POV-Ray 3.7 Unofficial Documentation

The most important dialog of the program! All rendering options are set here! This window is always opened after the program has been started. If not so or when it is in the background, you can bring it to the front through the menu 'Window >> Preferences for: xxx'. It can also be brought to the front by clicking the button in the tool bar of the "Text Editor Window".

All options are available via this one window and are subdivided into five categories, each accessible through tabs. The five groups are: 'Files & Paths', 'Image & Quality', 'Bounding & Preview', 'Clock Settings' and 'Misc'. Once you get more familiar with the layout of this window, you will quickly see if all options are appropriate for a specific rendering.

At the bottom of the window some buttons are available.

The "Save current settings..." pop-up lets you save all preferences (except input and output path) set at that time. The saved preferences become then available to replace all options whenever you select them from this pop-up. The saved preferences are also available for jobs added to the batch. It is of course also possible to edit the saved options, or to reset them to the defaults.

The "Edit Scene File" button opens the scene file which is shown in the 'Scene file path' of the 'Files & Paths' panel.

When you have set all preferences, you can render the scene by clicking the "Render" button. The options set will only be used for this render (the options are not saved to disk, only remembered until the next changes). The only way to save the options to disk is with the "Save current settings..." pop-up at the bottom of the window.

"Comment / Undo-comment". With a click on the button, the '//' characters will be placed before each line of a selected block of text. All these lines will thus be read as comment lines by POV-Ray™. With a click on the button, the '//' characters preceding a line in a selected text block will be removed.

"Shift block". With the and buttons, a selected block of text can be moved one tab to the left or to the right with each click.

"Check braces". To do so, use the button in the tool bar of the "Text Editor Window". First, put your cursor before an opening or closing brace - { ( [ ] ) } - or select that brace. When you then click this icon, the text between the two matching braces will become selected, quickly showing you where the start and end of that scene file block are. It also checks if any nested braces are matched. If no matching brace is found it will beep.

Another possibility to check the braces is to double click on a brace: the scene file block between this brace and the matching one is highlighted.

"Set Up". Clicking on will bring the "Render Preferences Window" to the front, allowing to change or check some rendering preferences before actually rendering the scene.

"Render". The button transfers the name and path of the text file to the "Render Preferences Window" and puts the rendering engine to work! All current options set in the window of rendering options are transmitted to POV-Ray™. Most menu's will be disabled.

Typing text in the "Text Editor Window". This follows most common rules of any text editor. A few things that makes it easier to use for POV-scenes are:

This window shows all messages and warnings.

At startup, there is a bit of info on the system.

When rendering, more information shows: the version of MegaPOV used, authors and contributors, libraries used, rendering options and paths. All this information is shown in blue text.

Also all text streams (debug, warning, fatal, statistics and render) directed to screen are displayed in this window.

Statistics are colored violet. Fatal errors and important warnings are shown in red. Warnings and reminders use geen text and debug streams are displayed in black.

In the bottom status bar, progress on parsing and rendering is displayed.

This window shows the same progress as shown in the bottom status bar of the message window.

This window displays the rendering image.

	Note:
	If an image is larger than 4092 pixels, the display is scaled down. The output is not affected.

At the top you will find the name and image type of the scene which is rendering. When not saving to disc, it is also mentioned in the window title.

A possible way to abort rendering is to use the button at the top right of this window.

To pause rendering, use the button on the display window. Clicking a second time on it, will continue the rendering process.

With the button you can toggle between displaying the alpha_channel or not. When it is on, any part of the scene that has partial or full alpha-channel transparency will be displayed as a grayscale checkerboard showing through the scene. This could slow down rendering slightly in some cases. To turn this feature off, click the "Alpha-channel"-toggle to turn it off.

It is possible to specify the partial image directly in the image window by dragging it (use the option ). The selection is shown with a marquee and the coordinates of the partial image are shown on the pane next to this button. When releasing the mouse button the "Render Preferences Window" is brought to the front. So you still have the opportunity to change to a larger image size: the proportions of the partial image will be adjusted to the new size.

Depending on the type of computer you are using, rendering a scene can take quite a while! When using a batch job, you can create (write) a few scenes and let them render automatically. This could be done during the night or at a time when you normally won't use your computer. (Don't leave the Image Type at 'Don't Save Image' in the "Render Preferences Window" for each entry in the batch, or else you will not see the results in the morning :-) )

To open the batch window, go to the menu "Batch > Show".

