.TH POV-Ray 1 "July 2021" "POV\-Team" "Version 3.7" \" -*- nroff -*-
.\" man page written by Andreas Dilger
.\" updated by Mark Gordon for POV-Ray 3.5
.\" updated by Nicolas Calimet and Christoph Hormann for POV-Ray 3.6
.\" updated by James Holsenback for POV-Ray 3.7

.SH NAME
povray \- POV\-Ray: The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer 

.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBpovray\fP [\fB+O\fP\fIoutput_file\fP] [\fB+/\-option\fP ...] 
[\fIinput_file\fP]
.LP
\fBpovray\fP [\fB+I\fP\fIinput_file\fP] [\fB+O\fP\fIoutput_file\fP]
[\fB+/\-option\fP ...] [\fIINI_file\fP]

.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBPOV\-Ray\fP is a free, full\-featured ray tracer, written and maintained
by a team of volunteers on the Internet.  On the UNIX platform \fBPOV\-Ray\fP 
can be compiled with support for preview capabilities using the \fIX Window 
System\fP.
.LP
This manual page only lists the basic \fBPOV\-Ray\fP and UNIX specific
features and command\-line options for this version of \fBPOV\-Ray\fP.
For a complete description of the features of \fBPOV\-Ray\fP and
its scene description language (a.k.a. \fBPOV\-Ray\fP SDL),
or for a better explanation of the meaning of the
command\-line and INI file options, please consult the documentation
that should accompany all versions of \fBPOV\-Ray\fP.  The documentation
is installed in PREFIX/share/doc/povray-3.7, where PREFIX is /usr/local
by default, or a path specified when configuring the source package for
compilation and installation.
.LP
Some of the UNIX\-specific features are:
.IP
Support for X Window display automatically uses the best visual class
and deepest depth available.  For visuals that do not support 24 bits of
color per pixel, Floyd\-Steinberg error diffusion dithering is used, along
with a dynamically allocated and optimized palette to produce the best
display possible with the current visual, depth, and available colormap.
.IP
ICCCM compliance for the X Window version means that the preview window
will behave like standard X Window programs, communicate properly with
the window manager, and will accept the standard command\-line options.
See \fIX(1)\fP for more information.
.IP
ASCII graphics in the text\-mode version allow a basic view of
the current rendering on text\-only terminals.
.IP
An interrupt handler allows rendering to be interrupted in a safe way,
so that any data not currently written to disk will be saved before
exiting.  Control\-C or SIGINT will cause a user abort, and save the
current rendering, before exiting.  See \fIkill(1)\fP for more information.
.IP
Platform and architecture-independent rendering means that the same scene
will render in the same way on all computers and operating systems
(with the exception of the rendering speed, of course).

.SH OPTIONS
Options can be specified with either a leading '+' or a leading '\-'.
Many options are switches, meaning a '+' turns the option on, and a '\-'
turns the option off.  For other options, it doesn't matter if
a '+' or a '\-' is used.  Most options cannot have spaces in them
so you should specify \fB+FN\fP rather than \fB+F N\fP, and combining
options is not allowed, so \fB+SC\fB is very different from \fB+S +C\fP.
Options are not case sensitive.
.LP
The command\-line options are shown below with their corresponding INI
file options.  If the same option is specified multiple times, whether
in INI files or on the command\-line, the last such option overrides any
previous ones, with the exception of the \fB+L\fP or \fBLibrary_Path\fP
option, which is cumulative.

