Introduction
Notation and Basic Assumptions
Command-line Options
Scene Description Language
Language Basics
Language Directives
Scene Settings
Camera
Atmospheric Effects
Global Settings
Radiosity
Objects
Finite Solid Primitives
Finite Patch Primitives
Infinite Solid Primitives
Isosurface Object
Parametric Object
Constructive Solid Geometry
Light Sources
Light Groups
Object Modifiers
Textures
Pigment
Normal
Finish
Halo
Patterned Textures
Layered Textures
UV Mapping
Triangle Texture Interpolation
Interior Texture
Cutaway Textures
Patterns
Pattern Modifiers
Interior & Media & Photons
Interior
Media
Photons
Include Files
arrays.inc
chars.inc
colors.inc
consts.inc
debug.inc
finish.inc
functions.inc
glass.inc, glass_old.inc
math.inc
metals.inc, golds.inc
rand.inc
shapes.inc, shapes_old.inc, shapes2.inc, shapesq.inc
skies.inc, stars.inc
stones.inc, stones1.inc, stones2.inc, stoneold.inc
stdinc.inc
strings.inc
textures.inc
transforms.inc
woodmaps.inc, woods.inc
Other files
Quick Reference
Quick Reference Contents
The Scene
Language Basics
Language Directives
Transformations
Camera
Lights
Objects
Object Modifiers
Texture
Media
Atmospheric Effects
Global Settings
POV-Ray for Unix
version 3.7
Home
POV-Ray for Unix
POV-Ray Tutorial
POV-Ray Reference
Introduction
Notation and Basic Assumptions
Command-line Options
Animation Options
External Animation Loop
Internal Animation Loop
Subsets of Animation Frames
Cyclic Animation
Field Rendering
Real-Time Raytracing
Clockless Animation
Video Capture
Options
Windows Setup
General Output Options
Height and Width of Output
Max Image Buffer Memory
Partial Output Options
Interrupting Options
Resuming Options
Display Output Options
Display Hardware Settings
Setting your Display Gamma
Display Related Settings
Mosaic Preview
File Output Options
Output File Type
Output File Name
Output File Buffer
Output File Dithering
Output File Gamma
CPU Utilization Histogram
Scene Parsing Options
Constant
Input File Name
Include File Name
Library Paths
Language Version
Shell-out to Operating System
String Substitution in Shell Commands
Shell Command Sequencing
Shell Command Return Actions
Text Output
Text Streams
Console Text Output
Directing Text Streams to Files
Warning Level
Help Screen Switches
Tracing Options
Symmetric MultiProcessing
Render Block Size
Render Pattern
Render Block Step
Quality Settings
Automatic Bounding Control
Removing User Bounding
BSP Bounding
Anti-Aliasing Options
Radiosity Options
Radiosity High Reproducibility
Radiosity Load and Save
Radiosity Vain Pretrace
Scene Description Language
Language Basics
Identifiers and Keywords
Comments
Float Expressions
Literals
Identifiers
Operators
Functions
Built-in Constants
Built-in Variables
Vector Expressions
Literals
Identifiers
Operators
Operator Promotion
Functions
Built-in Constants
Specifying Colors
Color Vectors
sRGB Colors
Color Keywords
Color Identifiers
Color Operators
Common Color Pitfalls
User-Defined Functions
Sum and Product functions
Functions and Macros
Declaring User-Defined Float Functions
Declaring User-Defined Vector Functions
Declaring User-Defined Color Functions
Internal Pre-Defined Functions
Strings
String Literals
String Identifiers
String Relational Operators
String Functions
Built-in Variables
Array Identifiers
Declaring Arrays
Array Initializers
Spline Identifiers
Splines and Macros
Language Directives
Include Files and the #include Directive
The #declare and #local Directives
Declaring identifiers
#declare vs. #local
Identifier Name Collisions
Destroying Identifiers with #undef
Deprecation Support
File I/O Directives
The #fopen Directive
The #fclose Directive
The #read Directive
The #write Directive
The #default Directive
The #version Directive
Conditional Directives
The #if...#else...#end Directives
The #ifdef and #ifndef Directives
The #for Directive
The #switch, #case, #range and #break Directives
The #while...#end Directive
User Message Directives
Text Message Streams
Text Formatting
User Defined Macros
The #macro Directive
Invoking Macros
Are POV-Ray Macros a Function or a Macro?
