
		      PP3 -- Celestial charts generation

			    Version 1.3  2003/07/29
			  http://pp3.sourceforge.net

			   (c) 2003 Torsten Bronger
               			    <bronger@users.sourceforge.net>

                                           See the file COPYING or the above
                                           web address for licence information.
INSTALLATION

There is a binary distribution for the Linux (RPM) and one for the Windows
platform, and two source distributions, a full and a 'crippled' one.  The
crippled version has no Milky Way and no nebulae data, and it doesn't contain
the CWEB source code making it more difficult to adjust the source to your
compiler's peculiarities.

Please note that PP3 produces nothing else but a LaTeX file.  Thus you must
have LaTeX installed if you want to get the actual map.  It is not necessary to
be able to use LaTeX though.  If you want PP3 to produce an EPS or a PDF, dvips
and ps2pdf must be installed properly, too.  (However mostly they are part of
the TeX distribution anyway.)  See PP3's homepage for more information.

The only really critical point is that PP3 needs to find its data files (all
files with the .dat extension).  By default,

  * the Windows version looks for them in the current directory, and

  * the Linux version looks for them in the directory /usr/local/share/pp3

If you don't like that, you can move them to another directory and set the
environment variable PP3DATA to that directory.  It it also possible to
recompile PP3 with a different default data directory.  For this, change the
beginning of the Makefile.


USAGE

See below for the documentation.  But for a quick test, enter the examples/
directory and say

pp3 leo.pp3

The result should be a file leo.eps with the constellation of Lion.

    If you want to see the Milky Way on your maps, you probably have to set the
    main memory size (pool size) of your TeX distribution to its maximal value.
    This is very implementation specific.  With teTeX (Linux) you have to find
    the file texmf.cnf and set main_memory.latex to 7500000.  Then call
    "fmtutil --byfmt latex".  With fpTeX/TeXLive (Windows) it's probably
    similar, however MikTeX (Windows too) is different.  Have a look in the
    manual of your TeX distribution for definitive information.


DOCUMENTATION

The documentation of PP3 is its well-documented source code.  Its header tells
you how you can make a neat pp3.ps from it.  This may have been done already
for your distribution.  In this case, just print pp3.ps or read it with your
favourite PostScript viewer.  You can also download this file as a PDF from
PP3's homepage.

Please don't be afraid -- if you skip the C++ code, there is much useful,
readable, and neatly printed information.  Especially the first pages are
important, because there the usage of PP3 and the file format of the input
scripts are explained.

Another important source of information are the example input scripts in
examples/.

On PP3's project web page you can download a concise reference card.


DATABASES

PP3's standard distribution bases on the following original data compilations:

stars          BSC                              Hoffleit & Warren(1)
nebulae        NGC/IC                           Wolfgang Steinicke(2)
boundaries     Cat. of Constell. Boundary Data  Davenhall & Leggett(3)
Milky Way      Sky Panorama View                Axel Mellinger(4)

(1) Being part of the Carte Du Ciel distribution
(2) http://www.ngcic.com/steinicke/default.htm
(3) ftp://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/cats/VI/49
(4) http://home.arcor-online.de/axel.mellinger/
