1.3.1  Starting a Render Job

Starting POV-Ray rendering any scene file is as simple as running "povray" from a command-line with the scene file name as an argument. This will work with either a POV file or an INI file (as long as it has an associated POV file). See Understanding File Types. The scene is rendered with the current POV-Ray 3 options (see Understanding POV-Ray Options).

N.B. One of the more common errors new users make is turning off the display option. The Display option (+d) is ON by default. If you turn this OFF in the INI file or on the command line, POV-Ray will not display the file as you render.

Please also note that POV-Ray for Unix will write the output file to a .png by default. There is no way to 'save the render window' after rendering is completed. If you turned file output off before starting the render, and change your mind, you will have to start the rendering all over again. We recommend that you just leave file output on all the time.