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Alibre Assembly to POVRay Raytracing
POVRay Addon
Links
Alibre 2 CamBam Bridge
POVRay
Bishop3D
Blender
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Updates 11/06/09 - Added progress bar, scaling factor, assembly/part names with dashes 11/08/09 - Materials are organized by part name+color, written to the scene file, or you can group by only color  This open source app walks an Alibre Design CAD part or assembly, and creates SDL script text files. SDL script is the language used by POV-Ray, a very powerful free ray tracing program. Changing materials is very easy by hand or with a modeling program like Bishop 3D. If you look at some of the examples on POV-Ray I think you will be blown away by the possibilities. The above render was created by me, in about 2 hours - that may sound like a lot of time, but I had never really learned SDL (beyond the geometry needed to create the model file) or Bishop 3D. So that 2 hours includes learning a robust modeling language, and a decent 3D modeling editor. Actually, in the end, I impressed myself. 
Usage: This is an Alibre API external program . It includes program source as a Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 solution (the free express version should work fine), and there is a release compiled binary in a subdirectory. You also need POV-Ray installed, I would probably use the 32 bit version even if you are on 64 bit computer/OS (as I am). You also need Alibre obviously. Since this is using the V11 API, I would expect it to work well with V11 or V12. The only thing you might need to change is an entry in PovApp.exe.config in the bin directory that contains the path to your POV program. Once verified (and updated if needed) launch Alibre Design. Then launch this program. Select your part or assembly file, then click the Process button. With any luck, in a few seconds you will see a render in POV-Ray. You can edit the text file by hand, or load it into any SDL capable editor.  I don't plan on offering a lot of support for this, this is why the source is included - if you run into a problem just fix it! If you run into any glaring obvious program errors let me know - I will probably fix them. Do let me know if you find the program useful, and go easy on the criticism - this is open source - the community can help improve it. Probably the best place to discuss is the Alibre and/or open source forums on CNCZone. Good luck - I hope you find this program and it provides you with functionality you otherwise could not afford. Let's see some great renders. I will add a gallery page if anyone wishes to show their rendered work.   Images Courtesy of Félix Gfeller |