# 2.0 Introduction to POV-Ray

The rest of this document details the use of the Persistence of Vision Ray-Tracer (POV-Ray). The documentation applies to all platforms to which this version of POV-Ray is ported. See section 1.0 for platform-specific documentation.

The following information is divided into nine main parts:

1. This introduction which explains what POV-Ray is and what ray-tracing is. It gives a brief overview of how to create ray-traced images.
2. A "Beginning Tutorial" which explains step by step how to use the different features of POV-Ray.
3. An "Advanced Tutorial" which contains more advanced tutorial topics.
4. A complete reference on "POV-Ray Options" which explains options (set either by command line switches or by INI file keywords) that tell POV-Ray how to render the scenes.
5. A complete reference on "Scene Description Language" in which you describe the scene.
6. A complete reference on the "Standard Include Files" that come with the POV-Ray package, to be used in your scenes.
7. In our "Appendices" you will find some tips and hints, where to get the latest version and versions for other platforms, the POV-Ray licence, information on compiling custom versions of POV-Ray, suggested reading, contact addresses and legal information.
8. "POV-Ray questions and tips" gives answers to many frequently-asked questions about POV-Ray.
9. Finally, a consolidation of the POV-Ray Scene Description Language in the "Quick References".

POV-Ray runs on Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000, Macintosh Mac OS and Mac OS X, x86 Linux, UNIX, and other platforms.

We assume that if you are reading this document then you already have POV-Ray installed and running. However the POV-Team does distribute this file by itself in various formats including online on the internet. If you don't have POV-Ray or aren't sure you have the official version or the latest version, see appendix "What to do if you don't have POV-Ray".

This document covers only the generic parts of the program which are common to each version. Each version has platform-specific documentation not included here. We recommend you finish reading this introductory section then read the platform-specific information before trying the tutorial here.

The platform-specific docs will show you how to render a sample scene and will give you detailed description of the platform-specific features.

The Windows version documentation is available on the POV-Ray program's Help menu or by pressing the F1 key while in the program.

The Mac platform documentation is available via the "Help" menu as well as for viewing using a regular web browser. Details may be found in the "`POV-Ray MacOS Read Me`" which contains information specific to the Mac version of POV-Ray. It is best to read this document first.

The Linux version documentation contains a plain text file `povlinux.doc` which contains its specific docs. It can be found in the main directory where you installed POV-Ray such as `/usr/.../povray35`.

The generic Unix version documentation contains a plain text file `povunix.doc` which contains its specific docs. It can be found in the main directory where you installed POV-Ray such as `/usr/.../povray35`.

In 'Introduction to POV-Ray' ...
2.1 | Program Description
2.2 | What is Ray-Tracing?
2.3 | What is POV-Ray?
2.4 | How Do I Begin?
2.5 | Notation and Basic Assumptions
2.6 | What's New in POV-Ray 3.5?