# Table of Contents

1.0 | Using POV-Ray for Unix
1.1 | Introduction
1.1.1 | What is POV-Ray™?
1.1.2 | What is POV-Ray for Unix?
1.1.2.1 | ... And What Is It Not?
1.1.3 | Who Can Use POV-Ray for Unix?
1.1.4 | Spelling
1.1.5 | Reporting Bugs
1.1.6 | Trademarks
1.2 | New Features
1.2.1 | I/O Restrictions
1.2.2 | Display Options
1.3 | Getting Started
1.3.1 | Starting a Render Job
1.3.2 | Tutorials
1.4 | I/O Restrictions
1.4.1 | High-Level Configuration
1.4.1.1 | Overall Options
1.4.1.1.1 | No Restrictions
1.4.1.1.2 | Restrict Write but Allow Read
1.4.1.1.3 | Restrict Read/Write
1.4.1.2 | Restrictions Affect all Core File I/O
1.4.1.3 | Additional Options
1.4.1.3.1 | Permit Read/Write in Current Directory
1.4.1.3.2 | Disable Starting other Programs
1.4.2 | Low-Level Configuration
1.4.2.1 | Overall Concept
1.4.2.2 | Adding or Changing Allowed Directories
1.5 | Understanding File Types
1.5.1 | POV Files
1.5.2 | INI Files
1.5.2.1 | INI File Sections
1.6 | Understanding POV-Ray Options
1.6.1 | Special Command-Line Options
1.7 | Bug Reports
1.7.1 | Feature Requests are not bugs
1.7.2 | Known Bugs
1.7.3 | Spelling
1.7.4 | Bug Reporting via Email
1.7.5 | Bug Reporting via our News Server
1.8 | Speed Considerations
1.8.1 | Render Priority
1.8.2 | Render Window
1.8.3 | Memory
1.8.4 | Scene Features
1.8.5 | Render Quality
1.9 | POV-Ray Accessories
1.9.1 | The IRTC CDROM's
1.9.2 | The IRTC CDROM (Year Three)
1.9.3 | The IRTC CDROM (Year Two)
1.9.4 | The IRTC CDROM (Year One)
2.0 | Introduction to POV-Ray
2.1 | Program Description
2.2 | What is Ray-Tracing?
2.3 | What is POV-Ray?
2.3.1 | Features
2.3.2 | The Early History of POV-Ray
2.3.2.1 | The Original Creation Message
2.3.2.2 | The Name
2.3.2.3 | A Historic 'Version History'
2.4 | How Do I Begin?
2.5 | Notation and Basic Assumptions
2.6 | What's New in POV-Ray 3.5?
2.6.1 | Noise Changes
2.6.2 | Photons, Dispersion and Improved Radiosity
2.6.3 | New Light Source Types and Light Groups
2.6.4 | Isosurface and Parametric Objects
2.6.5 | Sphere Sweep Object
2.6.6 | New More Compact Mesh Object & Solid Mesh
2.6.7 | UV Mapping
2.6.8 | Improved Textures
2.6.9 | Improved and Faster Media
2.6.10 | New Patterns
2.6.11 | New Functions
2.6.12 | Additional New Features
2.6.13 | Bug Fixes and Enhancements
2.6.14 | Changed features that may 'break' old scenes
2.6.15 | New Keywords
3.0 | Beginning Tutorial
3.1 | Our First Image
3.1.1 | Understanding POV-Ray's Coordinate System
3.1.2 | Adding Standard Include Files
3.1.3 | Adding a Camera
3.1.4 | Describing an Object
3.1.5 | Adding Texture to an Object
3.1.6 | Defining a Light Source
3.2 | Basic Shapes
3.2.1 | Box Object
3.2.2 | Cone Object
3.2.3 | Cylinder Object
3.2.4 | Plane Object
3.2.5 | Torus Object
3.3 | CSG Objects
3.3.1 | What is CSG?
3.3.2 | CSG Union
3.3.3 | CSG Intersection
3.3.4 | CSG Difference
3.3.5 | CSG Merge
3.3.6 | CSG Pitfalls
3.3.6.1 | Co-incident Surfaces
3.4 | Spline Based Shapes
3.4.1 | Lathe Object
3.4.1.1 | Understanding The Concept of Splines
3.4.2 | Surface of Revolution Object
3.4.3 | Prism Object
3.4.3.1 | Teaching An Old Spline New Tricks
3.4.3.2 | Smooth Transitions
3.4.3.3 | Multiple Sub-Shapes
3.4.3.4 | Conic Sweeps And The Tapering Effect
3.4.4 | Sphere Sweep Object
3.4.5 | Bicubic Patch Object
3.4.6 | Text Object
3.5 | Polygon Based Shapes
3.5.1 | Mesh Object
3.5.2 | Mesh2 Object
3.5.2.1 | Smooth triangles and mesh2
3.5.2.2 | UV mapping and mesh2
3.5.2.3 | A separate texture per triangle
3.5.3 | Polygon Object
3.6 | Other Shapes
3.6.1 | Blob Object
3.6.1.1 | Component Types and Other New Features
3.6.1.2 | Complex Blob Constructs and Negative Strength
3.6.2 | Height Field Object
3.6.3 | Isosurface Object
3.6.3.1 | simple functions
3.6.3.2 | several surfaces
3.6.3.3 | non-linear functions
3.6.3.4 | internal functions
3.6.3.5 | Combining isosurface functions
3.6.3.6 | noise and pigment functions
3.6.3.7 | accuracy, max_gradient, etc.
