239 lines
9.7 KiB
HTML
239 lines
9.7 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
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<!-- This file copyright Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd. 2009-2011 -->
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<html lang="en">
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
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<title>Unix Section 1</title>
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<link rel="StyleSheet" href="povray37.css" type="text/css">
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<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico">
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<!-- NOTE: In order to help users find information about POV-Ray using web -->
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<body>
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<div class="Page">
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<!-- NavPanel Begin -->
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<div class="NavPanel">
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<table class="NavTable">
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<tr>
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<td class="FixedPanelHeading"><a title="1.1" href="#u1_1">Introduction</a></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><div class="divh2"><strong><a title="1.1.1" href="#u1_1_1">What is POV-Ray?</a></strong></div></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><div class="divh2"><strong><a title="1.1.2" href="#u1_1_2">What is POV-Ray for Unix?</a></strong></div></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><div class="divh2"><strong><a title="1.1.3" href="#u1_1_3">... And What Is It Not?</a></strong></div></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><div class="divh2"><strong><a title="1.1.4" href="#u1_1_4">Who Can Use POV-Ray for Unix?</a></strong></div></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><div class="divh2"><strong><a title="1.1.5" href="#u1_1_5">Spelling</a></strong></div></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><div class="divh2"><strong><a title="1.1.6" href="#u1_1_6">Reporting Bugs</a></strong></div></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><div class="divh2"><strong><a title="1.1.7" href="#u1_1_7">Trademarks</a></strong></div></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><div class="divh1"> </div></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><div class="divh1"> </div></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</div>
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<!-- NavPanel End -->
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<div class="Content">
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<table class="HeaderFooter" width="100%">
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<tr>
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<td colspan=5 align="left" class="HeaderFooter">
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POV-Ray for Unix <strong class="HeaderFooter">version 3.7</strong>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr >
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<td colspan=5>
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<hr align="right" width="70%">
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td width="30%"></td>
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<td class="NavBar"><a href="index.html" title="The Front Door">Home</a></td>
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<td class="NavBar"><a href="u1_0.html" title="Unix Table of Contents">POV-Ray for Unix</a></td>
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<td class="NavBar"><a href="t2_0.html" title="Tutorial Table of Contents">POV-Ray Tutorial</a></td>
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<td class="NavBar"><a href="r3_0.html" title="Reference Table of Contents">POV-Ray Reference</a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<a name="u1_1"></a>
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<div class="content-level-h2" contains="Introduction" id="u1_1">
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<h2>1.1 Introduction</h2>
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<p>
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This section provides information on how to use the Unix version
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of the Persistence of Vision Raytracer™.
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</p>
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<p>
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Before we start we'll have a brief discussion of just what this program <em>is</em>, and
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what it <em>does</em>.
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</p>
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</div>
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<a name="u1_1_1"></a>
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<div class="content-level-h3" contains="What is POV-Ray?" id="u1_1_1">
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<h3>1.1.1 What is POV-Ray?</h3>
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<p>
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POV-Ray™ is short for the Persistence of Vision Raytracer™, a tool for producing
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high-quality computer graphics. POV-Ray is Free Software (as per the definition of the Free
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Software Foundation) as its source code is licensed under the
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<a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html">Affero General Public License</a> (AGPL).
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</p>
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<p>
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Without a doubt, POV-Ray is the worlds most popular raytracer. From our website alone we see
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several hundred thousand downloads per year, and this of course doesn't count the copies that are
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obtained from our mirror sites, other internet sites, on CD-ROM, or from persons sharing their
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copies.
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</p>
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<p>
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The fact that it is free helps a lot in this area, of course, but there's more to it than that.
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There are quite a few other free raytracers and renderers available. What makes this program
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different ?
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</p>
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<p>
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The answers are too numerous to detail in full here. Suffice it to say that POV-Ray has the
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right balance of power and versatility to satisfy extremely experienced and competent users,
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while at the same time not being so intimidating as to completely scare new users off.
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</p>
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<p>
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Of course, the most important factor is image quality, and in the right hands, POV-Ray has it.
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We, the developers, have seen images that were rendered using our software that we at first
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thought were photographs - they were that realistic.</p>
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<p class="Note"><strong>Note:</strong> Photo-realism is an advanced skill; one that takes some practice to develop.</p>
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</div>
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<a name="u1_1_2"></a>
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<div class="content-level-h3" contains="What is POV-Ray for Unix?" id="u1_1_2">
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<h3>1.1.2 What is POV-Ray for Unix?</h3>
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<p>
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POV-Ray for Unix is essentially a version of the POV-Ray rendering engine prepared
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for running on a Unix or Unix-like operating system (such as GNU/Linux). It contains
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all the features of POV-Ray described in chapters 2 and 3 of the documentation, plus
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a few others specific to Unix and GNU/Linux systems. These additional features do not
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affect the core rendering code. They only make the program suitable for running
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under an Unix-based system, and provide the user with Unix-specific displaying
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capabilities. For instance, POV-Ray for Unix can use the X Window System to display
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the image it is rendering. On GNU/Linux machines, it can also display the image
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directly on the console screen using the SVGA library.
