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Creating Photo-realistic Images and Animations

Author(s): 
Michael Grady (Southern Utah Univ.)

This article, intended for developers, will explain in detail the POV-Ray code necessary to generate the dodecahedron appearing in our third gallery image (Duality). We will then show how to create an animation based on this scene. This, and the recommended references, should provide a solid foundation for those interested in experimenting with the use of ray tracers for mathematical exposition and exploration.

  1. Obtaining and Installing POV-ray
  2. Rendering Your First Scene
  3. The POV-Ray Scene Description Language
  4. Creating the Dodecahedron
  5. Animating the Scene
  6. Conclusion
  7. References
  8. POV-Ray Related Links
  9. Footnote for Mac Users

The companion article, A Gallery of Ray Tracing for Geometers, introduced ray tracing as a tool for mathematical exposition.

Michael Grady (Southern Utah Univ.), "Creating Photo-realistic Images and Animations," Convergence (September 2010), DOI:10.4169/loci003351