HowTo:Use POV-Ray with Blender - Revision history

Maurice: Update to download and log urls

2026-03-23T09:43:10Z

Update to download and log urls

Maurice at 11:30, 21 March 2025

2025-03-21T11:30:38Z

Maurice at 09:04, 21 March 2025

2025-03-21T09:04:20Z

Maurice at 08:57, 21 March 2025

2025-03-21T08:57:46Z

Maurice at 21:16, 28 January 2025

2025-01-28T21:16:35Z

Maurice: /* texture (pigment+normal+finish) */

2025-01-27T22:46:57Z

texture (pigment+normal+finish)

Maurice: /* POV-Ray specific concepts */

2025-01-27T22:45:49Z

POV-Ray specific concepts

Maurice: /* POV-Ray specific concepts */

2025-01-27T22:44:02Z

POV-Ray specific concepts

Maurice: /* Standard Script Information */

2025-01-27T22:37:20Z

Standard Script Information

Maurice: /* Standard Script Information */

2025-01-27T22:23:35Z

Standard Script Information

@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 The POV-Ray exporter is shipped with every official Blender release, so you can start using it directly.
-However, after checking the logs of [http://developer.blender.org/diffusion/BA/history/master/render_povray/ every commit to the source] of the script for new features or bug fixes, if you find out you need an update,
+However, after checking the logs of [https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray/commits/branch/main/source every commit to the source] of the script for new features or bug fixes, if you find out you need an update,
 *You can download all the script at once by clicking ''<u>snapshot</u>''
-[http://git.blender.org/gitweb/gitweb.cgi/blender-addons.git/tree/refs/heads/master:/render_povray on this page].
+[https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray/archive/main.zip here].
 = Usage =

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 <table width=100% border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=5 style="text-align:center;">
 <tr><td width=33% bgcolor=#EEEEEF>
-<font size="+2">[[HowTo:Use_POV-Ray_with_Blender|▼ User's page]]</font size="+2"></td>
+<font size="+2">[[HowTo:Use_POV-Ray_with_Blender|▼ Users]]</font size="+2"></td>
 <td width=33% align=center>[[File:POVExporterLogo.png|center|100px|link=https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/povable]]</td>
 <td width=33% bgcolor=#EEEEEF align=center>
-<font size="+2">[[HowTo:Use_POV-Ray_with_Blender/Developers|Go To Developer's page ►]]</font size="+2"></td></tr>
+<font size="+2">[[HowTo:Use_POV-Ray_with_Blender/Developers|Developers ►]]</font size="+3"></td></tr>
 </table>
 <!--</wikinav>--->
@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 <div class="clearBoth"></div>
 <div style="text-align:center; border-top: grey solid 1px;">
-<ul style="font-size:1.1em; list-style-type:none;"><li><font size="+2">[http://developer.blender.org/diffusion/BA/history/master/render_povray/ Latest News]</font size="+2"></li>
+<font size="+2"><center>[https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray/commits/branch/main/source News]|[irc://irc.libera.chat/povray Chat]|[https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray.rss RSS]|[https://blenderartists.org/tag/povray Forum]</center></font size="+2">
 </div>
@@ Line 57: / Line 54: @@
 volumetrics and media (scattering/absorbing), blurry reflections(uberpov), ghosting for motion blur(uberpov), micropoly displacement (HGPOV) etc.
 }}
 <div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>
+<br>
 [[HowTo:Use_POV-Ray_with_Blender#Standard_Script_Information|Standard Script Information]] at the bottom of this page.

@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 <div style="text-align:center; border-top: grey solid 1px;">
 <ul style="font-size:1.1em; list-style-type:none;"><li><font size="+2">[http://developer.blender.org/diffusion/BA/history/master/render_povray/ Latest News]</font size="+2"></li>
-<li>[irc://irc.libera.chat/povray POV-Focused Chat room, IRC: #povray at freenode]</li>
+<li>[irc://irc.libera.chat/povray POV-Focused Chat room, IRC: #povray at libera.chat]</li>
 <li>[https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray.rss RSS feed]</li>
-<li>[https://blenderartists.org/tag/povray]</li></ul>
+<li>[https://blenderartists.org/tag/povray Blenderartists.org forum (use the povray tag)]</li></ul>
 </div>