3.6.4 | Poly Object
3.6.4.1 | Creating the polynomial function
3.6.4.2 | Writing the polynomial vector
3.6.5 | Superquadric Ellipsoid Object
3.7 | The Light Source
3.7.1 | The Pointlight Source
3.7.2 | The Spotlight Source
3.7.3 | The Cylindrical Light Source
3.7.4 | The Area Light Source
3.7.5 | The Ambient Light Source
3.7.6 | Light Source Specials
3.7.6.1 | Using Shadowless Lights
3.7.6.2 | Assigning an Object to a Light Source
3.7.6.3 | Using Light Fading
3.8 | Simple Texture Options
3.8.1 | Surface Finishes
3.8.2 | Adding Bumpiness
3.8.3 | Creating Color Patterns
3.8.4 | Pre-defined Textures
3.9 | Advanced Texture Options
3.9.1 | Pigments
3.9.1.1 | Using Color List Pigments
3.9.1.2 | Using Pigment and Patterns
3.9.1.3 | Using Pattern Modifiers
3.9.1.4 | Using Transparent Pigments and Layered Textures
3.9.1.5 | Using Pigment Maps
3.9.2 | Normals
3.9.2.1 | Using Basic Normal Modifiers
3.9.2.2 | Blending Normals
3.9.3 | Finishes
3.9.3.1 | Using Ambient
3.9.3.2 | Using Surface Highlights
3.9.3.3 | Using Reflection, Metallic and Metallic
3.9.3.4 | Using Iridescence
3.9.4 | Working With Pigment Maps
3.9.5 | Working With Normal Maps
3.9.6 | Working With Texture Maps
3.9.7 | Working With List Textures
3.9.8 | What About Tiles?
3.9.9 | Average Function
3.9.10 | Working With Layered Textures
3.9.10.1 | Declaring Layered Textures
3.9.10.2 | Another Layered Textures Example
3.9.11 | When All Else Fails: Material Maps
3.9.12 | Limitations Of Special Textures
3.10 | Using the Camera
3.10.1 | Using Focal Blur
3.11 | Using Atmospheric Effects
3.11.1 | The Background
3.11.2 | The Sky Sphere
3.11.2.1 | Creating a Sky with a Color Gradient
3.11.2.2 | Adding the Sun
3.11.2.3 | Adding Some Clouds
3.11.3 | The Fog
3.11.3.1 | A Constant Fog
3.11.3.2 | Setting a Minimum Translucency
3.11.3.3 | Creating a Filtering Fog
3.11.3.4 | Adding Some Turbulence to the Fog
3.11.3.5 | Using Ground Fog
3.11.3.6 | Using Multiple Layers of Fog
3.11.3.7 | Fog and Hollow Objects
3.11.4 | The Rainbow
3.11.4.1 | Starting With a Simple Rainbow
3.11.4.2 | Increasing the Rainbow's Translucency
3.11.4.3 | Using a Rainbow Arc
3.12 | Making Animations
3.12.1 | The Clock Variable: Key To It All
3.12.2 | Clock Dependant Variables And Multi-Stage Animations
3.12.3 | The Phase Keyword
3.12.4 | Do Not Use Jitter Or Crand
3.12.5 | INI File Settings
4.0 | Advanced Tutorial
4.1 | Radiosity Tutorial
4.1.1 | Introduction
4.1.2 | Radiosity with conventional lighting
4.1.3 | Radiosity without conventional lighting
4.1.4 | Normals and Radiosity
4.1.5 | Performance considerations
4.2 | POV-Ray SDL tutorial: A raytracer
4.2.1 | Introduction
4.2.2 | The idea and the code
4.2.3 | Short introduction to raytracing
4.2.4 | Global settings
4.2.5 | Scene definition
4.2.6 | Initializing the raytracer
4.2.7 | Ray-sphere intersection
4.2.7.1 | Inner workings of a #macro
4.2.7.2 | The ray-sphere intersection macro
4.2.8 | The Trace macro
4.2.8.1 | Calculating the closest intersection
4.2.8.2 | If the ray doesn't hit anything
4.2.8.3 | Calculating the color of the pixel
4.2.8.3.1 | Initializing color calculations
4.2.8.3.2 | Going through the light sources
4.2.8.3.3 | Shadow test
4.2.8.3.4 | Diffuse lighting
4.2.8.3.5 | Specular lighting
4.2.8.3.6 | Reflection Calculation
