be unique and must not be empty.
The list below the name displays all views for the selected view layout. You can add new views with the Add button and remove the selected view with the Remove button.
The attributes of the views are:
The view type. See The KPovModeler Interface for a description of each view type.
The projection for wire frame views. You can choose one of the six orthographic projections or the camera mode.
The position of the view. New Column will create a new column to the right side of the previous views, Below will dock the view below the previous view, Tabbed will create a tabbed view together with the previous one and Floating will not dock the view into the main window but create a separate window.
The width of the column in percent of the main view width.
The view height in percent of the main view height.
The size in pixels for floating views.
The position on the desktop for floating views.
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| The Properties view Tab | Up | Basic Tutorial: Creating your first Scene |
| Prev | Home | Next |
| Exporting and Importing | Up | The Graphical view Tab |
| Basic Tutorial: Creating your first Scene |
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OK, that's it. You have just installed POV-Ray and KPovModeler, and now you already want to start without much knowledge of any of the two softwares. Here we go now: If you follow the steps of this tutorial, you'll be able to set the ultimate simple scene, very widespread among the newbies: A sphere over a plane.
At any time you can render your scene using one of the following methods:
Using the menu: Display->Render
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon
But you should carefully consider the following warnings before complaining if all you get is a black screen. If this is the very first time you use a 3D software, you should be aware of these golden rules:
If you set no camera, no rules apply to the render engine which can't render a proper picture, ending in a black picture.
If you set no light system, all your scene is in the dark, ending in a black picture.
The objects for which no material has been set won't show on the rendered picture, ever.
If you got everything installed fine, once KPovModeler is loaded, you discover the following default windows setting:
Take a few minutes to explore the menus and icons available. If you have time, please read the documentation in order to get a fair idea of what you can expect from this piece of software.
You will have to use each of them intensively from now on, so always keep them and their use in mind.
KPovModeler starts with a simple scene. In order to follow this tutorial you first have to remove all objects from the object tree. Select the scene and choose the Edit->Delete menu entry. You should now have an empty scene.
| Step 2: Setting the Camera |
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First of all, we will set a camera. In order to do so, two convenient ways are available:
Using the menu: Insert->Camera
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon
The wireframe view shows how the camera is set regarding the whole scene we are creating. In particular, we can now see something in the fourth wire frame view (right, bottom): This is the view of the scene from the camera point of view. This is what will be seen when you render the scene.
The object tree now shows a new entry, reading “camera”. If you click on it, it affects the content of the object properties view, where various parameters pertaining to the camera can be found. Referring to the POV-Ray's documentation to learn more about these could be helpful.
We will change nothing to the basic settings of the camera, this will be the scope of later tutorials, but please note that in the graphic view, the camera has control points that let you control the point to which the camera points. You just have to left-click on one handle and move it to an appropriate location.
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| Basic Tutorial: Creating your first Scene | Up | Step 3: Setting a Light |
| Step 3: Setting a Light |
| Prev | Basic Tutorial: Creating your first Scene | Next |
The same way we have set a camera, we will now set a light system:
Using the menu: Insert->Light
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon
A new entry features now in the object tree. If you click on the light entry, you see that the properties view changes in order to show the parameters available to the lighting system. We will change some parameters in order to set the light higher above the horizon (y=3), slightly on the right (x=1) and in the foreground (z=1). We can also rename the light system (Name=“Main Light”). Change the values in the object properties view as follows:
Once you press the Apply button (or hit Enter), the wire frame view and the object tree immediately change in order to comply to these settings, and here is what now should see the camera.
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| Step 2: Setting the Camera | Up | Step 4: Creating the Ground |
| Step 4: Creating the Ground |
| Prev | Basic Tutorial: Creating your first Scene | Next |
There are many ways to create a ground for our scene. One method could have been to insert a box object (Insert->Finite Solid Primitives->Box) and resize x to 100, y to 0 and z to 100, for example, but it's a cumbersome way to do this task.
In fact, KPovModeler offers you a convenient feature: You can create a infinite plane that will feature the ground:
Using the menu: Insert->Infinite Solid Primitives->Plane
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon.
Take a good custom: Having the plane selected in the object tree, please change its name in something that is convenient to you and then press the Apply button (or hit Enter). The object tree will update the name of the entry.
The wire frame view also shows the plane now, even if it looks finite by now. But don't worry, it will spread up to the horizon line when you'll render the scene!
If you pay attention to the object tree, you will notice that the ground entry can be expanded if you click on the “plus” icon standing just before the object. Once done, you see various settings parented to the object. In this case, there isn't much yet, apart from the standard options to any newly created object: Scale, rotate, and translate. Selecting each of these will change the settings available in the object properties view.
In this scene, we will arbitrary translate the ground one unit lower than the horizon line, just for you to tweak some of these parameters. Select translate, and adjust the parameters as follow:
Your scene should now look like the following picture.
| Prev | Home | Next |
| Step 3: Setting a Light | Up | Step 5: Setting a Material for the Ground |
| Step 5: Setting a Material for the Ground |
| Prev | Basic Tutorial: Creating your first Scene | Next |
Please select the ground prior to adding any material properties to it. Many possibilities await us, but we will stay close to something quite easy for now.
