1.8.5 Render Quality

POV-Ray 3.7 for UNIX documentation 2 Introduction to POV-Ray

2.1 Introduction

2 Introduction to POV-Ray

Section Contents

• 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.1.1 Program Description
  • 2.1.2 What is Ray-Tracing?
  • 2.1.3 What is POV-Ray?
  • 2.1.4 Features
  • 2.1.5 The Early History of POV-Ray
    • 2.1.5.1 The Original Creation Message
    • 2.1.5.2 The Name
    • 2.1.5.3 A Historic 'Version History'
  • 2.1.6 How Do I Begin?
  • 2.1.7 Notation and Basic Assumptions
• 2.2 Getting Started
  • 2.2.1 Our First Image
    • 2.2.1.1 Understanding POV-Ray's Coordinate System
    • 2.2.1.2 Adding Standard Include Files
    • 2.2.1.3 Adding a Camera
    • 2.2.1.4 Describing an Object
    • 2.2.1.5 Adding Texture to an Object
    • 2.2.1.6 Defining a Light Source
  • 2.2.2 Basic Shapes
    • 2.2.2.1 Box Object
    • 2.2.2.2 Cone Object
    • 2.2.2.3 Cylinder Object
    • 2.2.2.4 Plane Object
    • 2.2.2.5 Torus Object
  • 2.2.3 CSG Objects
    • 2.2.3.1 What is CSG?
    • 2.2.3.2 CSG Union
    • 2.2.3.3 CSG Intersection
    • 2.2.3.4 CSG Difference
    • 2.2.3.5 CSG Merge
    • 2.2.3.6 CSG Pitfalls
      • 2.2.3.6.1 Co-incident Surfaces
  • 2.2.4 The Light Source
    • 2.2.4.1 The Pointlight Source
    • 2.2.4.2 The Spotlight Source
    • 2.2.4.3 The Cylindrical Light Source
    • 2.2.4.4 The Area Light Source
    • 2.2.4.5 The Ambient Light Source
    • 2.2.4.6 Light Source Specials
      • 2.2.4.6.1 Using Shadowless Lights
      • 2.2.4.6.2 Assigning an Object to a Light Source
      • 2.2.4.6.3 Using Light Fading
  • 2.2.5 Simple Texture Options
    • 2.2.5.1 Surface Finishes
    • 2.2.5.2 Adding Bumpiness
    • 2.2.5.3 Creating Color Patterns
    • 2.2.5.4 Pre-defined Textures
  • 2.2.6 Using the Camera
    • 2.2.6.1 Using Focal Blur
  • 2.2.7 POV-Ray Coordinate System
    • 2.2.7.1 Transformations
      • 2.2.7.1.1 Translate
      • 2.2.7.1.2 Scale
      • 2.2.7.1.3 Rotate
      • 2.2.7.1.4 Matrix
    • 2.2.7.2 Transformation Order
    • 2.2.7.3 Inverse Transform
    • 2.2.7.4 Transform Identifiers
    • 2.2.7.5 Transforming Textures and Objects
  • 2.2.8 Setting POV-Ray Options
    • 2.2.8.1 Command Line Switches
    • 2.2.8.2 Using INI Files
    • 2.2.8.3 Using the POVINI Environment Variable
• 2.3 Advanced Features
  • 2.3.1 Spline Based Shapes
    • 2.3.1.1 Lathe Object
      • 2.3.1.1.1 Understanding The Concept of Splines
    • 2.3.1.2 Surface of Revolution Object
    • 2.3.1.3 Prism Object
      • 2.3.1.3.1 Teaching An Old Spline New Tricks
      • 2.3.1.3.2 Smooth Transitions
      • 2.3.1.3.3 Multiple Sub-Shapes
      • 2.3.1.3.4 Conic Sweeps And The Tapering Effect
    • 2.3.1.4 Sphere Sweep Object
    • 2.3.1.5 Bicubic Patch Object
    • 2.3.1.6 Text Object
  • 2.3.2 Polygon Based Shapes
    • 2.3.2.1 Mesh Object
    • 2.3.2.2 Mesh2 Object
      • 2.3.2.2.1 Smooth triangles and mesh2
      • 2.3.2.2.2 UV mapping and mesh2
      • 2.3.2.2.3 A separate texture per triangle
    • 2.3.2.3 Polygon Object
  • 2.3.3 Other Shapes