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 <!--<wikinav>--->
 <br>
@@ Line 46: / Line 25: @@
 *---
 *design ideas
-*[[Media:regression_and_test_blendfiles.zip|regression files]]
+*[[Media:test_blendfiles.zip|regression files]]
 </div>
@@ Line 53: / Line 32: @@
 <div style="text-align:center; border-top: grey solid 1px;">
 <ul style="font-size:1.1em; list-style-type:none;"><li><font size="+2">[http://developer.blender.org/diffusion/BA/history/master/render_povray/ Latest News]</font size="+2"></li>
-<li>[irc://irc.freenode.org/blenderpovray Chat room, IRC: #blenderpovray at freenode]</li>
+<li>[irc://irc.libera.chat/povray POV-Focused Chat room, IRC: #povray at freenode]</li>
-<li>[http://git.blender.org/gitweb/gitweb.cgi/blender-addons.git/atom/refs/heads/master?f=render_povray RSS feed]</li>
+<li>[https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray.rss RSS feed]</li>
-<li>[http://blenderartists.org/forum/group.php?groupid=79 Forum Group]</li></ul>
+<li>[https://blenderartists.org/tag/povray]</li></ul>
 </div>
 [[HowTo:Use_POV-Ray_with_Blender#Standard_Script_Information|Standard Script Information]] at the bottom of this page.

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:16, 28 January 2025
Line 1,122:		Line 1,122:

	what is impossible in POV: map with various specular color What remains: most complex exported material case		what is impossible in POV: map with various specular color What remains: most complex exported material case
		+
		+	=Renderer versions=
		+	UberPOV features can be written to a POV file inside the scope of a specific condition to enable the files to be retro compatible with POV-Ray 3.7 syntax:
		+
		+	<source lang="pov">
		+	reflection { 1 metallic
		+	#ifdef(unofficial)
		+	#if(unofficial = "patch")
		+	#if(patch("upov-reflection-roughness") > 0)
		+	roughness 0.1
		+	#end
		+	#end
		+	#end
		+	}
		+	</source>
		+	It enables you to export a file for UberPOV while still rendering it with standard POV, but this solution makes files slightly heavier and longer to parse, so it might change in the future: cleaning up exported pov when the features get available in all versions.
		+

	=Standard Script Information=		=Standard Script Information=

@@ Line 1,093: / Line 1,093: @@
 Finish describes the reflective properties of a material.
-===pigment / normal===
+====pigment / normal====
 *color
 *patterns/bitmap
-===finish===
+====finish====
 A little more powerful as it can be patterned, that is two finishes can be mixed depending on values of a bitmap file

@@ Line 1,070: / Line 1,070: @@
 =POV-Ray specific concepts=
-[[File:POV_shaders_logics.png|center|500px]]
+[[File:POV_shaders_logics.png|center|600px]]
 ==object (geometry+material)==
 Objects are the building blocks of your scene. There are a lot of different types of objects supported by POV-Ray. they are also sometimes called primitives. The mesh object often exported from Blender is just one of the possible primitives supported by POV, but it's one that allows to make the most profitable use of the exporter because a sculpted mesh is easily done in Blender interface and practically impossible to do with POV-Ray alone. The second stage of the exporter's development will allow to use more POV native primitives through Blender interface.

