Hard-Copy Drawings
from DRAWxtlThere is no unique way to convert
the 'pov' files into a form suitable for hard copy, or for
inclusion into a Web site, etc. My preferred method is as
follows:
- In POV, select Anti-Aliasing On with an
Antialiasing_Threshold of at least 0.3.
- Perform the POV processing with at least 500 x 500
pixels. To be correct on the printed page, the ratio of
horizontal to vertical pixel size should match the shape
of pixels on your printer. For higher quality, the number
of pixels can be increased at a cost of increased time
for rendering and increased disk storage for the output
file. Note: The aspect ratio of the drawing on the screen
may be different than a VRML image because a screen pixel
may not be square.
- Process the POV output files with a graphics
processing program, which can read the files, annotate
them, print them on any system printer, convert them to
other graphic formats, or import them into a
word-processing document. For this step under Windows, I
use Paint Shop Pro. A trial version is available. A downloadable
alternative is the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP),
which is available for UNIX, Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 or
XP, and MacIntosh systems. These programs can convert an
image from one format to another; resize, rotate,
sharpen, color reduce, or add special effects to an
image; create a framed thumbnail of an image; and many
other functions.
Please send comments to Larry Finger,
Martin
Kroeker, or Brian
Toby.
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