Difference between revisions of "Reference Talk:Introduction"

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<p>The <em>Reference</em> section documentation applies to all platforms to which this version of POV-Ray is ported. The platform-specific documentation is available for each platform separately. Excluding this introduction, the reference section is divided into three main parts:</p>
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<p>This is the <em>Reference</em> section, and it applies to all platforms for which this version of POV-Ray has been ported. The platform-specific documentation is available in a separate section. Excluding this introduction, the reference section is divided into three main parts:</p>
  
 
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<p>New users may find it more convenient to begin with the [[Documentation:Tutorial Table of Contents|Tutorial]] section, followed by the platform-specific documentation, to become more familiar your versions platform-specific features.</p>
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<p>New users may find it more convenient to begin with the [[Documentation:Tutorial Table of Contents|Tutorial]] section, followed by the platform-specific documentation, in order to become more familiar your versions platform-specific features. Additional notes about this documentation are as follows:</p>
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<ul>
 
<ul>
 
   <li>The Windows version of the documentation is accessible using the POV-Ray program's <em>Help</em> menu or by pressing the F1 key while in the program.</li>
 
   <li>The Windows version of the documentation is accessible using the POV-Ray program's <em>Help</em> menu or by pressing the F1 key while in the program.</li>
 
   <li>The Mac version of the documentation is also available via the <em>Help</em> menu and for viewing with a web browser.  See the <em>POV-Ray MacOS Read Me</em> for more details.</li>
 
   <li>The Mac version of the documentation is also available via the <em>Help</em> menu and for viewing with a web browser.  See the <em>POV-Ray MacOS Read Me</em> for more details.</li>
 
   <li>The Unix/Linux version of the documentation is available in <em>html only</em> and by default is typically found in <code>/usr/local/share/povray-3.?/html</code></li>
 
   <li>The Unix/Linux version of the documentation is available in <em>html only</em> and by default is typically found in <code>/usr/local/share/povray-3.?/html</code></li>
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  <li>See the section [[Reference:Notation and Basic Assumptions|Notation and Basic Assumptions]] for more about the notation used throughout this documentation.</li>
 
</ul>
 
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<p class="Note"><strong>Note:</strong> See the section [[Reference:Notation and Basic Assumptions|Notation and Basic Assumptions]] for more about the notation used throughout this documentation.</p>
 
  
 
==Contents==
 
==Contents==

Latest revision as of 17:24, 21 April 2012

This is the Reference section, and it applies to all platforms for which this version of POV-Ray has been ported. The platform-specific documentation is available in a separate section. Excluding this introduction, the reference section is divided into three main parts:

  1. Command-line Options
  2. Scene Description Language
  3. Scene Description File

New users may find it more convenient to begin with the Tutorial section, followed by the platform-specific documentation, in order to become more familiar your versions platform-specific features. Additional notes about this documentation are as follows:

  • The Windows version of the documentation is accessible using the POV-Ray program's Help menu or by pressing the F1 key while in the program.
  • The Mac version of the documentation is also available via the Help menu and for viewing with a web browser. See the POV-Ray MacOS Read Me for more details.
  • The Unix/Linux version of the documentation is available in html only and by default is typically found in /usr/local/share/povray-3.?/html
  • See the section Notation and Basic Assumptions for more about the notation used throughout this documentation.