@@ Line 1,129: / Line 1,129: @@
 |'''name'''|| ''POV@Ble'' ('''render_povray''' repository)<br/>
 |-
-|'''tooltip'''||Renders scenes with POV-Ray 3.7<br/>
+|'''tooltip'''||Renders Blender scenes with POV-Ray 3.7, and edits native POV files<br/>
 |-
 |'''menu'''||Renderer rolldown menu<br/>
@@ Line 1,141: / Line 1,141: @@
 |'''blender version'''||2.79b to 4.4<br/>
 |-
-|'''category'''||Render, Pipeline, etc.<br/>
+|'''category'''||Render, Pipeline, Text Editor, etc.<br/>
 |-
 |'''license'''||[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html GPL3]<br/>
@@ Line 1,149: / Line 1,149: @@
 |'''note'''||After May the 10th 2011, some development to the script limited backwards compatibility: If you set up some files prior to that and always use the latest exporter from SVN. It is advised to run the update script and resave your scene with the new version: get to the search bar with {{Shortcut/Keypress|    Space    }}  and type pov to access this command.<br/>
 |-
-|'''exe'''||(Python script) + POV-Ray 3.7/3.8<br/>
+|'''exe'''||Blender (Embeds the necessary Python interpreter) + POV-Ray 3.7/3.8<br/>
 |-
 |'''download'''||
@@ Line 1,157: / Line 1,157: @@
 *And of course, don't forget to [http://www.povray.org/download/ download and install POV-Ray] itself !<br/>
 |-
-|'''modules'''||Used standard Python modules and the ones shipped with Blender<br/>
+|'''modules'''||Only Python Standard Library modules and the ones shipped with Blender are used. No outside package should have to be installed<br/>
 |-
 |'''dependencies'''||{{Warning/Important}}'''Requires versions of POV-Ray 3.7+, it won't work directly with POV-Ray 3.6'''<br/>
 |-
-|'''data'''||test scenes available on request<br/>
+|'''data'''||Test scenes available upon request<br/>
 |-
 |'''bugtracker'''||[https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray/issues Gitea]<br/>

@@ Line 1,127: / Line 1,127: @@
 |+ ''Blender Normalized Addon Info''
 |-
-|'''name'''||'POV@Ble' ('''render_povray''' repository)<br/>
+|'''name'''|| ''POV@Ble'' ('''render_povray''' repository)<br/>
 |-
 |'''tooltip'''||Renders scenes with POV-Ray 3.7<br/>
@@ Line 1,139: / Line 1,139: @@
 |'''author'''||Campbell Barton, Silvio Falcinelli, Maurice Raybaud, Constantin Rahn, Bastien Montagne, Leonid Desyatkov<br/>
 |-
-|'''blender'''||2.79b to 4.4<br/>
+|'''blender version'''||2.79b to 4.4<br/>
 |-
 |'''category'''||Render, Pipeline, etc.<br/>
 |-
-|'''license'''||GPL3<br/>
+|'''license'''||[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html GPL3]<br/>
 |-
 |'''distribution'''||[https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/povable/ Extension]<br/>
@@ Line 1,149: / Line 1,149: @@
 |'''note'''||After May the 10th 2011, some development to the script limited backwards compatibility: If you set up some files prior to that and always use the latest exporter from SVN. It is advised to run the update script and resave your scene with the new version: get to the search bar with {{Shortcut/Keypress|    Space    }}  and type pov to access this command.<br/>
 |-
-|'''exe'''||(Python script)+ POV-Ray 3.7/3.8<br/>
+|'''exe'''||(Python script) + POV-Ray 3.7/3.8<br/>
 |-
-|'''download'''||*You can download the latest development ''snapshot'' of the addon at once by clicking<br/>
+|'''download'''||
 -->[https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray/archive/main.zip HERE]<br/>
@@ Line 1,158: / Line 1,159: @@
 |'''modules'''||Used standard Python modules and the ones shipped with Blender<br/>
 |-
-|'''dependencies'''||{{Warning/Important}}'''Requires versions of POV-Ray after 3.7/3.8, it won't work directly with POV-Ray 3.6'''<br/>
+|'''dependencies'''||{{Warning/Important}}'''Requires versions of POV-Ray 3.7+, it won't work directly with POV-Ray 3.6'''<br/>
 |-
-|'''data'''||<br/>
+|'''data'''||test scenes available on request<br/>
 |-
 |'''bugtracker'''||[https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray/issues Gitea]<br/>
@@ Line 1,166: / Line 1,167: @@
 |'''warning'''||Please report any bug or request!<br/>
 |-
-|'''link'''||http://povray.org/ <br/>
+|'''link'''||[https://povray.org/ povray.org]<br/>
 |-
 |'''releaselog'''||[https://projects.blender.org/extensions/render_povray/commits/branch/main/source Here] are the logs of every commit to the source<br/>
-and for specific [[https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/povable/versions/ Releases]]<br/>
+and for specific [https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/povable/versions/ Releases]<br/>
 |-
 |'''issues'''||Many properties have been broken in Blender 2.8... Use 2.79b if you want to be safe<br/>
 |}
 <br/>