3.1 Introduction

This is the Reference section, and it applies to all platforms for which this version of POV-Ray has been ported. The platform-specific documentation is available in a separate section.

Excluding this introduction, the reference section is divided into three main parts.

1. The Command-line Options section for controlling and configuring POV-Ray.
2. The Scene Description Language section for the programming rules and syntax used in POV-Ray.
3. The Scene File Elements section that details the camera and lighting types that are available,
   and the vast array of built-in objects, patterns and textures used to construct scene files.

New users may find it more convenient to begin with the Introduction to Pov-Ray or tutorial section, followed by the platform-specific documentation, in order to become more familiar your versions platform-specific features.

Additional notes about this documentation are as follows:

1. Windows documentation is accessible using the POV-Ray program's Help menu or by pressing the F1 key.
2. Mac OS documentation is also available via the Help menu and for viewing with a web browser.
3. Unix/Linux documentation is available in html only and by default is typically found in /usr/local/share/povray-3.?/html
4. See the section Notation and Basic Assumptions for more about the notation used throughout this documentation.