L3P LAUNCHER FOR MAC OS X

L3P Launcher is a Mac OS X application that uses L3P to convert LDraw files to POV-Ray format and then sends them to POV-Ray to be rendered.  L3P is by Lars C. Hassing. L3P homepage

Download L3P Launcher.

The version as of June 13th, 2006 is 0.8.  This update includes some additions by Allen Smith, namely a batch processing mode.  It is also updated to use POV-Ray Mac 3.6 (although the AppleScripts that send the files to POV-Ray aren't the greatest).  And it is a Universal Mac OS X app.

I never did finish the app to the degree that I wanted.  So there are still some GUI elements present that do nothing (light and camera presets).  I'm not sure I'll ever add those features.

Instructions

You will need an LDraw editor to create the LDraw file. Mac OS X LDraw getting started instructions.

You will also need an LDraw folder. See the getting started instructions above to get one. When you first run L3P Lanucher, it will ask you to find your LDraw folder.

Then you covert the LDraw model file with L3P Launcher. Type in the absolute path (beginning with "/") to the ldraw file in the "model file" field or click the Choose button to select one or more. The file should end with ".pov". There are other options you can set. Click "Create POV file" when you are ready. You will see the output of l3P in the big text field below.

Then you will need POV-Ray to render the pov file. See the Mac POV-Ray page and follow the download links. Open the file in POV-Ray and render it. You can change the size of the image by opening a POV-Ray file and then selecting the "Edit" menu and "filename Settings..." (or command-I). Click the Output tab in the Settings window and change the image size and format. If you want every file you render to have those settings, you want to click the popup menu at the top of the Settings window that is labeled "Set". The popup should say "Custom". Scroll to the top and select "Add...". Give it a name. Close the Settings window and every file you render from that point should use those render settings.

The "send to POV-Ray checkbox" only works with "POV-Ray Mac 3.6" (the app actually has to be named that).  If you don't have it or if you've never launched it, L3P Launcher will beachball while it looks for it, which could take a minute or two before it becomes responsive again.

You can get the command line version of POV-Ray if you install the Developer Tools, Darwin Ports, and then type "sudo ports install povray" in the Terminal application.  Anton Raves has instructions how to build version 3.1 from the source code if you would like.