4.2.9 | Calculating the image
4.2.10 | Creating the colored mesh
4.2.10.1 | The structure of the mesh
4.2.10.2 | Creating the mesh
4.2.10.2.1 | Creating the vertex points
4.2.10.2.2 | Creating the textures
4.2.10.2.3 | Creating the triangles
4.2.11 | The Camera-setup
5.0 | POV-Ray Options
5.1 | Setting POV-Ray Options
5.1.1 | Command Line Switches
5.1.2 | Using INI Files
5.1.3 | Using the POVINI Environment Variable
5.2 | Options Reference
5.2.1 | Animation Options
5.2.1.1 | External Animation Loop
5.2.1.2 | Internal Animation Loop
5.2.1.3 | Subsets of Animation Frames
5.2.1.4 | Cyclic Animation
5.2.1.5 | Field Rendering
5.2.2 | Output Options
5.2.2.1 | General Output Options
5.2.2.1.1 | Height and Width of Output
5.2.2.1.2 | Partial Output Options
5.2.2.1.3 | Interrupting Options
5.2.2.1.4 | Resuming Options
5.2.2.2 | Display Output Options
5.2.2.2.1 | Display Hardware Settings
5.2.2.2.2 | Setting your Display Gamma
5.2.2.2.3 | Display Related Settings
5.2.2.2.4 | Mosaic Preview
5.2.2.3 | File Output Options
5.2.2.3.1 | Output File Type
5.2.2.3.2 | Output File Name
5.2.2.3.3 | Output File Buffer
5.2.2.4 | CPU Utilization Histogram
5.2.2.4.1 | File Type
5.2.2.4.2 | File Name
5.2.2.4.3 | Grid Size
5.2.3 | Scene Parsing Options
5.2.3.1 | Constant
5.2.3.2 | Input File Name
5.2.3.3 | Include File Name
5.2.3.4 | Library Paths
5.2.3.5 | Language Version
5.2.4 | Shell-out to Operating System
5.2.4.1 | String Substitution in Shell Commands
5.2.4.2 | Shell Command Sequencing
5.2.4.3 | Shell Command Return Actions
5.2.5 | Text Output
5.2.5.1 | Text Streams
5.2.5.2 | Console Text Output
5.2.5.3 | Directing Text Streams to Files
5.2.5.4 | Warning Level
5.2.5.5 | Help Screen Switches
5.2.6 | Tracing Options
5.2.6.1 | Quality Settings
5.2.6.2 | Automatic Bounding Control
5.2.6.3 | Removing User Bounding
5.2.6.4 | Anti-Aliasing Options
6.0 | Scene Description Language
6.1 | Language Basics
6.1.1 | Identifiers and Keywords
6.1.2 | Comments
6.1.3 | Float Expressions
6.1.3.1 | Float Literals
6.1.3.2 | Float Identifiers
6.1.3.3 | Float Operators
6.1.3.4 | Built-in Float Identifiers
6.1.3.4.1 | Constant Identifiers
6.1.3.4.2 | Clock Identifiers
6.1.3.4.3 | Image Size Identifiers
6.1.3.4.4 | Version Identifier
6.1.3.5 | Boolean Keywords
6.1.3.6 | Float Functions
6.1.4 | Vector Expressions
6.1.4.1 | Vector Literals
6.1.4.2 | Vector Identifiers
6.1.4.3 | Vector Operators
6.1.4.4 | Operator Promotion
6.1.4.5 | Built-in Vector Identifiers
6.1.4.6 | Vector Functions
6.1.5 | Specifying Colors
6.1.5.1 | Color Vectors
6.1.5.2 | Color Keywords
6.1.5.3 | Color Identifiers
6.1.5.4 | Color Operators
6.1.5.5 | Common Color Pitfalls
6.1.6 | User-Defined Functions
6.1.6.1 | Sum and Product functions
6.1.6.2 | Functions and Macros
6.1.6.3 | Declaring User-Defined Float Functions
6.1.6.4 | Declaring User-Defined Vector Functions
6.1.6.5 | Declaring User-Defined Color Functions
6.1.6.6 | Internal Pre-Defined Functions
6.1.7 | Strings
6.1.7.1 | String Literals
6.1.7.2 | String Identifiers
6.1.7.3 | String Functions
6.1.8 | Array Identifiers
6.1.8.1 | Declaring Arrays
6.1.8.2 | Array Initializers
6.1.9 | Spline Identifiers
6.1.9.1 | Splines and Macros
6.2 | Language Directives
6.2.1 | Include Files and the #include Directive.