Using the menu: Insert->Textures->Pigment
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon.
In both cases, a popup window will prompt you to choose the way the object should be inserted. Please choose First Child. The pigment now appears in the object tree. You can change its name in the properties view (Name=“Ground Pigment”), and click on the Preview button in order to see how the pigment looks like for now.
Of course, the preview of the pigment shows nothing but a black matte material, because we need to refine the pigment settings. Anyway, keep in mind you always can preview the look and feel of your materials using the Preview button. We will now define the pigment colors. Again, many possibilities await us, but we will choose one of the most straightforward for now.
Using the menu: Insert->Textures->Color List
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon
If no color shows on the box and the sphere of the preview, click on the Apply button before calling for a preview.
The ground material has been successfully set! If you render your picture now, using the
render icon, you should get the following result:
Of course, these colors are not the ones you could have expected. We still have to see how we can customize them. In the case of the color list, you have to define two new sets of attributes, called Solid Color. In the Object Tree, make sure the color list entry is selected. Then go through this two times (you can't do it more, anyway, as the checkers color list can only afford the use of two solid colors):
Using the menu: Insert->Textures->Solid Color
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon.
One after another, in the object tree, select the two solid colors and change their color attributes in the object properties view:
...these attributes are for the first solid color (press Apply!),
... and these attributes are for the second (press Apply again!).
Of course, a new rendering of our scene will prove that everything has been taken into account accordingly:
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| Step 4: Creating the Ground | Up | Step 6: Creating the Sphere |
| Step 6: Creating the Sphere |
| Prev | Basic Tutorial: Creating your first Scene | Next |
For this step, we should already be at ease, because we begin to understand KPovModeler's general behavior. In the object tree, select the scene entry. Creating the sphere is as easy as creating the ground:
Using the menu: Insert->Finite Solid Primitives->Sphere
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon.
As before, select First Child when asked for.
The object properties view offers you immediately to change its settings, which we'll do right now. By setting the Radius value to 1 (don't forget to hit Enter or press Apply), we make sure that the sphere will be in contact with the ground. Otherwise, since we moved the ground one unit bottom, the sphere will look like floating above the ground.
Of course, a rendering now will give a strange result: As already seen before, the sphere appears with a black matte material. We will set a proper material in the following step.
| Prev | Home | Next |
| Step 5: Setting a Material for the Ground | Up | Step 7: Setting a Material for the Sphere |
| Step 7: Setting a Material for the Sphere |
| Prev | Basic Tutorial: Creating your first Scene | Next |
With the sphere selected, you can now set a material for it. As we already did for the ground, let's give to the sphere a pigment color:
Using the menu: Insert->Textures->Pigment
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon
Select First Child and rename to “Sphere pigment”, for example. With the sphere pigment entry selected, insert a solid color and set the parameters as follow:
Using the menu: Insert->Textures->Solid Color
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon
You already can render the scene and get a first poor result:
But there are more interesting effects to achieve if we take time to set some finish attributes:
Using the menu: Insert->Textures->Finish
Using the toolbar: Click on the
icon.
Then change the values according to the following snapshot and press Apply or hit Enter.
The Specular and Reflection parameters give particularly good visual effects, perfect for glass or chrome-like effects, even if Metallic hasn't been chosen at this step:
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| Step 6: Creating the Sphere | Up | Conclusion |
| Conclusion |
| Prev | Basic Tutorial: Creating your first Scene | Next |
You should now have a fair glimpse of what is possible with kpovmodeler. Hopefully, you are already skilled enough to do simple but beautiful things.
| Prev | Home | Next |
| Step 7: Setting a Material for the Sphere | Up | Basic Concepts |
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| The View Layout Tab | Up | Step 2: Setting the Camera |
| Basic Concepts |
| Prev | Next |
Raytracing is a method of rendering, that is, creating a 2D image out of a 3D scene or model.
When raytracing a scene, the renderer shoots a hypothetical ray from the perspective of the viewer (that is, from the camera you are rendering the scene from) through each pixel in the scene. It calculates how this ray reflects and refracts from objects, the visual effects of the light sources in the scene and how atmospheric effects such as fog affect it. The scene is built up, pixel by pixel.
As you may imagine, without a camera, you cannot see anything - the camera is your “eye” into the scene. Furthermore, without any light, you still won't see anything - it would just be dark. Obviously, any scene intended for raytracing must include some light, an object of some kind and at least one camera.
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| Conclusion | Up | Objects Reference |
| Objects Reference |
| Prev | Next |
For a complete reference to all objects and attributes see the POV-Ray user documentation.
| Prev | Home | Next |
| Basic Concepts | Up | Menu Reference |
| Menu Reference |
| Prev | Next |
Create a new scene.
Import a POV-Ray scene created outside KPovModeler.