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</p>
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<p>
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POV-Ray for Unix uses the same scheme as the other supported platforms to create
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ray-traced images. The POV-Ray input is platform-independant, as it is using
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text files (POV-Ray scripts) to describe the scene: camera, lights, and various
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objects. An extensive discussion of the
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<a href="r3_3.html#r3_3">POV-Ray Scene Description Language</a>
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can be found elsewhere in this documentation.
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</p>
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</div>
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<a name="u1_1_3"></a>
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<div class="content-level-h3" contains="... And What Is It Not?" id="u1_1_3">
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<h3>1.1.3 ... And What Is It Not?</h3>
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<p>
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POV-Ray for Unix is not a modeler. It will not let you design scenes graphically
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on-screen. There are several shareware and freeware programs available for this purpose. To
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write or modify POV-Ray scenes you just edit the actual text file containing the commands.
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</p>
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<p>
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New users might be surprised to learn that, although this <em>sounds</em> primitive, it is in
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fact one of the things that gives POV-Ray so much power and flexibility. There are many other
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rendering programs that give you a point-and-click interface, but when it comes down to absolute
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control of your scene, it's hard to beat a text-based scene description language (even though
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it's harder for some to learn).
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</p>
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</div>
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<a name="u1_1_4"></a>
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<div class="content-level-h3" contains="Who Can Use POV-Ray for Unix?" id="u1_1_4">
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<h3>1.1.4 Who Can Use POV-Ray for Unix?</h3>
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<p>
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Almost anyone can use POV-Ray for Unix. If you have never seen a ray tracing program
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before, you can have great fun just rendering the sample scenes and animations installed
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together with POV-Ray for Unix. Once you have studied some scene files and spent a little
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bit of time reading this documentation, you can start putting basic scene files together.
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</p>
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<p>
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Remember, though, that you do need to invest some time getting to know the program. For
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instance, you do not have to worry about most of the POV-Ray settings at first, but some of
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them are critical. Ignore them and POV-Ray for Unix may not do what you expect. The default
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settings have been selected so as to be satisfactory in the large majority of cases, but
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sometimes they will not give you what you want. Don't give up. The solution is bound to be a
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simple one, as long as you take the time to read the documentation. Investing a little bit of
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time getting to know the program will pay off - guaranteed!
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</p>
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<p>
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As for experienced POV-Ray users, you will find that running POV-Ray in a Unix environment
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makes life much easier. Working under Unix means you can use editors and other powerful tools
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with which you may already be quite familiar. POV-Ray modes exist for popular text editors
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such as Emacs, and these provide many of the features found in the POV-Ray GUI interface on
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other platforms.
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</p>
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</div>
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<a name="u1_1_5"></a>
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<div class="content-level-h3" contains="Spelling" id="u1_1_5">
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<h3>1.1.5 Spelling</h3>
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<p>
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Some US Residents have commented on the spelling of some words such as colour, initialisation,
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and minimised (they expect color, initialization, or minimized). POV-Ray is an international
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effort and as such our spelling sometimes conforms to British, European, or Australian, rather
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than American, English. You'll find examples of this both in this document and in POV-Ray
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itself (for example, POV accepts both 'color' and 'colour' as valid keywords).
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</p>
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</div>
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<a name="u1_1_6"></a>
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<div class="content-level-h3" contains="Reporting Bugs" id="u1_1_6">
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<h3>1.1.6 Reporting Bugs</h3>
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<p>
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There is a section in this help file for bug reports. Make sure that you <a href="u1_7.html#u1_7">read it</a>
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before sending us a complaint/bug report !
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</p>
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</div>
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<a name="u1_1_7"></a>
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<div class="content-level-h3" contains="Trademarks" id="u1_1_7">
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<h3>1.1.7 Trademarks</h3>
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<p>
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The terms 'POV-Ray', 'Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer', and 'POV-Team'
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are trademarks of Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd.
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</p>
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<p>
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UNIX (also commonly referred to as 'Unix') is a registered trademark of The Open Group.
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'Linux' is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.
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X Window System is a trademark of X Consortium, Inc. All other trademarks are acknowledged
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as being the property of their respective owners.
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</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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