To add jobs to the batch, drag a ".pov" file on the list. You can also use "add" from the Batch menu or the button at bottom of the window to open the file dialog. Using the button at bottom of the window will add a job just before the selected line. Repeat this for all other scenes that should be rendered.

Newly added jobs get the status 'Queued' and the render preferences from the "Render Preferences Window". This is marked in the 'Setting' column as 'Current default'.
For different render preferences, choose from the "Settings" pop-up. This pop-up menu contains all preferences which have been saved previously in the "Render Preferences Window". Select one or more jobs in the usual way and change the default settings all at once with the desired ones from the "Settings" pop-up.

When running the batch file there are a few possibilities in the 'Status' column:
 -Before rendering, all jobs in the queue and marked 'Queued' (Black);
 -The scene that is being rendered is marked 'Rendering' (Orange);
 -All queued jobs are now 'Waiting' for rendering (Violet);
 -Every scene that was rendered successfully is marked 'Complete' (Blue) and disabled;
 -A batch job can be aborted and run again later. The job that is partially rendered is marked 'User Abort' (Green);
 -If an error should occur, it will be marked with 'Fatal Error' (Red);

When the batch file is run again, the scenes already done will be skipped. The aborted ones will continue from the point where they have been aborted.

When clicking the "Reset All" button, all scenes are marked as not rendered and will be processed again when the batch is run again.

Note:

There is no limit (except memory available) on the number of entries in the batch list, but only the ones with a marked checkbox are actually used to run the batch. It makes things a bit easier when you are creating a few scenes simultaneously. Modify your scenes, reset the Batch File, tick the ones you want to run and click the "Run All" button. Do this over and over until your scenes win some awards :-). Changing the order of the list is done by simple 'drag and drop': move the selected entry up or down the list.

"Run" is intended to run only the selected jobs. Select the lines for the required jobs in the list.

"Reset" rests all selected jobs to the status 'Queued'.

"Skip" aborts the current job and moves to the next in the list.

Through the color_map dialog you can design your own color_map and see the result immediately on the display (only the color is displayed: there is no visual control yet for filtered or transmitted transparency ).

The height of this dialog is re sizable to show more lines if your screen's resolution allows for it.

To add a point at the end of the list, use the  button. The last line will be duplicated. There is a limit of 256 entries.

To insert an entry just before the selected line, use the  button. The inserted line gets the average value of the lines between which it is inserted. You may insert up to 256 lines.

	Note:
	If your last created color_map was a large one, it may take some time before the dialog is displayed on screen.

To remove an entry from the list, select it and click the  button.

For each entry line, the specified color is displayed in the 'Color Picker''s column and changes are displayed immediately. You may also click on the displayed color to open the system's color picker and set the desired color.

If only a grayscale map is needed, use the "Use Gray Color" button just above the Red, Green and Blue columns. The values entered in the Green column are then used for all three colors.

If anywhere a filter or transmit value is needed, you should click the "Filter" or "Transmit" buttons above these columns. If these buttons are not highlighted, filter or transmit will not be written to your color_map.

Now it is possible to use an image that will be created by POV-Ray™ and then immediately used as image for the material_map. The image to be used can be a 'function image', 'pigment image' or 'pattern image'. The pigment and pattern images can be called upon with the "Edit pigment ..." or "Edit pattern ..." buttons.

Image width and image height are the dimensions of this image in pixels. See the chapter on patterns in the POV-Ray™ manual for more information.

The "Select image..." button opens the file dialog so that you can search for the image you had in mind to wrap around the object. After selecting the file and clicking "open", the exact name of the file is copied in the edit field. Of course you can always enter the name directly in the edit field.

Don't forget to specify the kind of image file you are using. When using "sys", all image types recognized by QuickTime™ can be used - so you are not limited to the types allowed by POV-Ray™.

The material_map dialog shows two columns.

To add an entry at the end of the list, use the  button. There is a limit of 256 entries.

To insert an entry just before the selected line, use the  button. All following entries will be moved to the next index value. You may insert up to 256 lines.

	Note:
	If your last created material_map was a large one, it may take some time before the dialog is displayed on screen.

To remove an entry from the list, select it and click the  button.

The normal_map dialog shows two columns.

To add an entry at the end of the list, use the  button. The last line will be duplicated. There is a limit of 256 entries.

To insert an entry just before the selected line, use the  button. Only the location of the inserted line gets the average value of the lines between which it is inserted. You may insert up to 256 lines.

	Note:
	If your last created normal_map was a large one, it may take some time before the dialog is displayed on screen.

To remove an entry from the list, select it and click the  button.

The pigment_map dialog shows two columns.

