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<section version="5.0"
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         xml:id="rendering.povray_renderer"
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  <title>POV-Ray renderer</title>

  <para>
     <informalfigure><screenshot><mediaobject><imageobject>
       <imagedata fileref="images/rendering/povray_renderer_panel.png" format="PNG" />
     </imageobject></mediaobject></screenshot></informalfigure>  
     
     This rendering backend of OVITO invokes the external <link xlink:href="http://www.povray.org/">POV-Ray (Persistence of Vision Raytracer)</link>
     program to generate images of the scene. <link xlink:href="http://www.povray.org/">POV-Ray</link> must be installed
     on the computer if you want to use this rendering backend. It is available free of charge under an Open Source license on all platforms.
   </para>
   <para>
     Every time an image of a viewport is being rendered, the rendering backend automatically saves the visible scene objects to a temporary file, which is then processed by 
     the POV-Ray program. Once POV-Ray has finished, the rendered image is read back into OVITO. 
   </para>
   <para>
     Note that you can also save the current scene to
     a <filename>.pov</filename> file using OVITO's <link linkend="usage.export">file export function</link>. 
     This allows you to render the exported scene through POV-Ray at a later time or on a different machine.
   </para>
</section>