6.2.2 | The #declare and #local Directives
6.2.2.1 | Declaring identifiers
6.2.2.2 | #declare vs. #local
6.2.2.3 | Identifier Name Collisions
6.2.2.4 | Destroying Identifiers with #undef
6.2.3 | File I/O Directives
6.2.3.1 | The #fopen Directive
6.2.3.2 | The #fclose Directive
6.2.3.3 | The #read Directive
6.2.3.4 | The #write Directive
6.2.4 | The #default Directive
6.2.5 | The #version Directive
6.2.6 | Conditional Directives
6.2.6.1 | The #if...#else...#end Directives
6.2.6.2 | The #ifdef and #ifndef Directives
6.2.6.3 | The #switch, #case, #range and #break Directives
6.2.6.4 | The #while...#end Directive
6.2.7 | User Message Directives
6.2.7.1 | Text Message Streams
6.2.7.2 | Text Formatting
6.2.8 | User Defined Macros
6.2.8.1 | The #macro Directive
6.2.8.2 | Invoking Macros
6.2.8.3 | Are POV-Ray Macros a Function or a Macro?
6.2.8.4 | Returning a Value Like a Function
6.2.8.5 | Returning Values Via Parameters
6.3 | POV-Ray Coordinate System
6.3.1 | Transformations
6.3.1.1 | Translate
6.3.1.2 | Scale
6.3.1.3 | Rotate
6.3.1.4 | Matrix Keyword
6.3.2 | Transformation Order
6.3.3 | Inverse Transform
6.3.4 | Transform Identifiers
6.3.5 | Transforming Textures and Objects
6.4 | Camera
6.4.1 | Placing the Camera
6.4.1.1 | Location and Look_At
6.4.1.2 | The Sky Vector
6.4.1.3 | Angles
6.4.1.4 | The Direction Vector
6.4.1.5 | Up and Right Vectors
6.4.1.5.1 | Aspect Ratio
6.4.1.5.2 | Handedness
6.4.1.6 | Transforming the Camera
6.4.2 | Types of Projection
6.4.2.1 | Perspective projection
6.4.2.2 | Orthographic projection
6.4.2.3 | Fisheye projection
6.4.2.4 | Ultra wide angle projection
6.4.2.5 | Omnimax projection
6.4.2.6 | Panoramic projection
6.4.2.7 | Cylindrical projection
6.4.2.8 | Spherical projection
6.4.3 | Focal Blur
6.4.4 | Camera Ray Perturbation
6.4.5 | Camera Identifiers
6.5 | Objects
6.5.1 | Finite Solid Primitives
6.5.1.1 | Blob
6.5.1.2 | Box
6.5.1.3 | Cone
6.5.1.4 | Cylinder
6.5.1.5 | Height Field
6.5.1.6 | Julia Fractal
6.5.1.7 | Lathe
6.5.1.8 | Prism
6.5.1.9 | Sphere
6.5.1.10 | Spheresweep
6.5.1.11 | Superquadric Ellipsoid
6.5.1.12 | Surface of Revolution
6.5.1.13 | Text
6.5.1.14 | Torus
6.5.2 | Finite Patch Primitives
6.5.2.1 | Bicubic Patch
6.5.2.2 | Disc
6.5.2.3 | Mesh
6.5.2.3.1 | Solid Mesh
6.5.2.4 | Mesh2
6.5.2.4.1 | Smooth and Flat triangles in the same mesh
6.5.2.4.2 | Mesh Triangle Textures
6.5.2.5 | Polygon
6.5.2.6 | Triangle and Smooth Triangle
6.5.3 | Infinite Solid Primitives
6.5.3.1 | Plane
6.5.3.2 | Poly, Cubic and Quartic
6.5.3.3 | Quadric
6.5.4 | Isosurface Object
6.5.4.1 | Isosurface Syntax
6.5.4.2 | Functions in Isosurface
6.5.4.3 | Transformations on Functions
6.5.4.3.1 | Functions, Scale
6.5.4.3.2 | Scale Infinitely
6.5.4.3.3 | Functions, Translate
6.5.4.3.4 | Functions, Shear
6.5.4.3.5 | Functions, Rotate
6.5.4.3.6 | Functions, Flip
6.5.4.3.7 | Functions, Twist
6.5.4.4 | Combining Functions
6.5.4.4.1 | Functions, Merge
6.5.4.4.2 | Functions, Intersection
6.5.4.4.3 | Functions, Difference
6.5.4.4.4 | Functions, Blob
6.5.4.4.5 | Functions, Negative Blob
6.5.4.4.6 | Functions, Blend
6.5.4.5 | Improving Isosurface Speed
6.5.4.5.1 | Using Accuracy
6.5.4.5.2 | Container
6.5.4.5.3 | Maximum Gradient
6.5.5 | Parametric Object
6.5.6 | Constructive Solid Geometry
6.5.6.1 | Inside and Outside
6.5.6.2 | Union
6.5.6.2.1 | Split_Union
6.5.6.3 | Intersection
6.5.6.4 | Difference
6.5.6.5 | Merge
6.5.7 | Light Sources
6.5.7.1 | Point Lights
6.5.7.2 | Spotlights
6.5.7.3 | Cylindrical Lights
6.5.7.4 | Parallel Lights
6.5.7.5 | Area Lights
6.5.7.6 | Shadowless Lights
6.5.7.7 | Looks_like
6.5.7.8 | Projected_Through
6.5.7.9 | Light Fading
6.5.7.10 | Atmospheric Media Interaction
6.5.7.11 | Atmospheric Attenuation
6.5.8 | Light Groups
6.5.9 | Object Modifiers
6.5.9.1 | Clipped_By
6.5.9.2 | Bounded_By
6.5.9.3 | Material
6.5.9.4 | Inverse
6.5.9.5 | Hollow
6.5.9.6 | No_Shadow
6.5.9.7 | No_Image, No_Reflection
6.5.9.8 | Double_Illuminate
6.5.9.9 | Sturm
6.6 | Interior
6.6.1 | Why are Interior and Media Necessary?
