2.2 Scene Description Language
The reference section describes the POV-Ray scene description language. It is supposed to be used as a
reference for looking up things. It does not contain detailed explanations on how scenes are written or how POV-Ray is
used. It just explains all features, their syntax, applications, limits, drawbacks, etc.
The scene description language allows you to describe the world in a readable and convenient way. Files are created
in plain ASCII text using an editor of your choice. The input file name is specified using the Input_File_Name =file
option or +I file switch. By default the files have the extension .pov . POV-Ray
reads the file, processes it by creating an internal model of the scene and then renders the scene.
The overall syntax of a scene is shown below. See "Notation and Basic Assumptions" for
more information on syntax notation.
SCENE:
SCENE_ITEM...
SCENE_ITEM:
LANGUAGE_DIRECTIVES |
camera { CAMERA_ITEMS... } |
OBJECTS |
ATMOSPHERIC_EFFECTS |
global_settings { GLOBAL_ITEMS }
In plain English, this means that a scene contains one or more scene items and that a scene item may be any of the
five items listed below it. The items may appear in any order. None is a required item. In addition to the syntax
depicted above, a LANGUAGE_DIRECTIVE may also appear anywhere embedded in other statements between any two
tokens. There are some restrictions on nesting directives also.
For details on those five items see section "Language Directives", section "Objects",
section "Camera", section "Atmospheric Effects" and section
"Global Settings" for details. Section Contents
More about "Notation and Basic Assumptions"
More about "Language Directives"
More about "Object"
More about "Camera"
More about "Atmospheric Effects"
More about "Global Settings"
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