.SS Parsing options:
.TP
\fBI\fP<\fIinput_file_name\fP> or \fBInput_File_Name\fP=\fIfile\fP
Specifies the input file to use. Only real files are supported. Using '\-' 
as the input file name, to read from the standard input, is deprecated.
.TP
\fBHI\fP<\fIheader_include_file_name\fP> or \fBInclude_Header\fP=\fIfile\fP
Specifies a file as the first include file of a scene file.  This can be
used to always include a specific set of default include files used by
all your scenes.
.TP
\fBL\fP<\fIlibrary_path\fP> or \fBLibrary_Path\fP=\fIpath\fP
Specifies a directory to search for input files, include files,
fonts, and image maps, if the specified file is not in the current
directory.  This may be specified multiple times to increase the
number of directories to search.
.TP
\fBMV\fP\fIn.n\fP or \fBVersion\fP=\fIfloat\fP
Treat scene files as if they were version \fIn.n\fP instead of the
current version.  This may be overridden from within the scene file.
.TP
\fBSU\fP or \fBSplit_Unions\fP=\fIbool\fP
Split bounded CSG unions if children are finite.  This allows automatic
bounding of CSG objects to take place.
.TP
\fBUR\fP or \fBRemove_Bounds\fP=\fIbool\fP
Remove unnecessary bounding objects.  This allows automatic bounding of
older scene files to take place.
.TP
\fBBM1\fP or \fBBounding_Method\fP=\fB1\fP
Enable BVH (Bounding Volume Hierarchy) bounding (the default).
.TP
\fBBM2\fP or \fBBounding_Method\fP=\fB2\fP
Enable BSP (Binary Space Partitioning) tree bounding.
.SS Output options:
.TP
\fBH\fP\fIn\fP or \fBHeight\fP=\fIinteger\fP
The image should be \fIn\fP pixels high.
.TP
\fBW\fP\fIn\fP or \fBWidth\fP=\fIinteger\fP
The image should be \fIn\fP pixels wide.
.TP
\fBSR\fP\fIn\fP or \fBStart_Row\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Start the rendering at row \fIn\fP from the top of the screen.
.TP
\fBSR\fP0.\fIn\fP or \fBStart_Row\fP=\fIfloat\fP
Start the rendering \fIn\fP percent from the top of the screen.
.TP
\fBER\fP\fIn\fP or \fBEnd_Row\fP=\fIinteger\fP
End the rendering at row \fIn\fP from the top of the screen.
.TP
\fBER\fP0.\fIn\fP or \fBEnd_Row\fP=\fIfloat\fP
End the rendering at \fIn\fP percent from the top of the screen.
.TP
\fBSC\fP\fIn\fP or \fBStart_Column\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Start the rendering at column \fIn\fP from the left of the screen.
.TP
\fBSC\fP0.\fIn\fP or \fBStart_Column\fP=\fIfloat\fP
Start the rendering at \fIn\fP percent from the left of the screen.
.TP
\fBEC\fP\fIn\fP or \fBStart_Column\fP=\fIinteger\fP
End the rendering at column \fIn\fP from the left of the screen.
.TP
\fBEC\fP0.\fIn\fP or \fBStart_Column\fP=\fIfloat\fP
End the rendering at \fIn\fP percent from the left of the screen.
.TP
\fBC\fP or \fBContinue_Trace\fP=\fIbool\fP
Continue a previously interrupted trace.
.TP
\fBP\fP or \fBPause_When_Done\fP=\fIbool\fP
If previewing, pause when the rendering is complete before closing the window.
.TP
\fBV\fP or \fBVerbose\fP=\fIbool\fP
Output verbose status messages on the progress of the rendering.
.TP
\fBWL\fP\fIn\fP or \fBWarning_Level\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Set warning level to \fIn\fP.
.TP
\fBX\fP or \fBTest_Abort\fP=\fIbool\fP
Enable the 'q' and 'Q' keys to interrupt a rendering in progress.
.TP
\fBX\fP\fIn\fP or \fBTest_Abort_Count\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Only check every \fIn\fP pixels for a user abort.

