4. Render the molecule using POV-Ray

This tutorial is part of a detailed guide on making an abstract scientific illustration. You can get all the files associated with the guide here.

POV-Ray is a freeware that can be downloaded here. The purpose of using POV-Ray is to produce a figure of very high resolution. 

1. Open the produced .pov file in POV-Ray. Create a high resolution settings definition in POV-Ray:
Go to Tools -> Edit resolution INI file.



2. In the INI file, make a new set of settings as shown below.
[3500x2200, AA 0.3]
Width=3500
Height=2200
Antialias=On
Antialias_Threshold=0.3



3. Save the file and restart POV-Ray.


4. Make sure the background of the final image is set to black as shown below.
background {
  color rgb<0.000, 0.000, 0.000>



5. Press run. This will create a bitmap file of the figure with resolution 3500x2200.