Here is a description of each stream.
BANNER: } This stream displays the program's sign-on banner, copyright, contributor's list, and some help screens. It cannot be turned off or directed to a file because most of this text is displayed before any options or switches are read. Therefore you cannot use an option or switch to control it. There are switches which display the help screens. They are covered in section "Help Screen Switches" .
DEBUG: } This stream displays debugging messages. It was primarily designed for developers but this and other streams may also be used by the user to display messages from within their scene files. See "Text Message Streams" for details on this feature. This stream may be turned off and/or directed to a text file.
FATAL: } This stream displays fatal error messages. After displaying this text, POV-Ray will terminate. When the error is a scene parsing error, you may be shown several lines of scene text that leads up to the error. This stream may be turned off and/or directed to a text file.
RENDER: } This stream displays information about what options you have specified to render the scene. It includes feedback on all of the major options such as scene name, resolution, animation settings, anti-aliasing and others. This stream may be turned off and/or directed to a text file.
STATISTICS: } This stream displays statistics after a frame is rendered. It includes information about the number of rays traced, the length of time of the processing and other information. This stream may be turned off and/or directed to a text file.
STATUS: } This stream displays one-line status messages that explain what POV-Ray is doing at the moment. On some systems this stream is displayed on a status line at the bottom of the screen. This stream cannot be directed to a file because there is generally no need to. The text displayed by the Verbose option or +V switch is output to this stream so that part of the status stream may be turned off.
WARNING: } This stream displays warning messages during the parsing of scene files and other warnings. Despite the warning, POV-Ray can continue to render the scene. You will be informed if POV-Ray has made any assumptions about your scene so that it can proceed. In general any time you see a warning, you should also assume that this means that future versions of POV-Ray will not allow the warned action. Therefore you should attempt to eliminate warning messages so your scene will be able to run in future versions of POV-Ray. This stream may be turned off and/or directed to a text file.
You may suppress the output to the console of the Debug , Fatal , Render , Statistic or Warning text streams. For example the Statistic_Console =off option or the -GS switch can turn off the Statistic stream. Using on or +GS you may turn it on again. You may also turn all five of these streams on or off at once using the All_Console option or +GA switch.
Note that these options take effect immediately when specified. Obviously any Error or Warning messages that might occur before the option is read are not be affected.
You may direct a copy of the text streams to a text file for the Debug , Fatal , Render , Statistic or Warning text streams. For example the Statistic_File =s option or the +GS s switch. If the string s is true or any of the other valid true strings then that stream is redirected to a file with a default name. Valid true values are true , yes , on or 1 . If the value is false the direction to a text file is turned off. Valid false values are false , no , off or 0 . Any other string specified turns on file output and the string is interpreted as the output file name.
Similarly you may specify such a true, false or file name string after a switch such as +GS file. You may also direct all five streams to the same file using the All_File option or +GA switch. You may not specify the same file for two or more streams because POV-Ray will fail when it tries to open or close the same file twice.
Note that these options take effect immediately when specified. Obviously any Error or Warning messages that might occur before the option is read will not be affected.
Note that there are no INI style equivalents to these options.
Graphical interface versions of POV-Ray such as Mac or Windows have extensive online help. Other versions of POV-Ray have only a few quick-reference help screens. The +? switch, optionally followed by a single digit from 0 to 8, will display these help screens to the Banner text stream. After displaying the help screens, POV-Ray terminates. Because some operating systems do not permit a question mark as a command line switch you may also use the +H switch. Note however that this switch is also used to specify the height of the image in pixels. Therefore the +H switch is only interpreted as a help switch if it is the only switch on the command line and if the value after the switch is less than or equal to 8.
Section 6.2.4.2
Console Text OutputDebug_Console=bool Turn console display of debug info text on/off
+GD Same as Debug_Console=On
-GD Same as Debug_Console=Off
Fatal_Console=bool Turn console display of fatal error text on/off
+GF Same as Fatal_Console=On
-GF Same as Fatal_Console=Off
Render_Console=bool Turn console display of render info text on/off
+GR Same as Render_Console=On
-GR Same as Render_Console=Off
Statistic_Console=bool Turn console display of statistic text on/off
+GS Same as Statistic_Console=On
-GS Same as Statistic_Console=Off
Warning_Console=bool Turn console display of warning text on/off
+GW Same as Warning_Console=On
-GW Same as Warning_Console=Off
All_Console=bool Turn on/off all debug, fatal, render, statistic and warning text to console.
+GA Same as All_Console=On
-GA Same as All_Console=Off
Section 6.2.4.3
Directing Text Streams to FilesDebug_File=true Echo debug info text to DEBUG.OUT
Debug_File=false Turn off file output of debug info
Debug_File=file Echo debug info text to file
+GDfile Both Debug_Console=On, Debug_File=file
-GDfile Both Debug_Console=Off, Debug_File=file
Fatal_File=true Echo fatal text to FATAL.OUT
Fatal_File=false Turn off file output of fatal
Fatal_File=file Echo fatal info text to file
+GFfile Both Fatal_Console=On, Fatal_File=file
-GFfile Both Fatal_Console=Off, Fatal_File=file
Render_File=true Echo render info text to RENDER.OUT
Render_File=false Turn off file output of render info
Render_File=file Echo render info text to file
+GRfile Both Render_Console=On, Render_File=file
-GRfile Both Render_Console=Off, Render_File=file
Statistic_File=true Echo statistic text to STATS.OUT
Statistic_File=false Turn off file output of statistics
Statistic_File=file Echo statistic text to file
+GSFile Both Statistic_Console=On, Statistic_File=file
-GSFile Both Statistic_Console=Off, Statistic_File=file
Warning_File=true Echo warning info text to WARNING.OUT
Warning_File=false Turn off file output of warning info
Warning_File=file Echo warning info text to file
+GWfile Both Warning_Console=On, Warning_File=file
-GWfile Both Warning_Console=Off, Warning_File=file
All_File=true Echo all debug, fatal, render, statistic and warning text to ALLTEXT.OUT
All_File=false Turn off file output of all debug, fatal, render, statistic and warning text
All_File=file Echo all debug, fatal, render, statistic and warning text to file
+GAfile Both All_Console=On, All_File=file
-GAfile Both All_Console=Off, All_File=file
Section 6.2.4.4
Help Screen Switches+H or +? Show help screen 0 if this is the only switch
+H0 to +H8 Show help screen 0 to 8 if this is the only switch
+?0 to +?8 Same as +H0 to +H8
Table Of Contents