.SS Output options \- display related:
.TP
\fBD\fP[0][\fIGHT\fP] or \fBDisplay\fP=\fIbool\fP  \fBPalette\fP=\fIchar\fP
Display the rendering in progress, optionally specifying the palette.
The only valid X Window palette option is \fIG\fP, which forces
grayscale preview.  The X Window palette is based on the visual used,
whether selected automatically by \fBPOV\-Ray\fP or via the \fB\-visual\fP
option.  To specify the palette, you must first specify the display
type (the second character, shown here as '0') for compatibility reasons,
even though it is ignored in UNIX versions.
.TP
\fBSP\fP\fIn\fP or \fBPreview_Start_Size\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Start mosaic preview with blocks \fIn\fP pixels square.
.TP
\fBEP\fP\fIn\fP or \fBPreview_End_Size\fP=\fIinteger\fP
End mosaic preview with blocks \fIn\fP pixels square.
.TP
\fBUD\fP or \fBDraw_Vistas\fP=\fIbool\fP
Draw vista rectangles before rendering has been deprecated.
.SS Output options \- file related:
.TP
\fBF\fP[\fICEHJNPST\fP][\fIn\fP] or \fBOutput_to_File\fP=\fIbool\fP \fBOutput_File_Type\fP=\fIchar\fP
Store the rendered image using one of the available formats, namely
\fIC\fPompressed TGA, Open\fIE\fPXR, Radiance \fIH\fPigh Dynamic-Range, \fIJ\fPPEG, P\fIN\fPG, \fIP\fPPM, \fIS\fPystem  specific (PNG) and \fIT\fPGA.
.TP
\fBO\fP<\fIoutput_file\fP> or \fBOutput_File_Name\fP=\fIfile\fP
Write the output to the file named \fIoutput_file\fP, or the standard
output if '\-' is given as the output file name.
.TP
\fBMI\fP\fIn\fP or \fBMax_Image_Buffer_Memory\fP=\fIn\fP
Sets the allowable size of the output image cache in megabytes.
.SS Tracing options:
.TP
\fBMB\fP\fIn\fP or \fBBounding\fP=\fIbool\fP \fBBounding_Threshold\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Use automatic bounding slabs if more than \fIn\fP objects are in the scene.
.TP
\fBQ\fIn\fP or \fBQuality\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Render at quality \fIn\fP.  Qualities range from \fI0\fP for rough images
and \fI9\fP for complete ray\-tracing and textures, and \fI10\fP and \fI11\fP
add radiosity.
.TP
\fBA\fP0.\fIn\fP or \fBAntialias\fP=\fIbool\fP \fBAntialias_Threshold\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Do antialiasing on the pixels until the difference between adjacent pixels
is less that 0.\fIn\fP, or the maximum recursion depth is reached.
.TP
\fBAM\fP\fIn\fP or \fBSampling_Method\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Specify the method of antialiasing used, non\-adaptive (\fIn\fP = 1), or
adaptive antialiasing (\fIn\fP = 2).
.TP
\fBJ\fP\fIn.n\fP or \fBJitter\fP=\fIbool\fP \fBJitter_Amount\fP=\fIfloat\fP
Specify maximum radius, in pixels, that antialiased samples should be
jittered from their true centers.
.TP
\fBR\fP\fIn\fP or \fBAntialias_Depth\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Set the maximum recursion depth for antialiased pixel sub\-sampling.
.TP
\fBUA\fP or \fBOutput_Alpha\fP=\fIbool\fP
Use alpha channel for transparency mask.
.TP
\fBUL\fP or \fBLight_Buffer\fP=\fIbool\fP
Use light buffer to speed up rendering has been deprecated.
.TP
\fBUV\fP or \fBVista_Buffer\fP=\fIbool\fP
Use vista buffer to speed up rendering has been deprecated.

.SS Animation options:
.TP
\fBK\fP\fIn.n\fP or \fBClock\fP=\fIfloat\fP
Render a single frame of an animation with the clock value \fIn.n\fP.
.TP
\fBKFI\fP\fIn\fP or \fBInitial_Frame\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Specify the initial frame number for an animation.
.TP
\fBKFF\fP\fIn\fP or \fBFinal_Frame\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Specify the final frame number for an animation.  This must be set at a
value other that 1 in order to render multiple frames at once.
.TP
\fBKI\fP\fIn.n\fP or \fBInitial_Clock\fP=\fIfloat\fP
Specify the clock value for the initial frame of an animation.
.TP
\fBKF\fP\fIn.n\fP or \fBFinal_Clock\fP=\fIfloat\fP
Specify the clock value for the frame final of an animation.
.TP
\fBSF\fP\fIn\fP or \fBSubset_Start_Frame\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Render a subset of frames from an animation, starting at frame \fIn\fP.
.TP
\fBSF\fP\fI0.n\fP or \fBSubset_Start_Frame\fP=\fIfloat\fP
Render a subset of frames from an animation, starting \fIn\fP percent
into the animation.
.TP
\fBEF\fP\fIn\fP or \fBSubset_End_Frame\fP=\fIinteger\fP
Render a subset of frames from an animation, stopping at frame \fIn\fP.
.TP
\fBEF\fP\fI0.n\fP or \fBSubset_End_Frame\fP=\fIfloat\fP
Render a subset of frames from an animation, stopping \fIn\fP percent
into the animation.
.TP
\fBKC\fP or \fBCyclic_Animation\fP=\fIbool\fP
Generate clock values for a cyclic animation.
.TP
\fBUF\fP or \fBField_Render\fP=\fIbool\fP
Render alternate frames using odd/even fields, suitable for interlaced output.
.TP
\fBUO\fP or \fBOdd_Field\fP=\fIbool\fP
Start a field rendered animation on the odd field, rather than the even field.

