DINO and POVray Tutorial

DINO generates two files, ending with .pov and .inc. The former is meant to be user editable and contains definitions for the camera, the light sources and the material parameters for the 3D objects (in form of variables). The latter contains the definitions for the 3D objects and normally does not need to be modified.

Lets look a test .pov file, with a single (surface) object:

/* POVRAY output from DINO This is the main file containing the user editable parameters */ #version 3.1;
The file header. If you plan to include more definition files, e.g. to use predefined textures from POVray, put them after the version info.

background {color rgb <0.000,0.000,0.000>}
Defines a simple black background. Read more about backgrounds here .

camera { perspective location <0,0,0> direction <0,0,-1> up <0,1,0> right <1,0,0> angle 25.0000 translate <0,0,114.5000> //translate <2.0,0,0> //look_at <0,0,0> }
Camera settings, including the possibility to create a stereo image. More information here.

light_source {<0,0,114.5000> color rgb <1,1,1>} light_source {<0,0,0> color rgb 0.1 shadowless}
Light Sources. The first is positioned at the location of the camera, the second in the center of the scene. For more detail see here.

// depth cueing plane {z, 19.005 texture {pigment {color rgbft <0,0,0,1,1>}} hollow interior {fade_power 2 fade_distance 19.810} }
This is an infinite plane with a foggy interior (yes, weird concept but works), creating a depth effect. See also here.

// bounding box // -23.977 -24.062 -22.605 26.760 23.621 21.005
The bounding box, showing the minimal and maximal xyz values in the scene. Needed for fancy backgrounds.

// object .s.s #declare _s_s = 1; #declare _s_s_tex = texture { pigment {color rgbft <0,0,0,1,1>} normal {granite 0.0 scale 1.0} finish { ambient 0.10 diffuse 0.70 brilliance 1.00 specular 0.00 roughness 0.0100 } } #declare _s_s_mat = material { texture {_s_s_tex}} #declare _s_s_tp = 0.00; #declare _s_s_fi = 0.00;
All parameters for DINO object .s.s.
Setting the first #declare statement to zero will turn the object off (the lines will still be parsed thou).
The texture declaration contains several settings, most importantly the ones for finish and normal. For more detail look here.
Finally, the transparency and filter values are declared (more explanation here). For some objects there will also be a linewidth and/or pointsize setting declaration here.

#declare _Scene = #include "file.inc" object { _Scene }
This last tidbit reads the object definitions from the .inc file.