    • 2.3.3.1 Blob Object
      • 2.3.3.1.1 Component Types and Other New Features
      • 2.3.3.1.2 Complex Blob Constructs and Negative Strength
    • 2.3.3.2 Height Field Object
    • 2.3.3.3 Isosurface Object
      • 2.3.3.3.1 Simple functions
      • 2.3.3.3.2 Several surfaces
      • 2.3.3.3.3 Non-linear functions
      • 2.3.3.3.4 Specifying functions
      • 2.3.3.3.5 Internal functions
      • 2.3.3.3.6 Combining isosurface functions
      • 2.3.3.3.7 Noise and pigment functions
      • 2.3.3.3.8 Conditional directives and loops
      • 2.3.3.3.9 Transformations on functions
      • 2.3.3.3.10 Improving Isosurface Speed
    • 2.3.3.4 Poly Object
      • 2.3.3.4.1 Creating the polynomial function
      • 2.3.3.4.2 Writing the polynomial vector
    • 2.3.3.5 Superquadric Ellipsoid Object
  • 2.3.4 Advanced Texture Options
    • 2.3.4.1 Pigments
      • 2.3.4.1.1 Using Color List Pigments
      • 2.3.4.1.2 Using Pigment and Patterns
      • 2.3.4.1.3 Using Pattern Modifiers
      • 2.3.4.1.4 Using Transparent Pigments and Layered Textures
      • 2.3.4.1.5 Using Pigment Maps
    • 2.3.4.2 Normals
      • 2.3.4.2.1 Using Basic Normal Modifiers
      • 2.3.4.2.2 Blending Normals
    • 2.3.4.3 Finishes
      • 2.3.4.3.1 Using Ambient
      • 2.3.4.3.2 Using Surface Highlights
      • 2.3.4.3.3 Using Reflection, Metallic and Metallic
      • 2.3.4.3.4 Using Iridescence
    • 2.3.4.4 Working With Pigment Maps
    • 2.3.4.5 Working With Normal Maps
    • 2.3.4.6 Working With Texture Maps
    • 2.3.4.7 Working With List Textures
    • 2.3.4.8 What About Tiles?
    • 2.3.4.9 Average Function
    • 2.3.4.10 Working With Layered Textures
      • 2.3.4.10.1 Declaring Layered Textures
      • 2.3.4.10.2 Another Layered Textures Example
    • 2.3.4.11 When All Else Fails: Material Maps
    • 2.3.4.12 Limitations Of Special Textures
  • 2.3.5 Using Atmospheric Effects
    • 2.3.5.1 The Background
    • 2.3.5.2 The Sky Sphere
      • 2.3.5.2.1 Creating a Sky with a Color Gradient
      • 2.3.5.2.2 Adding the Sun
      • 2.3.5.2.3 Adding Some Clouds
    • 2.3.5.3 The Fog
      • 2.3.5.3.1 A Constant Fog
      • 2.3.5.3.2 Setting a Minimum Translucency
      • 2.3.5.3.3 Creating a Filtering Fog
      • 2.3.5.3.4 Adding Some Turbulence to the Fog
      • 2.3.5.3.5 Using Ground Fog
      • 2.3.5.3.6 Using Multiple Layers of Fog
      • 2.3.5.3.7 Fog and Hollow Objects
    • 2.3.5.4 The Rainbow
      • 2.3.5.4.1 Starting With a Simple Rainbow
      • 2.3.5.4.2 Increasing the Rainbow's Translucency
      • 2.3.5.4.3 Using a Rainbow Arc
  • 2.3.6 Simple Media Tutorial
    • 2.3.6.1 Types of media
    • 2.3.6.2 Some media concepts
    • 2.3.6.3 Simple media examples
      • 2.3.6.3.1 Emitting media
      • 2.3.6.3.2 Absorbing media
      • 2.3.6.3.3 Scattering media
    • 2.3.6.4 Multiple medias inside the same object
    • 2.3.6.5 Media and transformations
    • 2.3.6.6 A more advanced example of scattering media
    • 2.3.6.7 Media and photons
  • 2.3.7 Radiosity
