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Rendering and Output 
 POV-Ray Tips, 
 Tricks, and Techniques
Post Frame/Scene Shellout? 
 
Grant Hiebert asks for advice: I have been trying to use the post frame/scene shell out features of the POV-Ray for Windows INI files and have been having some trouble.  The problem is that I can get it to shell out very nicely, but once the sub program finishes, POV-Ray won't restart!  It just sits there with an open window waiting for me to close it. Once I manually close the shell out window POV-Ray takes over again (but that kinda defeats the purpose I think).  If anyone could help me on this I would appreciate it.

Thanx

P.S. I have been trying to use the files ZIPFLI.INI and ZIPFLC.INI that are included with POV-Ray for Windows
 
Chris Colefax knows Windows:
 If you are using Windows 95, this is probably because of the shell program's run settings (the same as PIF files in earlier versions of Windows).  To make sure that the program closes automatically after it has finished, you will need to change the program's properties:

1) Open the Windows Explorer, and find the folder that contains the program that is being run (EXE, COM, or BAT file).

2) Right click on the program icon and click on Properties.

3) Click on the Program tab, and make sure the "Close on Exit" checkbox is ticked.

4) Click on OK to save the setting.  This will create a PIF file with the same name as the program or batch file you first selected.

Next time POV-Ray calls the program, it should close automatically when it is finished, passing control back to POV-Ray.

NOTE: If you don't want to bother searching through the Explorer to find the right file, just start rendering as you did before.  When the window comes up waiting to be closed, click on the MS-DOS icon in the top-left corner of the window, and click on Properties.  Follow steps 3 and 4 above to have Windows automatically create the PIF file in the right place, and next time you should have no problems.
 
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