To add an entry at the end of the list, use the  button. The last line will be duplicated. There is a limit of 256 entries.

To insert an entry just before the selected line, use the  button. Only the location of the inserted line gets the average value of the lines between which it is inserted. You may insert up to 256 lines.

	Note:
	If your last created pigment_map was a large one, it may take some time before the dialog is displayed on screen.

To remove an entry from the list, select it and click the  button.

The graphical slope_map editor is opened from the template forms of normal / normal pattern or directly from the slope_map entry in the 'template form...' menu.

It presents you with a graphic display on the left of the window and a list of points on the right side.

All parts of the profile display can be turned on and off using the toggle buttons at the bottom:

All points can be selected with a mouse click and dragged around while holding the mouse button. The selected point is shown with a black circle surrounding it.

While dragging a point (red), the actual coordinates are shown at the bottom of the display.

When selecting a slope point (green) a vertical yellow line appears. The slope point can only be dragged along this line. The figure displayed at the bottom is the actual slope. It is best to keep slope values between -3 and 3.

When moving a point (red) around, the slopes of the curve at that point are locked and will follow the same movement.

To the right hand side a table of edit fields with the coordinates of the points is shown.

To add a point at the end of the list, use the  button.

To insert a point just before the selected point, use the  button. The inserted point gets the average value of the points between which it is inserted.

To remove a point from the list, select it and click the  button.

The texture_map dialog shows two columns.

To add an entry at the end of the list, use the  button. The last line will be duplicated. There is a limit of 256 entries.

To insert an entry just before the selected line, use the  button. Only the location of the inserted line gets the average value of the lines between which it is inserted. You may insert up to 256 lines.

	Note:
	If your last created texture_map was a large one, it may take some time before the dialog is displayed on screen.

To remove an entry from the list, select it and click the  button.

Allows you to quickly add a header with some general information to your scene text. Just type the required information and tick the checkbox of that line.

A few standard include files are also listed. Select the needed include files or enter the name of other files needed.

The last two lines contain a version directive and a default texture, but can be used for any kind of information.

Note that all entries and settings of template forms are remembered for the next call if "OK" was clicked.

In this template form, you will find all items that can be contained in the global_settings { } statement. Refer to the POV-Ray™ Documentation and MegaPOV Documentation on string encoding, tone mapping, radiosity, photons, motion blur etc.

	Note:
	Note that the "Open" and "Save" buttons at the bottom will save the settings of all tabs of the global_settings. To save and open the settings of each tab individually, use the "Import" and "Export" options in the "File" menu.

This template groups the templates for pigment, normal, finish and interior on one panel, so that a whole material can be specified at once. Refer to the appropriate chapters for more information on each panel.

As a bonus, this material can also be previewed on a few objects (sphere, box, ...) which can be chosen from the object pop-up. You could also preview their interaction with reflected (choose from the reflect pop-up) and/or refracted (choose from the background pop-up) environments.

The scene is lit by a light source at a great distance in front of the object. This light can be moved by rotating it. Use the top slider to rotate it to the left or the right, or enter the value directly in the edit field marked 'H:'. Moving the light up or down is done with the left slider or directly in the edit field marked 'V:'. A fill light  at the camera's position can be switched on and off with the 'Fill' option. Enter a percentage to set the strength of this light.

Under the "Layers" tab turn on the panels that should be used for the preview AND that will be written to the scene text at the cursor's location. Green indicators above the "Pigment", "Normal", "Finish" and "Interior" tabs show whether these panels have been turned on.

Do not forget to turn the layer on. This is the layer that is selected in the layer panel.

On top of the panels, above their respective tabs, a green indicator shows whether it is in use or not.

"Draw layer" will render a preview with all settings from the selected panels for the selected layer. Every time you made a change, to one of the settings, you should hit this button for an updated preview.

"Draw material" will render the material with all the layers which have been turned on. For this version you have to select them one by one to check if the 'Layer On' check box is ticked or not.

"OK" will write the material to your scene, with all the selected items.

At this time there are no known bugs. But if there are some, we will inform you on our home page. Please drop in from time to time.

If you stumble across a problem, please report this to us. Include all information on the machine you are running POV-Ray 3.7 Unofficial on (type, processor, memory, system version, screen & resolution, ...). Also mention the version of POV-Ray 3.7 Unofficial and the compile date: to be found in the about box.

There are still things to do :-).

If you have a small suggestion, a bright idea, found some weird or annoying behavior of this program, or when you are delighted about some feature: don't hesitate to contact us.