    • 2.3.7.1 Introduction
    • 2.3.7.2 Radiosity with conventional lighting
    • 2.3.7.3 Radiosity without conventional lighting
    • 2.3.7.4 Normals and Radiosity
    • 2.3.7.5 Performance considerations
  • 2.3.8 Making Animations
    • 2.3.8.1 The Clock Variable: Key To It All
    • 2.3.8.2 Clock Dependant Variables And Multi-Stage Animations
    • 2.3.8.3 The Phase Keyword
    • 2.3.8.4 Do Not Use Jitter Or Crand
    • 2.3.8.5 INI File Settings
  • 2.3.9 While-loop tutorial
    • 2.3.9.1 What a while-loop is and what it is not
    • 2.3.9.2 How does a single while-loop work?
    • 2.3.9.3 How do I make a while-loop?
    • 2.3.9.4 What is a condition and how do I make one?
    • 2.3.9.5 What about loop types other than simple for-loops?
    • 2.3.9.6 What about nested loops?
    • 2.3.9.7 Mixed-type nested loops
    • 2.3.9.8 Other things to note
  • 2.3.10 SDL tutorial: A raytracer
    • 2.3.10.1 Introduction
    • 2.3.10.2 The idea and the code
    • 2.3.10.3 Short introduction to raytracing
    • 2.3.10.4 Global settings
    • 2.3.10.5 Scene definition
    • 2.3.10.6 Initializing the raytracer
    • 2.3.10.7 Ray-sphere intersection
      • 2.3.10.7.1 Inner workings of a #macro
      • 2.3.10.7.2 The ray-sphere intersection macro
    • 2.3.10.8 The Trace macro
      • 2.3.10.8.1 Calculating the closest intersection
      • 2.3.10.8.2 If the ray doesn't hit anything
      • 2.3.10.8.3 Initializing color calculations
      • 2.3.10.8.4 Going through the light sources
      • 2.3.10.8.5 Shadow test
      • 2.3.10.8.6 Diffuse lighting
      • 2.3.10.8.7 Specular lighting
      • 2.3.10.8.8 Reflection Calculation
    • 2.3.10.9 Calculating the image
    • 2.3.10.10 Creating the colored mesh
      • 2.3.10.10.1 The structure of the mesh
      • 2.3.10.10.2 Creating the mesh
      • 2.3.10.10.3 Creating the vertex points
      • 2.3.10.10.4 Creating the textures
      • 2.3.10.10.5 Creating the triangles
    • 2.3.10.11 The Camera-setup
• 2.4 Questions and Tips
  • 2.4.1 Language Tips and tricks to achieve useful things
    • 2.4.1.1 How do I make a visible light source?
    • 2.4.1.2 How do I make bright objects?
    • 2.4.1.3 How do I move the camera in a circular path?
    • 2.4.1.4 How do I use an image to texture my object?
    • 2.4.1.5 How can I generate a spline?
    • 2.4.1.6 How can I simulate motion blur?
    • 2.4.1.7 How can I find the size of a text object?
    • 2.4.1.8 How do I make extruded text?
    • 2.4.1.9 How do I make an object hollow?
    • 2.4.1.10 How can I fill a glass with water or other objects?
    • 2.4.1.11 How can I bend a object?
    • 2.4.1.12 Can I get non-grainy focal blur?
  • 2.4.2 Language Things that don't work as one expects
    • 2.4.2.1 Using several transparent objects makes them black?
    • 2.4.2.2 I'm getting color banding in the image
    • 2.4.2.3 Rotation behaves very strangely
    • 2.4.2.4 The image gets distorted when rendering a square image
    • 2.4.2.5 Why are there strange dark pixels or noise on my CSG object?