6.6.2 | Empty and Solid Objects
6.6.3 | Scaling objects with an interior.
6.6.4 | Refraction
6.6.5 | Dispersion
6.6.6 | Attenuation
6.6.7 | Faked Caustics
6.6.8 | Object-Media
6.7 | Textures
6.7.1 | Pigment
6.7.1.1 | Solid Color Pigments
6.7.1.2 | Color List Pigments
6.7.1.3 | Color Maps
6.7.1.4 | Pigment Maps and Pigment Lists
6.7.1.5 | Image Maps
6.7.1.5.1 | Specifying an Image Map
6.7.1.5.2 | The Filter and Transmit Bitmap Modifiers
6.7.1.5.3 | Using the Alpha Channel
6.7.1.6 | Quick Color
6.7.2 | Normal
6.7.2.1 | Slope Maps
6.7.2.1.1 | Normals, Accuracy
6.7.2.2 | Normal Maps and Normal Lists
6.7.2.3 | Bump Maps
6.7.2.3.1 | Specifying a Bump Map
6.7.2.3.2 | Bump_Size
6.7.2.3.3 | Use_Index and Use_Color
6.7.2.4 | Scaling normals
6.7.3 | Finish
6.7.3.1 | Ambient
6.7.3.2 | Diffuse Reflection Items
6.7.3.2.1 | Diffuse
6.7.3.2.2 | Brilliance
6.7.3.2.3 | Crand Graininess
6.7.3.3 | Highlights
6.7.3.3.1 | Phong Highlights
6.7.3.3.2 | Specular Highlight
6.7.3.3.3 | Metallic Highlight Modifier
6.7.3.4 | Specular Reflection
6.7.3.5 | Conserve Energy for Reflection
6.7.3.6 | Iridescence
6.7.4 | Halo
6.7.5 | Patterned Textures
6.7.5.1 | Texture Maps
6.7.5.2 | Tiles
6.7.5.3 | Material Maps
6.7.5.3.1 | Specifying a Material Map
6.7.6 | Layered Textures
6.7.7 | UV Mapping
6.7.7.1 | Supported Objects
6.7.7.2 | UV Vectors
6.7.8 | Triangle Texture Interpolation
6.7.9 | Interior Texture
6.7.10 | Cutaway Textures
6.7.11 | Patterns
6.7.11.1 | Agate
6.7.11.2 | Average
6.7.11.3 | Boxed
6.7.11.4 | Bozo
6.7.11.5 | Brick
6.7.11.6 | Bumps
6.7.11.7 | Cells
6.7.11.8 | Checker
6.7.11.9 | Crackle Patterns
6.7.11.10 | Cylindrical
6.7.11.11 | Density_File
6.7.11.12 | Dents
6.7.11.13 | Facets
6.7.11.14 | Fractal Patterns
6.7.11.15 | Function as pattern
6.7.11.15.1 | What can be used
6.7.11.16 | Function Image
6.7.11.17 | Gradient
6.7.11.18 | Granite
6.7.11.19 | Hexagon
6.7.11.20 | Image Pattern
6.7.11.21 | Leopard
6.7.11.22 | Marble
6.7.11.23 | Object-pattern
6.7.11.24 | Onion
6.7.11.25 | Pigment Pattern
6.7.11.26 | Planar
6.7.11.27 | Quilted
6.7.11.28 | Radial
6.7.11.29 | Ripples
6.7.11.30 | Slope
6.7.11.31 | Spherical
6.7.11.32 | Spiral1
6.7.11.33 | Spiral2
6.7.11.34 | Spotted
6.7.11.35 | Waves
6.7.11.36 | Wood
6.7.11.37 | Wrinkles
6.7.12 | Pattern Modifiers
6.7.12.1 | Transforming Patterns
6.7.12.2 | Frequency and Phase
6.7.12.3 | Waveforms
6.7.12.4 | Noise Generators
6.7.12.5 | Turbulence
6.7.12.6 | Warps
6.7.12.6.1 | Black Hole Warp
6.7.12.6.2 | Repeat Warp
6.7.12.6.3 | Turbulence versus Turbulence Warp
6.7.12.6.4 | Turbulence Warp
6.7.12.6.4.1 | Octaves
6.7.12.6.4.2 | Lambda
6.7.12.6.4.3 | Omega
6.7.12.6.5 | Mapping using warps
6.7.12.7 | Bitmap Modifiers
6.7.12.7.1 | The once Option
6.7.12.7.2 | The map_type Option
6.7.12.7.3 | The interpolate Option
6.8 | Media
6.8.1 | Media Types
6.8.1.1 | Absorption
6.8.1.2 | Emission
6.8.1.3 | Scattering
6.8.2 | Sampling Parameters & Methods
6.8.3 | Density
6.8.3.1 | General Density Modifiers
6.8.3.2 | Density with color_map
6.8.3.3 | Density Maps and Density Lists
