About XGRID
** BETA ** SU2POV plugin is ideal for utilising the network rendering capabilities of POV-RAY

Still to do, expand away from the proof-of-concept, look at rendering animations, other possible image formats. <Also look at Xgrid in Tiger>

About Exporting from SketchUp to POV-RAY using Xgrid
Exporting from SketchUp to POV-RAY using Xgrid is a fairly simple task. However, most of the procedures involved in setting up the command line version of POV-RAY are outside the normal experience of the average Apple Mac User. However, you only need to do it once.

Installing the command line version of POV-RAY
This how to is based on the fantastic help I got from Daniel Côté (read the original here) [I was using the tch shell and not bash, so his instructions did not work for me until I changed my shell]!

Step 1, make sure you are running Panther (MacOS 10.3) or later, and that you have installed the Developer Tools. /Applications/Installers/Developer Tools. If you do not find the newest version on your HD, you can get Xcode 1.5 from Apple's Developer's HomePage. (You may be asked to register yourself, which is free of charge).

Step 2 installing DarwinPorts

Open up the Terminal Application (In Applications/Utilities) check that you are connected to the internet and that the title bar of the Terminal window at the top contains the word bash and type:

cd ~/

cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@anoncvs.opendarwin.org:/Volumes/src/cvs/od login

for the password, press return and then type on one line

cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@anoncvs.opendarwin.org:/Volumes/src/cvs/od co -P darwinports

The computer should whir and then start to download files. When finished type

cd ~/darwinports/base

./configure

make

sudo make install

now type your normal Mac administrator password

Step 3

Now DarwinPorts is installed, you can use this to install the command line version of POV-RAY

type

sudo /opt/local/bin/port install povray

and darwinports will install povray for you. Test povray is installed and working by typing

/opt/local/bin/povray

You do not need to install pov-ray on the other computers on the grid, as Xgrid will do that for you automatically.

Installing up Xgrid
Installing Xgrid is easy, download the installer here. And follow apple's instructions, play around with the Mandelbrot to test Xgrid is working OK. The Xgrid plugin is part of SU2POV 2.2.1 and is installed automatically. If you have any windows PC's you can reformat them with Linux and add them to the grid.

Exporting from SketchUp to POV-RAY using Xgrid
SU2POV 2.2.1 writes ini files into the folder Povray_args in your home folder. Open up the Xgrid application,

The Xgrid Login window opens and if the Xgrid status is Ready, then press Connect. (You can still start the local service if you just have just one computer in your Grid),

In the New Job Window choose SU2POV-RAY, and press OK. (SU2POV-RAY is installed automatically by SU2POV 2.2.1 or later)

Press Submit Job,

Confirm the job by pressing Submit (Note, if you see more than 4 tasks, you may have old tasks from a previous export).

The Job will submit, Pending and then Running. The Tachometer will show you the power in your grid. When the Job has finished, press Show Results.

Stitching the images back together
The output from Xgrid is left in the Povray_output folder of your home folder. If it works, inside you will have a povray-3.6 folder with four .ppm files in inside. If it doesn't work, the four .ini.txt files will tell you what went wrong. (Usually missing textures). The .ppm files can be opened with Graphic Converter.

When you log out, the .pov file that is rendered by Xgrid is removed, so old jobs won't re-render, but you may still want to clear out the Povray_args folder so you can see what is going on.

To stitch the four .ppm files back together to follow the instructions (here).

1 Install combineppm, open the Terminal and type:

cd ~/Desktop
curl -O http://unu.novajo.ca/simple/combineppm.c
gcc -o combineppm combineppm.c

This will leave a unix program combineppm on your dektop. Drag this program into your ~/Povray_args/povray-3.6/ folder

2. To combine the files, open the Terminal and type:

cd ~/Povray_args/povray-3.6/

combineppm outputfile > input_file.ppm

where input_file is your file name (Without the _0000, _0001, _0002, or _0003)

FAQs & Support
If you're having trouble with SU2POV, please see our technical support information. If you require further assistance, please Mark Horner via email.