    • 2.4.2.6 Why won't the textures in stars.inc work with my sky_sphere?
    • 2.4.2.7 When I use filter or transmit with my .tga image map nothing happens.
    • 2.4.2.8 Isosurface not rendering properly?
  • 2.4.3 Language related things
    • 2.4.3.1 How do I turn animation on?
    • 2.4.3.2 Can POV-Ray use multiple processors?
    • 2.4.3.3 Can I get a wireframe render of my scene?
    • 2.4.3.4 Can I specify variable IOR for an object?
    • 2.4.3.5 What is Photon Mapping?
  • 2.4.4 File Formats
    • 2.4.4.1 Saving the image to disk.
    • 2.4.4.2 Can I convert my POV-Ray scenes to another format?
    • 2.4.4.3 How can I convert my scenes from format X to POV-Ray format?
    • 2.4.4.4 How do I import all of my textures I created in 3DS Max into POV-Ray?
    • 2.4.4.5 How can I avoid artifacts and still get good JPEG compression?
    • 2.4.4.6 Why are there no converters from POV to other formats?
    • 2.4.4.7 Why are triangle meshes in ASCII format?
  • 2.4.5 Utilities, models, etc.
    • 2.4.5.1 What is the best animation program available?
    • 2.4.5.2 Creating/viewing MPEG-files.
    • 2.4.5.3 Where can I find models/textures?
    • 2.4.5.4 What are the best modellers for POV-Ray?
    • 2.4.5.5 Any POV-Ray modellers for Mac?
    • 2.4.5.6 Is there any user gallery of POV-Ray images?
    • 2.4.5.7 Any good heightfield modellers?
    • 2.4.5.8 Any easy way of creating trees?
  • 2.4.6 Rendering speed
    • 2.4.6.1 Will POV-Ray render faster with a 3D card?
    • 2.4.6.2 How do I increase rendering speed?
    • 2.4.6.3 CSG speed
    • 2.4.6.4 Does POV-Ray support 3DNow?
  • 2.4.7 Miscellaneous questions
    • 2.4.7.1 Where do I suggest new features?
    • 2.4.7.2 I'm getting a "Illegal grid value in dda_traversal()"
    • 2.4.7.3 No beep when finished?
    • 2.4.7.4 POV-Ray viruses?
    • 2.4.7.5 GUI for Unix POV-Ray?
  • 2.4.8 The shadow line artifact
    • 2.4.8.1 What is the problem?
    • 2.4.8.2 What causes the problem?
    • 2.4.8.3 Can this problem be solved?
    • 2.4.8.4 Possible solutions?
  • 2.4.9 Smooth triangle artifact
    • 2.4.9.1 What is the problem?
    • 2.4.9.2 What causes the problem?
    • 2.4.9.3 Can this problem be solved?
• 2.5 Appendices
  • 2.5.1 POV-Ray User License
  • 2.5.2 Support Library Licences
    • 2.5.2.1 OpenEXR
  • 2.5.3 Citing POV-Ray in Academic Publications
  • 2.5.4 The POV-Team
    • 2.5.4.1 Contacting the Authors
    • 2.5.4.2 The TAG
    • 2.5.4.3 POV-Ray 3.6 Development
  • 2.5.5 What to do if you don't have POV-Ray
    • 2.5.5.1 Which Version of POV-Ray should you use?
      • 2.5.5.1.1 Microsoft Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP
      • 2.5.5.1.2 Linux for Intel x86
      • 2.5.5.1.3 Apple Macintosh
      • 2.5.5.1.4 Generic Unix
      • 2.5.5.1.5 All Versions
    • 2.5.5.2 Where to Find POV-Ray Files
      • 2.5.5.2.1 World Wide Website www.povray.org
      • 2.5.5.2.2 Books, Magazines and CD-ROMs
  • 2.5.6 Suggested Reading

1.8.5 Render Quality

2 Introduction to POV-Ray

2.1 Introduction