6.8.3.4 | Multiple Density vs. Multiple Media
6.9 | Atmospheric Effects
6.9.1 | Atmospheric Media
6.9.2 | Background
6.9.3 | Fog
6.9.4 | Sky Sphere
6.9.5 | Rainbow
6.10 | Photons
6.10.1 | Overview
6.10.1.1 | Examples
6.10.2 | Using Photon Mapping in Your Scene
6.10.2.1 | Photon Global Settings
6.10.2.2 | Shooting Photons at an Object
6.10.2.3 | Photons and Light Sources
6.10.2.4 | Photons and Media
6.10.3 | Photons FAQ
6.10.4 | Photon Tips
6.10.5 | Advanced Techniques
6.10.5.1 | Autostop
6.10.5.2 | Adaptive Search Radius
6.10.5.3 | Photons and Dispersion
6.10.5.4 | Saving and Loading Photon Maps
6.11 | Global Settings
6.11.1 | ADC_Bailout
6.11.2 | Ambient_Light
6.11.3 | Assumed_Gamma
6.11.3.1 | Monitor Gamma
6.11.3.2 | Image File Gamma
6.11.3.3 | Scene File Gamma
6.11.4 | HF_Gray_16
6.11.5 | Irid_Wavelength
6.11.6 | Charset
6.11.7 | Max_Trace_Level
6.11.8 | Max_Intersections
6.11.9 | Number_Of_Waves
6.11.10 | Noise_generator
6.11.11 | Radiosity
6.11.11.1 | How Radiosity Works
6.11.11.2 | Adjusting Radiosity
6.11.11.2.1 | radiosity adc_bailout
6.11.11.2.2 | always_sample
6.11.11.2.3 | brightness
6.11.11.2.4 | count
6.11.11.2.5 | error_bound
6.11.11.2.6 | gray_threshold
6.11.11.2.7 | low_error_factor
6.11.11.2.8 | max_sample
6.11.11.2.9 | Media and Radiosity
6.11.11.2.10 | minimum_reuse
6.11.11.2.11 | nearest_count
6.11.11.2.12 | Normal and Radiosity
6.11.11.2.13 | Pretrace
6.11.11.2.14 | recursion_limit
6.11.11.2.15 | Save and load radiosity data
6.11.11.3 | Tips on Radiosity
7.0 | Standard Include Files
7.1 | arrays.inc
7.2 | chars.inc
7.3 | colors.inc
7.3.1 | colors.inc - Predefined colors
7.3.2 | colors.inc - Color macros
7.4 | consts.inc
7.4.1 | consts.inc - Vector constants
7.4.2 | consts.inc - Map type constants
7.4.3 | consts.inc - Interpolation type constants
7.4.4 | consts.inc - Fog type constants
7.4.5 | consts.inc - Focal blur hexgrid constants
7.4.6 | consts.inc - IORs
7.4.7 | consts.inc - Disperion amounts
7.4.8 | consts.inc - Scattering media type constants
7.5 | debug.inc
7.6 | finish.inc
7.7 | functions.inc
7.7.1 | functions.inc - Common Parameters
7.7.1.1 | Field Strength
7.7.1.2 | Field Limit
7.7.1.3 | SOR Switch
7.7.1.4 | SOR Offset
7.7.1.5 | SOR Angle
7.7.1.6 | Invert Isosurface
7.7.2 | functions.inc - Internal Functions
7.7.3 | functions.inc - Pre defined functions
7.7.3.1 | Pattern functions
7.8 | glass.inc
7.8.1 | glass.inc - Glass colors (with transparency)
7.8.2 | glass.inc - Glass colors (without transparency, for fade_color)
7.8.3 | glass.inc - Glass finishes
7.8.4 | glass.inc - Glass interiors:
7.8.5 | glass.inc - Glass interior macros
7.9 | glass_old.inc
7.9.1 | glass_old.inc - Glass finishes
7.9.2 | glass_old.inc - Glass textures
7.10 | math.inc
7.10.1 | math.inc - Float functions and macros
7.10.2 | math.inc - Vector functions and macros
7.10.3 | math.inc - Vector Analysis
7.11 | metals.inc, golds.inc
7.11.1 | metals.inc
7.11.2 | golds.inc
7.12 | rand.inc
7.12.1 | rand.inc - Flat Distributions
7.12.2 | rand.inc - Other Distributions
7.12.2.1 | Continuous Symmetric Distributions
