Shading and Rendering in Blender

Rendering with POV-Ray from Blender

POV-Ray cannot export the .pov file format, but it includes an add-on that allows it to render directly to POV-Ray. Do the following to enable this on your workstation:

  1. Upgrade to POV-Ray 3.7. Click here to download the installer. Run the downloaded file to install.
  2. Enable to POV-Ray addon in Blender
    1. Start Blender
    2. Select File->User Preferences...
    3. Select the Addons tab
    4. Scroll the tab down to expose the Render option in the 'Categories' section
    5. Click Render
    6. Turn off the checkbox for Render: Cycles Render Engine
    7. Turn on the checkbox for Render: POV-Ray 3.7
    8. Click Save User Settings
    9. Close the User Preferences dialog

To render an image:

  1. Create a new "Display Region" in Blender of type "UV/Image Editor"
  2. The Blender "Info" Display Region (top of screen) has a droplist that says "Blender Render". Change this to POV-Ray 3.7.
  3. Press F12 to render to POV-Ray.
  4. You can switch the render type back and forth between Blender Render and POV-Ray 3.7 to get a faster vs. better render.
  5. The POV-Ray rendered images are stored in C:\users\<youname>\appdata\local\temp\. You will need to be able to retrieve the files to submit them with your lab.
  6. A render job does not officially end until POV-Ray is closed. This prevents you from rendering again. You must either close POV-Ray completely between renders or click the 'X' button to the right of the render droplist - it will close POV-Ray for you.

Shading in Blender

'Shading' refers to the practice of adding and manipulating materials on an object.

The official documentation for adding materials is here: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Materials/Assigning_a_material

You will need to use the "Properties" Display Region (lower-right in Blender, by default) to create and assign materials.