Contents

  1. Command-line Options
    1. Animation Options
    2. General Output Options
    3. Display Output Options
    4. File Output Options
    5. Scene Parsing Options
    6. Shell-out to Operating System
    7. Text Output
    8. Tracing Options
  2. Scene Description Language
    1. Language Basics
      1. Keywords
      2. Identifiers
      3. Comments
      4. Numeric Expressions
      5. Vector Expressions
      6. Color Expressions
      7. User-Defined Functions
      8. Strings
      9. Arrays
      10. Splines
    2. Language Directives
      1. Include Directive
      2. Declare and Local Directives
      3. File I/O Directives
      4. Default Directive
      5. Version Directive
      6. Conditional Directives
      7. User Message Directives
      8. User Defined Macros
  3. Scene Description File
    1. Global Settings
      1. adc_bailout
      2. ambient_light
      3. assumed_gama
      4. hf_gray_16
      5. irid_wavelength
      6. charset
      7. max_trace_level
      8. mm_per_unit
      9. number_of_waves
      10. noise_generator
      11. subsurface
    2. Camera
      1. Placing the Camera
      2. Types of Projections
      3. Placing the Camera
      4. Focal Blur
      5. Camera Ray Perturbation
      6. Camera Identifiers
    3. Lighting Types
      1. Light Sources
        1. Point Lights
        2. Spotlights
        3. Cylindrical Lights
        4. Parallel Lights
        5. Area Lights
      2. Light Groups
      3. Radiosity
      4. Photons
    4. Transformations
      1. translate
      2. scale
      3. rotate
      4. matrix
    5. Objects
      1. Finite Solid Primitives
        1. Blob
        2. Box
        3. Cone
        4. Cylinder
        5. Height Field
        6. Isosurface
        7. Julia Fractal
        8. Lathe
        9. Ovus
        10. Parametric
        11. Prism
        12. Sphere
        13. Sphere Sweep
        14. Superquadric Ellipsoid
        15. Surface of Revolution
        16. Text
        17. Torus
      2. Finite Patch Primitives
        1. Bicubic Patch
        2. Disc
        3. Mesh
        4. Mesh2
        5. Polygon
        6. Triangle
        7. Smooth Triangle
      3. Infinite Solid Primitives
        1. Plane
        2. Poly
        3. Cubic
        4. Quartic
        5. Polynomial
        6. Quadric
      4. Constructive Solid Geometry
        1. Inside and Outside
        2. Union
        3. Intersection
        4. Difference
        5. Merge
      5. Object Modifiers
    6. Textures
      1. Pigment
      2. Normal
      3. Finish
        1. Ambient
        2. Emission
        3. Diffuse Reflection Items
        4. Highlights
        5. Specular Reflection
        6. Conserve Energy for Reflection
        7. Iridescence
      4. Halo
      5. Patterned Textures
      6. Layered Textures
      7. UV Mapping
      8. Triangle Texture Interpolation
      9. Interior Texture
      10. Cutaway Textures
    7. Patterns
      1. General Patterns
        1. Agate
        2. Boxed
        3. Bozo
        4. Brick
        5. Bumps
        6. Cubic
        7. Cylindrical
        8. Density_File
        9. Dents
        10. Facets
        11. Fractal Patterns
        12. Function as pattern
        13. Gradient
        14. Granite
        15. Hexagon
        16. Leopard
        17. Marble
        18. Onion
        19. Pavement
        20. Pigment Pattern
        21. Planar
        22. Quilted
        23. Radial
        24. Ripples
        25. Spherical
        26. Spiral1
        27. Spiral2
        28. Spotted
        29. Square
        30. Tiling
        31. Waves
        32. Wood
        33. Wrinkles
      2. Discontinuous Patterns
        1. Cells
        2. Checker
        3. Crackle Patterns
        4. Object Pattern
        5. Triangular
      3. Normal-Dependent Patterns
        1. Aoi
        2. Slope
      4. Special Patterns
        1. Average
        2. Image Pattern
      5. Pattern Modifiers
    8. Atmospheric Effects
      1. Atmospheric Media
      2. Background
      3. Fog
      4. Sky Sphere
      5. Rainbow
    9. Media
      1. Media Types
      2. Sampling Parameters & Methods
      3. Density
    10. Include Files
      1. Main Files
        1. arrays.inc
        2. chars.inc
        3. colors.inc
        4. consts.inc
        5. debug.inc
        6. finish.inc
        7. functions.inc
        8. glass.inc, glass_old.inc
        9. math.inc
        10. metals.inc
        11. golds.inc
        12. rand.inc
        13. shapes.inc
        14. shapes2.inc
        15. shapesq.inc
        16. skies.inc
        17. stars.inc
        18. stones.inc
        19. stdinc.inc
        20. strings.inc
        21. textures.inc
        22. transforms.inc
        23. woodmaps.inc
        24. woods.inc
        25. logo.inc
        26. rad_def.inc
        27. screen.inc
        28. sunpos.inc
      2. Old Files
        1. glass_old.inc
        2. shapes_old.inc
        3. stage1.inc
        4. stdcam.inc
        5. stones1.inc
        6. stones2.inc
      3. Older Files
        1. font files (*.ttf)
        2. color_map files (*.map)
        3. image files (*.png, *.pot, *.df3)

Changes

The following are changes that I'd like to see made to the new layout

  1. Move the Language Basics sub-section into it's own file, add a brief passage and a table of contents for the sub-sections that follow.
  2. Create a new file The Scene (maybe there's a better name) to serve as a table of contents for the sub-sections in this group.
  3. Create a new file Atmospheric Effects and merge those single files as sub-sections of the proposed single file.
  4. Create a new file Lighting Types to serve as an introduction and table of contents for the sub-sections that follow.
  5. Moved the Patterns section up one in the order, so that it's after Textures.
  6. Create a new file Include Files and add an introduction, also add the sub-sections Main Files, Old Files, and Older Files to that file. Add links to each include file.
  7. Did not add the Quick Reference maybe we should consider dropping that section.

Additional changes listed here:

  • moved hexagon and square patterns to the Discontinuous Patterns sub-section --jholsenback 13:52, 6 April 2012 (UTC)
  • changes outlined below: --jholsenback 17:17, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
  1. expanded the table of contents based on feedback
  2. three major sections now
  3. added transformations
  4. minor shuffling in topic order
  • added reworked narrative --jholsenback 14:57, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
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