7.12.2.2 | Continuous Skewed Distributions
7.12.2.3 | Discrete Distributions
7.13 | shapes.inc, shapes_old.inc, shapes2.inc, shapesq.inc
7.13.1 | shapes.inc
7.13.1.1 | The HF Macros
7.13.2 | shapes_old.inc
7.13.3 | shapes2.inc
7.13.4 | shapesq.inc
7.14 | skies.inc, stars.inc
7.14.1 | skies.inc
7.14.2 | stars.inc
7.15 | stones.inc, stones1.inc, stones2.inc, stoneold.inc
7.15.1 | stones1.inc
7.15.2 | stones2.inc
7.16 | stdinc.inc
7.17 | strings.inc
7.18 | textures.inc
7.18.1 | textures.inc - Stones
7.18.2 | textures.inc - Skies
7.18.3 | textures.inc - Woods
7.18.4 | textures.inc - Glass
7.18.5 | textures.inc - Metals
7.18.6 | textures.inc - Special textures
7.18.7 | textures.inc - Texture and pattern macros
7.19 | transforms.inc
7.20 | woodmaps.inc, woods.inc
7.20.1 | woodmaps.inc
7.20.2 | woods.inc
7.21 | Other files
7.21.1 | logo.inc
7.21.2 | rad_def.inc
7.21.3 | screen.inc
7.21.4 | stdcam.inc
7.21.5 | stage1.inc
7.21.6 | sunpos.inc
7.21.7 | font files (*.ttf)
7.21.8 | color_map files (*.map)
7.21.9 | image files (*.png, *.pot, *.df3)
8.0 | Appendices
8.1 | POV-Ray Legal Document
8.2 | The POV-Team
8.2.1 | Contacting the Authors
8.2.2 | The TAG
8.2.3 | POV-Ray 3.5 Development
8.3 | What to do if you don't have POV-Ray
8.3.1 | Which Version of POV-Ray should you use?
8.3.1.1 | Microsoft Windows 9x/NT/2000
8.3.1.2 | Linux for Intel x86
8.3.1.3 | Apple Macintosh
8.3.1.4 | Generic Unix
8.3.1.5 | All Versions
8.3.2 | Where to Find POV-Ray Files
8.3.2.1 | World Wide Website www.povray.org
8.3.2.2 | Books, Magazines and CD-ROMs
8.4 | Suggested Reading
9.0 | POV-Ray Questions and Tips
9.1 | Language
9.1.1 | Tips and tricks to achieve useful things
9.1.1.1 | How do I make a visible light source?
9.1.1.2 | How do I make bright objects?
9.1.1.3 | How do I move the camera in a circular path?
9.1.1.4 | How do I use an image to texture my object?
9.1.1.5 | How can I generate a spline?
9.1.1.6 | How can I simulate motion blur?
9.1.1.7 | How can I find the size of a text object?
9.1.1.8 | How do I make extruded text?
9.1.1.9 | How do I make an object hollow?
9.1.1.10 | How can I fill a glass with water or other objects?
9.1.1.11 | How can I bend a object?
9.1.1.12 | Can I get non-grainy focal blur?
9.1.2 | Things that don't work as one expects
9.1.2.1 | Using several transparent objects makes them black?
9.1.2.2 | I'm getting color banding in the image.
9.1.2.3 | Rotation behaves very strangely.
9.1.2.4 | The image gets distorted when rendering a square image.
9.1.2.5 | Why are there strange dark pixels or noise on my CSG object?
9.1.2.6 | Why won't the textures in stars.inc work with my sky_sphere?
9.1.2.7 | When I use filter or transmit with my .tga image map nothing happens.
9.1.2.8 | Isosurface not rendering properly?
9.1.3 | Other related things
9.1.3.1 | How do I turn animation on?
9.1.3.2 | Can POV-Ray use multiple processors?
9.1.3.3 | Can I get a wireframe render of my scene?
9.1.3.4 | Can I specify variable IOR for an object?
9.1.3.5 | What is Photon Mapping?
9.2 | File Formats
9.2.1 | Saving the image to disk.