.SS Redirecting options:
.TP
\fBGI<name>\fP or \fBCreate_Ini\fP=\fIbool\fP or \fBCreate_Ini\fP=\fIfile\fP
Write all INI parameters to a file named after the input scene file, or one
with the specified name.
.TP
\fBG\fP[\fIADFRSW\fP]<name> or \fB<Stream>_File\fP=\fIbool\fP or \fB<Stream>_File\fP=\fIfile\fP
Write the stream to the console and/or the specified file.  The streams are
\fIA\fPll_File (except status), \fID\fPebug_File, \fIF\fPatal_File,
\fIR\fPender_File, \fIS\fPtatistics_File, and the \fIW\fParning_File.

.SS X Window System options:
In addition to the standard command\-line options, POV\-Ray recognizes
additional command\-line switches related to the X Window System.  
See \fIX(1)\fP for a complete description of these options.
.TP
\fB\-display\fP <\fIdisplay_name\fP>
Display preview on \fIdisplay_name\fP rather than the default display.
This is meant to be used to change the display to a remote host.  The
normal dispay option \fB+d\fP is still valid.
.TP
\fB\-geometry\fP  [\fIWIDTH\fPx\fIHEIGHT\fP][+\fIXOFF\fP+\fIYOFF\fP]
Render the image with \fIWIDTH\fP and \fIHEIGHT\fP as the dimensions,
and locate the window \fIXOFF\fP from the left edge, and \fIYOFF\fP from
the top edge of the screen (or if negative the right and bottom edges
respectively).  The \fIWIDTH\fP and \fIHEIGHT\fP, if given, override any
previous \fBW\fP\fIn\fP and \fBH\fP\fIn\fP settings.
.TP
\fB\-help\fP
Display the X Window System\-specific options.  Use \fB\-H\fP by itself on the
command\-line to output the general \fBPOV\-Ray\fP options.
.TP
\fB\-icon\fP
Start the preview window as an icon.
.TP
\fB\-title\fP <\fIwindow_title\fP>
Override the default preview window title with \fIwindow_title\fP.
.TP
\fB\-visual\fP <\fIvisual_type\fP>
Use the deepest visual of \fIvisual_type\fP, if available, instead of
the automatically selected visual.  Valid visuals are StaticGray,
GrayScale, StaticColor, PseudoColor, TrueColor, or DirectColor.

.SH RESOURCES
Currently no X resource or app\-default files are supported for the X
Window options.

