TheRaytracers
commented
3 years ago Thanks for your interest on our workbench :)
Roughly I would do it the following way:
Importing Workbench Modules
For the following you need some of the modules of the workbench, so add the directory where the workbench installed to the python paths (unfortunately I found no better way to import these modules):
import os
import sys
# os.path.join(App.getUserAppDataDir(), "exporttopovray") can become something like this:
# "/home/username/.FreeCAD/exporttopovray"
sys.path.append(os.path.join(App.getUserAppDataDir(), "exporttopovray"))Insert Lights
For inserting lights, two possible ways come into my mind:
-
Just run the command to insert a light via python and then get the created object.
Gui.runCommand('PointLightCommand',0) # get the created object -
Do the same thing as the light insert command does in the background; in my opinion it’s easier to get the created light with this version:
from Lights import PointLight from Lights import ViewProviderPointLight light = App.ActiveDocument.addObject("Part::FeaturePython","PointLight") PointLight(light) ViewProviderPointLight(light.ViewObject) App.ActiveDocument.recompute() # now you can manipulate properties of the light: light.Placement.Base.x = 15
Of course you can replace PointLight with SpotLight and AreaLight (also the ViewProviders).
Don't forget to recompute the document (App.ActiveDocument.recompute()).
Edit Camera
For changing the camera, there are also two possible methods:
-
This solution is a bit hacky and I would recommend the other method because you can run into problems due to other objects that may refer to constants set by the original camera, for instance the FreeCAD light that uses the position of the camera. The
ExportToPovRayclass has the methodgetCam()to get the POV-Ray code for the camera. You can derive fromExportToPovRayand overwrite this method:from Exporter import ExportToPovRay class EditedExporter(ExportToPovRay): def getCam(self): return """Your POV-Ray Camera Code""" -
Create a _user.inc file where you write your camera in as described here: PowerUser.md (There described for manual creation of the file, but the file can be created also by a python script of course, this has to be done before the export.) The idea behind the _user.inc file and how to use it exactly is also described in the power user file (further up)
Start Rendering
The workbench has two main parts: The dialog for the user, programmed in Dialog.py and the exporter that does everything considering POV-Ray in Exporter.py. The Dialog creates an object RenderSettings where all made settings are stored and pass it as an argument to the exporter. Now you skip the dialog and create the RenderSettings object by yourself and call the exporter.
(In CONTRIBUTING.md there is a section Contribute to the Code with a chart illustrating the structure of the workbench components.)
- import the necessary
RenderSettingsmodule of the workbench (the exporter is already imported from above)
from helpDefs import RenderSettings
from Exporter import ExportToPovRay # remove this if you use your own, changed Exporter as described above-
create the working directory of the project (if you use the _user.inc file you have to create the directory before of course)
directory = "/home/userName/Dokumente/PovRayScripting/" # directory where the output files should be placed os.mkdir(directory) # create directory -
create an instance of the class
RenderSettings
renderSettings = RenderSettings(
directory,
"myProject", # name of the project
800, # width of the created image in pixels
600, # height of the created image in pixels
True, # whether the FreeCAD Light should be exported or not (for your purpose probably False)
False, # whether you want to repair the rotation
False, # whether you want to export the view of the model in FreeCAD (for you probably not)
{ # the dictionary with all settings of the "Indirect Lighting" tab, here a possible example
"radiosityName": -1, # "Radiosity_" + text of the combo box, if disabled -1
"ambientTo0": True, # whether the "Set Ambient to 0" checkbox is checked
},
{ # the dictionary with all settings of the "Environment" tab, here possible example.
"enabled": True,
"option": "FreeCAD Background", # alternatively "HDRI Environment" if you want a HDRI environment
"hdrPath": "",
"transX": 0.0,
"transY": 0.0,
"transZ": 0.0,
"rotX": 90.0,
"rotY": 0.0,
"rotZ": 0.0,
}
)-
create the necessary files:
with open(renderSettings.texIncPath, "a+"): pass # create texture inc file if necessary with open(renderSettings.errorPath, "a+"): pass # create error output file if necessary # create ini file with all needed settings iniContent = "" iniContent += "Input_File_Name='" + renderSettings.povName + "'\n" iniContent += "Output_File_Name='" + renderSettings.pngName + "'\n" iniContent += "Width=" + str(renderSettings.width) + "\n" iniContent += "Height=" + str(renderSettings.height) + "\n" iniContent += "Fatal_File='" + renderSettings.errorName + "'\n" # write ini content to file with open(renderSettings.iniPath, "w") as iniFile: iniFile.write(iniContent) -
pass the
RenderSettingsinstance to the exporter:
# for the changed exporter
exporter = EditedExporter()
exporter.initExport(renderSettings)
# for the original exporter
exporter = ExportToPovRay()
exporter.initExport(renderSettings)Avoid Opening of POV-Ray
The prevention of the opening of POV-Ray can become a problem if you are on Windows because POV-Ray has no option there to run in the background. On other OS, go into the settings of the workbench (via the FreeCAD Settings) and in the "Additional Rendering Parameters" remove the +P option and add -d.
If you’re on Windows, the -d option does nothing, the removal of +P avoids that the window with the rendered image keeps open. Furthermore I would recommend for Windows Users to change the setting "Mode of Starting POV-Ray" from the recommended one to the independent start from FreeCAD to avoid the blocking of the further proceed of your script.
Open Image in FreeCAD
This can be done via this command:
import ImageGui
ImageGui.open(renderSettings.pngPath)I would put all together in a macro that you can execute (or include this in the macro that creates the models).
As you can see, these solutions are not optimal, but hopefully they work. While writing this reply here, I noticed a few issues in the exact structure of the workbench that I want to fix to make such automations easier in the future. Feel free to ask if you don’t understand everything or something doesn't work! I would be very happy if you give feedback on whether it works or not; if yes I would create a new entry in the documentation about this to make this easier accessible to all users :)
sdementen
I am testing this workbench and it looks promising. I would like to automate what I am doing now through the UI by scripting it via python. Is it possible ? and if so, would you have some doc/examples to do so ? at the end, I would like to set via scripting: lights, camera (instead of depending of the current view), running the render, retrieving the rendered image and opening it in freecad (I am creating/generating automatically document/objects in freecad and I would like also to automate the rendering part).