9.2.2 | Can I convert my POV-Ray scenes to another format?
9.2.3 | How can I convert my scenes from format X to POV-Ray format?
9.2.4 | How do I import all of my textures I created in 3DS Max into POV-Ray?
9.2.5 | How can I avoid artifacts and still get good JPEG compression?
9.2.6 | Why are there no converters from POV to other formats?
9.2.7 | Why are triangle meshes in ASCII format?
9.3 | Utilities, models, etc.
9.3.1 | What is the best animation program available?
9.3.2 | Creating/viewing MPEG-files.
9.3.3 | Where can I find models/textures?
9.3.4 | What are the best modellers for POV-Ray?
9.3.5 | Any POV-Ray modellers for Mac?
9.3.6 | Is there any user gallery of POV-Ray images?
9.3.7 | Any good heightfield modellers?
9.3.8 | Any easy way of creating trees?
9.4 | Rendering speed
9.4.1 | Will POV-Ray render faster with a 3D card?
9.4.2 | How do I increase rendering speed?
9.4.3 | CSG speed.
9.4.4 | Does POV-Ray support 3DNow?
9.5 | Miscellaneous questions
9.5.1 | Suggesting new features.
9.5.2 | I'm getting a "Illegal grid value in dda_traversal()".
9.5.3 | No beep when finished?
9.5.4 | POV-Ray viruses?
9.5.5 | GUI for Unix POV-Ray?
9.6 | Moray questions.
9.6.1 | Changing handedness?
9.6.2 | Moray objects get mirrored in POV-Ray.
9.6.3 | Importing POV-Ray files.
9.6.4 | How do Moray UDOs work?
9.7 | While-loop tutorial
9.7.1 | What a while-loop is and what it is not
9.7.2 | How does a single while-loop work?
9.7.3 | How do I make a while-loop?
9.7.4 | What is a condition and how do I make one?
9.7.5 | What about loop types other than simple for-loops?
9.7.6 | What about nested loops?
9.7.7 | Mixed-type nested loops
9.7.8 | Other things to note
9.8 | The shadow line artifact
9.8.1 | What is the problem?
9.8.2 | What causes the problem?
9.8.3 | Can this problem be solved?
9.8.4 | Possible solutions?
9.9 | Smooth triangle artifact
9.9.1 | What is the problem?
9.9.2 | What causes the problem?
9.9.3 | Can this problem be solved?
10.0 | Quick References
10.1 | SDL Quick Reference
10.1.1 | Quick Reference Contents
10.1.2 | The Scene
10.1.3 | Language Basics
10.1.3.1 | Floats
10.1.3.2 | Vectors
10.1.3.3 | Colors
10.1.3.4 | User defined Functions
10.1.3.5 | Strings
10.1.3.6 | Arrays
10.1.3.7 | Splines
10.1.4 | Language Directives
10.1.4.1 | File Inclusion
10.1.4.2 | Identifier Declaration
10.1.4.3 | File Input/Output
10.1.4.4 | Default Texture
10.1.4.5 | Version Identfier
10.1.4.6 | Conditional Directives
10.1.4.7 | Message Streams
10.1.4.8 | Macro
10.1.4.9 | Embedded Directives
10.1.5 | Transformations
10.1.6 | Camera
10.1.7 | Lights
10.1.7.1 | Lightgroup
10.1.8 | Objects
10.1.8.1 | Finite Solid Objects
10.1.8.2 | Finite Patch Objects
10.1.8.3 | Infinite Solid Objects
10.1.8.4 | Isosurface
10.1.8.5 | Parametric
10.1.8.6 | CSG
10.1.9 | Object Modifiers
10.1.9.1 | UV Mapping
10.1.9.2 | Material
10.1.9.3 | Interior
10.1.9.4 | Interior Texture
10.1.10 | Texture
10.1.10.1 | Plain Texture
10.1.10.2 | Layered Texture
10.1.10.3 | Patterned Texture
10.1.10.4 | Pigment
10.1.10.5 | Normal
10.1.10.6 | Finish
10.1.10.7 | Pattern
10.1.10.8 | Pattern Modifiers
10.1.11 | Media
10.1.12 | Atmospheric Effects
10.1.12.1 | Background
10.1.12.2 | Fog
10.1.12.3 | Sky Sphere
10.1.12.4 | Rainbow
10.1.13 | Global Settings
10.1.13.1 | Radiosity
10.1.13.2 | Photons
11.0 | POV-Ray CDROM's and Accessories
11.1 | The POV-Ray 10th Anniversary Commemorative Keyring
11.2 | The IRTC CDROM's
11.2.1 | The IRTC CDROM (Year Four)
11.2.2 | The IRTC CDROM (Year Three)
11.2.3 | The IRTC CDROM (Year Two)
11.2.4 | The IRTC CDROM (Year One)