32. So, what can I do with HyperChem Raytrace?

Short answer is that you can create some stunning images like this for your poster or web site! (See below for "10 easy steps.")

HyperChem Raytrace 1.0 is a program provided with the HyperChem 5 suite of programs. It acts as a "bridge" between HyperChem and a very high-level graphics visualization application known as Persistence of Vision (POV) Ray for Windows.

POV is a 3-D ray-tracing program. It takes information you supply in the form of text and simulates the way light interacts with the objects you've defined in order to create high-quality 3D pictures. Here's a sample of the text input you would specify:

// Comments go here.... #include "atommat.inc" #declare Texture_C = texture { pigment { color rgb <0,1,1> } finish { phong 1 } } #declare MolecularSystem = union { sphere { <1.380315,-3.384202,1.001308E-07>, 0.48 texture { Texture_C } } } // end #declare MolecularSystem #declare ViewingTransform = transform { matrix < 1 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 1 , 0.54066 , -0.05579 , -55 > } // end #declare ViewingTransform object { MolecularSystem transform ViewingTransform } light_source { < 20 , 20 , 20 > color rgb < 1 , 1 , 1 > } #declare ViewDistance = 40 #declare ViewSize = 0.18559762053425 #declare AspectRatio = (4/3) camera { location <0, 0, 0> direction <0, 0, -1> right <ViewSize, 0, 0> * AspectRatio up <0, ViewSize, 0> //focal_point <0, 0, -ViewDistance> } background { SkyBlue }

This is a fairly "human-readable" file, and its pattern is easy enough to automate. Hence, the beauty of HyperChem Raytrace--it simplifies the process of creating this text file by reading in the HyperChem image and setting up certain default options.

Once the POV text file has been created, it can be run through the POV Ray engine. This freeware is also supplied on the HyperChem 5 CD-ROM.

How to create the above GIF file in 10 easy steps:

Make sure the following items are installed properly on your system: HyperChem 5, HyperChem Raytrace and POV Ray for Windows (all from the CD) and LView Pro (shareware downloadable from http://world.std.com/~mmedia).
Start up HyperChem 5 and open the file Hyper5/Samples/Organics/caffeine.hin.
Start up HyperChem Raytrace and select the menu items File/Get HyperChem and then File/Run POV-Ray.
This will start the POV-Ray window, which will look sort of like the text file shown above, and then POV-Ray will start a small Render Window which creates the caffeine species on a black background.
In POV-Ray, choose File/Open File in Current Window and look for the file caffeine.POV.
Modify the following lines of caffeine.POV : background { Pink } and Texture_C {{color <1,0.5,1> ... and light_source. Save. (These are, obviously, just sample settings; you will have fun playing around with colors, sphere sizes, textures, light source placement....)
On the far right-hand side of the POV Ray dialog box, choose 320 X 240 from the pop-up menu.
From the POV-Ray menus choose Render/Start Rendering and then sit back and watch!
From HyperChem Raytrace choose File/Save As and specify a file name of caffeine.BMP (bitmap). This will cause the program to begin re-writing the image as a BMP image.
To create the GIF file you see here, open the program LView, and read in caffeine.BMP and then do File/Save As caffeine.GIF. (You might have another favorite BMP-to-GIF converter program.) Or to output this file to a printer, use the Microsoft Desk Accessory program called "Paint"--this permits you to add annotations.

For more information:

Look at the "Beginner's FAQ": http://www.whoville.com/pov-ray/faq/faq.html .

To learn more about POV-Ray, visit the POV-Ray web-site: http://www.povray.org. This will give you pointers for creating a wide range of textures and special effects.

For other graphics converter programs (once you get the rendered window), visit http://www.tucows.org (a.k.a. The Ultimate Collection of Windows Software).

File types that can be created by HyperChem Raytrace:

TGA -- Targa True Color

PNG -- Portable Network Graphics ("the successor to GIF")

BMP -- Windows Bitmap (open using "Paint")

PPM -- Unix PPM

POV -- Persistence of Vision -- text input file for POV-Ray.

Typical problems (and their solutions) with HyperChem Raytrace:

Forgetting to install POVRay -- double click on the povwin3.exe self-installing executable file.
Not installing "atommat.inc" in the proper directory -- you must copy it to the default directory C:\Program Files\POV-Ray for Windows\Include.
Forgetting to set the Decimal Separator setting in the "Regional Settings" (see Control Panel)--the separator must be "." not "," during installation and running of the software.
No Render Window appearing after you select File/Run POVRay --look for the small window icon on your desktop and re-size.

Known problems with version 1.0 of HyperChem Raytrace:

Both it and the POV-Ray engine are sensitive to the Decimal Separator setting in the "Regional Settings" (see Control Panel). The separator must be "." not "," during installation and running of the software.
The File/Save As pop-up menu does not show the full range of file extensions which HyperChem Raytrace can save. (You might only be able to save POV or BMP files.)
The background color specified through the Options/Background menu setting in HyperChem Raytrace may not be properly translated. Modify the line in the .POV file created by the POV engine which says background { Black } to the color you desire.
HyperChem Raytrace does not save the image in "popular web" formats such as JPEG or GIF ... hence, the LView work-around.
Did we miss something? Please report problems to support@hyper.com

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