.SH FILES
.LP
\fBPOV\-Ray\fP for UNIX allows a \fIpovray.ini\fP file in the current
directory to override the individual setting in
\fI$HOME/.povray/3.7/povray.ini\fP.
\fBPOV\-Ray\fP looks for initial configuration information, like the
Library_Path settings, which gives the location for the standard include
files, first in the environment variable \fI$POVINI\fP, then in
\fI./povray.ini\fP, then in \fI$HOME/.povray/3.7/povray.ini\fP, then in
\fIPREFIX/etc/povray/3.7/povray.ini\fP. The PREFIX directory can be changed
at compile\-time using the \-\-prefix option of the configure script.
For backward compatibility with \fBPOV\-Ray\fP version 3.5 and earlier,
the \fI$HOME/.povrayrc\fP and \fI$PREFIX/etc/povray.ini\fP files are also
searched for when none of the above files were found.
.LP
Since version 3.5 \fBPOV\-Ray\fP features an I/O Restriction mechanism.
I/O Restrictions attempt to at least partially protect a machine running
\fBPOV-Ray\fP from having files read or written outside of a given set
of directories. The settings are defined in two \fIconfiguration files\fP,
a system-level \fIPREFIX/etc/povray/3.7/povray.conf\fP file and an user-level
\fI$HOME/.povray/3.7/povray.conf\fP file with more restrictive settings.
As of \fBPOV-Ray\fP 3.6 the format of these configuration files has changed,
and no backward compatibility is retained with the configuration files
in \fBPOV-Ray\fP 3.5. See the documentation for further details and
examples of I/O Restriction settings.
.LP
\fIpovlegal.doc\fP should accompany all installations of \fBPOV\-Ray\fP,
and outlines specific conditions and restrictions on the \fBPOV\-Ray\fP
software.  A condition of \fIpovlegal.doc\fP requires that documentation,
INI and scene files be available to all users of \fBPOV\-Ray\fP. Scene
and INI files are typically installed in PREFIX/share/povray\-3.7, and
documentation in PREFIX/share/doc/povray-3.7, but these may be in other
locations on some systems.
.LP
The most recent version of \fBPOV\-Ray\fP and its documentation can always
be retrieved via anonymous FTP at \fIftp.povray.org\fP or via HTTP at
\fIpovray.org\fP, as well as many other locations.

.SH SEE ALSO
X(1), kill(1), \fIThe POV-Ray Manual\fP

.SH COPYRIGHT
\fBPersistence of Vision Ray Tracer\fP (POV\-Ray)
  Copyright 1991-2013 Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd.
.LP
For further information see the file \fIpovlegal.doc\fP that comes
with this program.
.LP
The \fIX Window System\fP is
  Copyright 1984 \- 1991 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  Copyright 1992 \- 1996 the X Consortium, Inc.
  Copyright 1998        the Open Group, L.L.C.
  Copyright 1999 \- 2004 the X.Org Foundation, L.L.C.

.SH TRADEMARKS
The terms \fIPersistence of Vision Raytracer\fP and \fIPOV-Ray\fP
are trademarks of Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the US and other
countries.

.SH BUGS
Before reporting a bug to our bug-tracking system \fIbugs.povray.org\fP you
should make sure you have the latest version of the software, in case the bug
has already been fixed. There are a large number of \fBPOV\-Ray\fP users on the
\fBPOV\-Ray\fP newsserver \fInews.povray.org\fP and a list of available groups
can be found on \fIpovray.org/resources/newsgroups\fP. You should try to find
help and assistance in there before lodging a bug report.

.SH AUTHORS
Primary POV-Ray 3.7 Architects/Developers: (Alphabetically)
.LP
  Chris Cason         Thorsten Froehlich  Christoph Lipka
.LP 
With Assistance From: (Alphabetically)
.LP
  Ton van den Broek   Nicolas Calimet     Jerome Grimbert     James Holsenback  
  Christoph Hormann   Nathan Kopp         Juha Nieminen
.LP
Past Contributors: (Alphabetically)
.LP
  Steve Anger         Eric Barish         Dieter Bayer        David K. Buck     
  Nicolas Calimet     Chris Cason         Aaron A. Collins    Chris Dailey      
  Steve Demlow        Andreas Dilger      Alexander Enzmann   Dan Farmer        
  Thorsten Froehlich  Mark Gordon         James Holsenback    Christoph Hormann 
  Mike Hough          Chris Huff          Kari Kivisalo       Nathan Kopp       
  Lutz Kretzschmar    Christoph Lipka     Jochen Lippert      Pascal Massimino  
  Jim McElhiney       Douglas Muir        Juha Nieminen       Ron Parker        
  Bill Pulver         Eduard Schwan       Wlodzimierz Skiba   Robert Skinner    
  Yvo Smellenbergh    Zsolt Szalavari     Scott Taylor        Massimo Valentini 
  Timothy Wegner      Drew Wells          Chris Young        
.LP
Other contributors are listed in the documentation.

.SH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
\fBPOV\-Ray\fP is based on DKBTrace 2.12 by David K. Buck and
Aaron A. Collins.