Introduction to POV-Ray POV-Team for POV-Ray Version 3.6.1 ii Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Program Description . 2 1.2 What is Ray-Tracing? . 2 1.3 What is POV-Ray? . 3 1.4 Features . 3 1.5 The Early History of POV-Ray . 4 1.5.1 The Original Creation Message . 5 1.5.2 The Name . 6 1.5.3 A Historic ’Version History’ . 8 1.6 How Do I Begin? . 9 1.7 Notation and Basic Assumptions . 9 2 Getting Started 11 2.1 Our First Image . 11 2.1.1 Understanding POV-Ray’s Coordinate System . 11 2.1.2 Adding Standard Include Files . 12 2.1.3 Adding a Camera . 13 2.1.4 Describing an Object . 14 2.1.5 Adding Texture to an Object . 14 2.1.6 Defining a Light Source . 15 2.2 Basic Shapes . 15 2.2.1 Box Object . 15 2.2.2 Cone Object . 16 2.2.3 Cylinder Object . 16 2.2.4 Plane Object . 17 2.2.5 Torus Object . 17 2.3 CSG Objects . 22 2.3.1 What is CSG? . 23 2.3.2 CSG Union . 23 2.3.3 CSG Intersection . 25 2.3.4 CSG Difference . 25 2.3.5 CSG Merge . 26 2.3.6 CSG Pitfalls . 27 2.4 The Light Source . 27 2.4.1 The Pointlight Source . 28 2.4.2 The Spotlight Source . 29 2.4.3 The Cylindrical Light Source . 30 iv CONTENTS 2.4.4 The Area Light Source . 30 2.4.5 The Ambient Light Source . 32 2.4.6 Light Source Specials . 32 2.5 Simple Texture Options . 34 2.5.1 Surface Finishes . 35 2.5.2 Adding Bumpiness . 35 2.5.3 Creating Color Patterns . 35 2.5.4 Pre-defined Textures . 36 2.6 Using the Camera . 37 2.6.1 Using Focal Blur . 37 2.7 POV-Ray Coordinate System . 39 2.7.1 Transformations . 39 2.7.2 Transformation Order . 42 2.7.3 Inverse Transform . 42 2.7.4 Transform Identifiers . 42 2.7.5 Transforming Textures and Objects . 43 2.8 Setting POV-Ray Options . 44 2.8.1 Command Line Switches . 44 2.8.2 Using INI Files . 45 2.8.3 Using the POVINI Environment Variable . 46 3 Advanced Features 49 3.1 Spline Based Shapes . 49 3.1.1 Lathe Object . 49 3.1.2 Surface of Revolution Object . 57 3.1.3 Prism Object . 58 3.1.4 Sphere Sweep Object . 64 3.1.5 Bicubic Patch Object . 65 3.1.6 Text Object . 70 3.2 Polygon Based Shapes . 73 3.2.1 Mesh Object . 73 3.2.2 Mesh2 Object . 75 3.2.3 Polygon Object . 81 3.3 Other Shapes . 83 3.3.1 Blob Object . 83 3.3.2 Height Field Object . 88 3.3.3 Isosurface Object . 89 3.3.4 Poly Object . 105 3.3.5 Superquadric Ellipsoid Object . 111 3.4 Advanced Texture Options . 114 3.4.1 Pigments . 115 3.4.2 Normals . 120 3.4.3 Finishes . 123 3.4.4 Working With Pigment Maps . 127 3.4.5 Working With Normal Maps . 128 3.4.6 Working With Texture Maps . 129 3.4.7 Working With List Textures . 130 3.4.8 What About Tiles? . 131 3.4.9 Average Function . 131 CONTENTS v 3.4.10 Working With Layered Textures . 132 3.4.11 When All Else Fails: Material Maps . 138 3.4.12 Limitations Of Special Textures . 140 3.5 Using Atmospheric Effects . 141 3.5.1 The Background . ..