Documentation:Reference Table of Contents

This document is protected, so submissions, corrections and discussions should be held on this documents talk page.

Main Table of Contents

POV-Ray Tutorial

Introduction

• Notation and Basic Assumptions
• Command-line Options

• Animation Options

• External Animation Loop
• Internal Animation Loop
• Subsets of Animation Frames
• Cyclic Animation
• Field Rendering

• General Output Options

• Height and Width of Output
• 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
• CPU Utilization Histogram
• File Name
• Grid Size

• 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

• Quality Settings
• Automatic Bounding Control
• Removing User Bounding
• Anti-Aliasing Options

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
• 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

• 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 #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
• 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

• Monitor Gamma
• Image File Gamma
• Scene File Gamma

• HF_Gray_16
• Irid_Wavelength
• Charset
• Max_Trace_Level
• Max_Intersections
• Number_Of_Waves
• Noise_generator
• Radiosity Basics

• Radiosity

• How Radiosity Works
• Adjusting Radiosity

• radiosity adc_bailout
• always_sample
• brightness
• count
• error_bound
• gray_threshold
• low_error_factor
• max_sample
• Media and Radiosity
• minimum_reuse
• nearest_count
• Normal and Radiosity
• Pretrace
• recursion_limit
• Save and load radiosity data

• Tips on Radiosity

Objects

• Finite Solid Primitives

• Blob
• Box
• Cone
• Cylinder
• Height Field
• Julia Fractal
• Lathe
• 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

• Clipped_By
• Bounded_By
• Material
• Inverse
• Hollow
• No_Shadow
• No_Image, No_Reflection
• Double_Illuminate
• Sturm

Textures

• Pigment

• Solid Color Pigments
• Color List Pigments
• Color Maps
• Pigment Maps and Pigment Lists
• Image Maps

• Specifying an Image Map
• 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
• Diffuse Reflection Items

• Diffuse
• Brilliance
• Crand Graininess

• 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
• Average
• Boxed
• Bozo
• Brick
• Bumps
• Cells
• Checker
• Crackle Patterns
• 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
• Pigment Pattern
• Planar
• Quilted
• Radial
• Ripples
• Slope
• Spherical
• Spiral1
• Spiral2
• Spotted
• 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

Main Table of Contents

POV-Ray Tutorial

This document is protected, so submissions, corrections and discussions should be held on this documents talk page.