MacMegaPOV

Unofficial Macintosh compiles

Latest Universal Binary: MacMegaPOV v.1.2.1 r3 (Mar 2007) based on POV-Ray 3.6.1

Latest Carbon version: MacMegaPOV v.1.2.1 (Aug 2005) based on POV-Ray 3.6.1

POV-Ray is a ray tracer, computer graphics software that can create amazing photo-realistic computer-generated images and animations. It uses an easy scene description language. This text file containing information of objects, lighting, texture, camera, ..., can be written in any ASCII editor, but ...with MacMegaPOV it is easier and faster and it includes some of the most recent patches.

MegaPOV (formerly UVPov, SuperPatch, and MultiPatch) is a cooperative work by members of the POV-Ray community.
This is an unofficial compile of POV-Ray. Do not ask the POV-Team for help with this.

POV-Ray official is Freeware and so is this unofficial compile for Macintosh, meaning you can download it and use it at no cost.

About MacMegaPOV UB v. 1.2.1 r3 (Mar 2007):

Just a new version for the Cocoa build (Universal Binary). The rendering engine is still at version 1.2.1.

• The colorpicker in the template dialogs keeps the correct color when saved and opened again.
• #macro and #declare popup are updated now when needed.
• Syntax coloring has improved a lot.
• Many little changes in the editor to fix a few minor bugs.

About MacMegaPOV UB v. 1.2.1 (Nov 2006):

Just a new version for the Cocoa build (Universal Binary). The rendering engine is still at version 1.2.1.

• A new item "Insert Menu" was added to the template menu. This template is now compatible with the official Windows version of POV-Ray.
• A small progress window was added for users with limited screen space.
• If the message window is closed, it will not pop up when a render is starting. It will only show when an error occurs.
• A few changes in the window menu.
• Using the "Render" icon on the editor window will no longer put the preferences panel to the front or show it if it is hidden. It will simply render the current scene with the options set in the preferences window. To change settings before rendering, hit the "Set Up" icon on the toolbar of the editor window.
• There were a few bugs when using the option "Maintain indentation". These have been fixed.
• Fixed a bug about the control of trext streams.

About MacMegaPOV UB v. 1.2.1 (May 2006):

MacMegaPOV UB v. 1.2.1 (May 2006) is a complete rewrite of the GUI, it is now a Cocoa application. This version is also the first universal binary version of the application which makes it run natively on PPC G5 and Intel-based Macintosh computers.
Even if it is a complete rewrite, the look and feel did not change.
This is the fastest version of MegaPOV, speed has improved on PPC G5 systems compared to the older Mach-O version (which is no longer supported) and Carbon versions.
There is also a version available for Macintosh computers with a PPC G4 processor.
Minimum system requirement is MacOS X 10.3.9 or later. It will not run on earlier system versions. For system versions 8.6 - MacOS X 10.2.8, you should use the latest Carbon version.

About MacMegaPOV v. 1.2.1 (Aug 2005):

• Several Mechsim bugfixes
• Improved compatibility of the PPM/PGM reader with the standard
• Resolution of problems of the Windows version

About MacMegaPOV v. 1.2 (Jul-04-2005):

• Control up to which trace level area lights are calculated
• Bicubic interpolation for images
• Custom tone mapping feature that offers detailed control of how the colors are mapped to the resulting image and how this interacts with antialiasing
• Radiosity improvements:
  • new adaptive pretrace mode
  • adaptive search radius/error_bound
  • more detailed radiosity statistics
  • sampling visualizations
• Mechsim changes
  • improved collision bounding/hashing system
  • viscoelastic connections
  • global fixation in 1 or 2 dimensions
  • attachments can be limited to 1 or two dimensions (free movement in the others)
  • adaptive time stepping for 4th order Runge-Kutta method
  • new simulation data file format
  • custom forces that can be applied to individual masses
  • more detailed simulation statistics
  • access to simulation forces from SDL
  • various bug fixes and improvements
• Bug fix for problem with alpha channel output and bright colors
• Bug fix crand in textures resulting in negative color values

System requirements:

• Macintosh PowerPC G3, G4, G5 and Intel-Based;
• A screen resolution of at least 800 * 600;
• For the Carbon version: MacOS 8.6 or later, with CarbonLib v1.6 installed;
• If possible (System 10.3.9 or later and a PPC G5 or Intel-Based Macintosh) use the new Universal Binary;
• A fair amount of memory :-);

Send e-mail about MacMegaPOV to smellenbergh@skynet.be
You can send e-mail in english, french, german or dutch but we only reply in english or dutch (please specify).