Returning a Value Like a Function
Returning Values Via Parameters
Scene Settings
Camera
Placing the Camera
Location and Look_At
The Sky Vector
Angles
The Direction Vector
Up and Right Vectors
Aspect Ratio
Handedness
Transforming the Camera
Types of Projection
Perspective projection
Orthographic projection
Mesh projection
Rays Per Pixel
Distribution Type
Max Distance
Mesh Object
About the Location Vector
About the Direction Vector
The Smooth Modifier
Fisheye projection
Ultra wide angle projection
Omnimax projection
Panoramic projection
Cylindrical projection
Spherical projection
Focal Blur
Camera Ray Perturbation
Camera Identifiers
Atmospheric Effects
Atmospheric Media
Background
Fog
Sky Sphere
Rainbow
Global Settings
ADC_Bailout
Ambient_Light
Assumed_Gamma
HF_Gray_16
Irid_Wavelength
Charset
Max_Trace_Level
Max_Intersections
Mm_Per_Unit
Number_Of_Waves
Noise_generator
Subsurface
Radiosity
Radiosity Basics
How Radiosity Works
Adjusting Radiosity
adc_bailout
always_sample
brightness
count
error_bound
gray_threshold
low_error_factor
max_sample
maximum_reuse
minimum_reuse
nearest_count
pretrace_start and pretrace_end
recursion_limit
Configuring Radiosity
Importance
Media and Radiosity
No Radiosity
Normal and Radiosity
Save and Load Radiosity Data
Tips on Radiosity
Objects
Finite Solid Primitives
Blob
Box
Cone
Cylinder
Height Field
Julia Fractal
Lathe
Ovus
Prism
Sphere
Sphere Sweep
Superquadric Ellipsoid
Surface of Revolution
Text
Torus
Finite Patch Primitives
Bicubic Patch
Disc
Mesh
Solid Mesh
Mesh2
Smooth and Flat triangles in the same mesh
Mesh Triangle Textures
Polygon
Triangle and Smooth Triangle
Infinite Solid Primitives
Plane
Poly, Cubic and Quartic
Quadric
Isosurface Object
Parametric Object
Constructive Solid Geometry
Inside and Outside
Union
Split_Union
Intersection
Difference
Merge
Light Sources
Point Lights
Spotlights
Cylindrical Lights
Parallel Lights
Area Lights
Shadowless Lights
Looks_like
Projected_Through
Light Fading
Atmospheric Media Interaction
Atmospheric Attenuation
Light Groups
Object Modifiers
Bounded_By
Clipped_By
Double_Illuminate
Hollow
Inverse
Material
No_Image, No_Reflection
No Radiosity
No_Shadow
Sturm
Textures
Pigment
Solid Color Pigments
Color List Pigments
Color Maps
Pigment Maps and Pigment Lists
Image Maps
Specifying an Image Map
The Gamma Option
The Filter and Transmit Bitmap Modifiers
Using the Alpha Channel
Quick Color
Normal
Slope Maps
Normals, Accuracy
Normal Maps and Normal Lists
Bump Maps
Specifying a Bump Map
Bump_Size
Use_Index and Use_Color
Scaling normals
Finish
Ambient
Emission
Diffuse Reflection Items
Diffuse
Brilliance
Crand Graininess
Subsurface Light Transport
Highlights
Phong Highlights
Specular Highlight
Metallic Highlight Modifier
Specular Reflection
Conserve Energy for Reflection
Iridescence
Halo
Patterned Textures
Texture Maps
Tiles
Material Maps
Specifying a Material Map
Layered Textures
UV Mapping
Supported Objects
UV Vectors
Triangle Texture Interpolation
Interior Texture
Cutaway Textures
Patterns
Agate
Aoi
Average
Boxed
Bozo
Brick
Bumps
Cells
Checker
Crackle Patterns
Cubic
Cylindrical
Density_File
df3 file format
Dents
Facets
Fractal Patterns
Function as pattern
What can be used
Function Image
Gradient
Granite
Hexagon
Image Pattern
Leopard
Marble
Object Pattern
Onion
Pavement
Pigment Pattern
Planar
Quilted
Radial
Ripples
Slope
Spherical
Spiral1
Spiral2
Spotted
Square
Tiling
Triangular
Waves
Wood
Wrinkles
Pattern Modifiers
Transforming Patterns
Frequency and Phase
Waveforms
Noise Generators
Turbulence
Warps
Black Hole Warp
Repeat Warp
Turbulence versus Turbulence Warp
Turbulence Warp
Octaves
Lambda
Omega
Mapping using warps
Bitmap Modifiers
The once Option
The map_type Option
The interpolate Option
Interior & Media & Photons
Interior
Why are Interior and Media Necessary?