A normal file dialog will open, allowing you to choose your file. Povray files usually have the extensions *.pov or *.inc.
Open a file. The standard file dialog will allow you to choose a file you have previously created with KPovModeler
Open a file from a list of the files you have been recently working on.
Whenever you open or create a new model, it is added to this submenu, replacing the oldest entry in the list.
Save the currently active scene.
If you have already saved this model, it will be saved with the same name. If it is a new file, you will be asked to name it and choose a location to save it.
Save the currently active scene with a new name.
Export the scene as a POV-Ray file.
The file save dialog will allow you to choose a name and location to save the file.
KPovModeler will automatically add the .pov extension.
Revert the scene to the state it was in the last time you saved it. Changes you have made since the last save will be lost.
Printing is not implemented yet.
Close the current scene without closing KPovModeler
Quit KPovModeler. If you have any unsaved changes, you will be given a chance to save them.
| The Edit Menu |
| Prev | Menu Reference | Next |
Undo the last action you performed.
This menu item is not available unless you have unsaved changes to the current scene.
Redo the last action you undid. This menu item is not available unless you have used Edit->Undo.
Cut the currently selected object(s) from the scene, and store them on the clipboard.
Copy the currently selected object(s), and store them on the clipboard.
Paste the contents of the clipboard.
Delete the currently selected object(s) from the scene.
| Prev | Home | Next |
| Menu Reference | Up | The View Menu |
| The View Menu |
| Prev | Menu Reference | Next |
Create a new Object Tree.
Create a new Object Properties View.
Create a new Orthographic Wireframe View from the top perspective.
Create a new Orthographic Wireframe View from the bottom perspective.
Create a new Orthographic Wireframe View from the left perspective.
Create a new Orthographic Wireframe View from the right perspective.
Create a new Orthographic Wireframe View from the front perspective.
Create a new Orthographic Wireframe View from the back perspective.
Create a new Camera View.
Contains a list of all available view layouts. Switch to the selected layout.
Save the current view layout. A dialog opens to choose a name for a new layout or to overwrite an existing one.
Open the render modes configuration dialog.
Render the scene.
Show the POV-Ray render window.
Redisplay the wire frame views.
| Prev | Home | Next |
| The Edit Menu | Up | The Insert Menu |
| The Insert Menu |
| Prev | Menu Reference | Next |
| Prev | Home | Next |
| The View Menu | Up | The Settings Menu |
| The Settings Menu |
| Prev | Menu Reference | Next |
This menu provides options for configuring KPovModeler, changing its appearance, shortcuts and standard behavior.
Toggles the statusbar on/off.
Show/hide the path in the caption.
Saves the current settings.
Opens a dialog for changing the key bindings. Using this option you can change the standard key shortcut for KPovModeler's commands or create new ones.
Opens a dialog for configuring the toolbar. You can add and remove toolbuttons for KPovModeler's commands with this option.
Opens a dialog for changing your keybindings.
| Prev | Home | Next |
| The Insert Menu | Up | The Help Menu |
| The Help Menu |
| Prev | Menu Reference | Next |
Invokes the KDE Help system starting at the KPovModeler help pages. (this document).
Changes the mouse cursor to a combination arrow and question mark. Clicking on items within KPovModeler will open a help window (if one exists for the particular item) explaining the item's function.
Opens the Bug report dialog where you can report a bug or request a “wishlist” feature.
This will display version and author information.
This displays the KDE version and other basic information.
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KPovModeler copyright 2001,2002 the KPovModeler authors.
Authors
Andreas Zehender <zehender@kde.org>
Luis Passos Carvalho <lpassos@mail.telepac.pt>
Phillippe Van Hecke <lephiloux@tiscalinet.be>
Leonardo Skorianez <skorianez@bol.com.br>
Documentation copyright 2002 Lauri Watts <lauri@kde.org>
Documentation copyright 2002 Andreas Zehender <zehender@kde.org>
Documentation copyright 2002 Olivier Saraja <olivier@linuxgraphic.org>
This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
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| Glossary |
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A bump map is a way to simulate a rough surface, without having to model every single “bump” on the surface, and without changing the underlying geometric shape of the object itself.
It is common to use the same file as both a bump map and a texture map.
Primitives are the basic geometric shapes that you can use as “building blocks”. Most complex 3d models are created from many dozens, or even hundreds, of these primitives, which are then edited and manipulated to give a more realistic appearance.
Not yet written
A texture map is a way of applying color to the surface of an object on a pixel by pixel basis, by applying an image file as a color map.
It is common to use the same image file as a bump map.
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| Installation |
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KPovModeler is part of the KDE project http://www.kde.org/.
KPovModeler can be found in the kdegraphics package on ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/, the main FTP site of the KDE project.
In order to compile and install KPovModeler on your system, type the following in the base directory of the KPovModeler distribution:
% ./configure % make % make install
Since KPovModeler uses autoconf and automake you should have no trouble compiling it. Should you run into problems please report them to the KDE mailing lists.
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