Empty and Solid Objects
Scaling objects with an interior
Refraction
Dispersion
Dispersion & Caustics
Attenuation
Simulated Caustics
Object-Media
Media
Media Types
Absorption
Emission
Scattering
Sampling Parameters & Methods
Density
General Density Modifiers
Density with color_map
Density Maps and Density Lists
Multiple Density vs. Multiple Media
Photons
Overview
Examples
Using Photon Mapping in Your Scene
Photon Global Settings
Shooting Photons at an Object
Photons and Light Sources
Photons and Media
Photons FAQ
Photon Tips
Advanced Techniques
Autostop
Adaptive Search Radius
Photons and Dispersion
Saving and Loading Photon Maps
Include Files
arrays.inc
chars.inc
colors.inc
Predefined colors
Color macros
consts.inc
Vector constants
Map type constants
Interpolation type constants
Fog type constants
Focal blur hexgrid constants
IORs
Dispersion amounts
Scattering media type constants
debug.inc
finish.inc
functions.inc
Common Parameters
Cross Section Type
Field Strength
Field Limit
SOR Switch
SOR Offset
SOR Angle
Invert Isosurface
Internal Functions
Pre defined functions
Pattern functions
glass.inc, glass_old.inc
Glass colors (with transparency)
Glass colors (without transparency, for fade_color)
Glass finishes
Glass interiors
Glass interior macros
glass_old.inc
Glass finishes
Glass textures
math.inc
Float functions and macros
Vector functions and macros
Vector Analysis
metals.inc, golds.inc
metals.inc
golds.inc
rand.inc
Flat Distributions
Other Distributions
Continuous Symmetric Distributions
Continuous Skewed Distributions
Discrete Distributions
shapes.inc, shapes_old.inc, shapes2.inc, shapesq.inc
shapes.inc
The HF Macros
shapes_old.inc
shapes2.inc
shapesq.inc
skies.inc, stars.inc
skies.inc
stars.inc
stones.inc, stones1.inc, stones2.inc, stoneold.inc
stones1.inc
stones2.inc
stdinc.inc
strings.inc
textures.inc
Stones
Skies
Woods
Glass
Metals
Special textures
Texture and pattern macros
transforms.inc
woodmaps.inc, woods.inc
woodmaps.inc
woods.inc
Other files
logo.inc
rad_def.inc
screen.inc
stdcam.inc
stage1.inc
sunpos.inc
font files (*.ttf)
color_map files (*.map)
image files (*.png, *.pot, *.df3)
Quick Reference
Quick Reference Contents
The Scene
Language Basics
Floats
Vectors
Colors
User defined Functions
Strings
Arrays
Splines
Language Directives
File Inclusion
Identifier Declaration
File Input/Output
Default Texture
Version Identifier
Control Flow Directives
Message Streams
Macro
Embedded Directives
Transformations
Camera
Lights
Lightgroup
Objects
Finite Solid Objects
Finite Patch Objects
Infinite Solid Objects
Isosurface
Parametric
CSG
Object Modifiers
UV Mapping
Material
Interior
Interior Texture
Texture
Plain Texture
Layered Texture
Patterned Texture
Pigment
Normal
Finish
Pattern
Pattern Modifiers
Media
Atmospheric Effects
Background
Fog
Sky Sphere
Rainbow
Global Settings
Radiosity
Photons