Click on any command to link to its entry in the "language reference."

<trait "matte">
Trait functions to create "presets", all the information is stored and can (and will in this example) be applied later to simplify matters.
    <ambient .1>
    <diffuse .7>
    <brilliance 1>
    <specular 0>
    <roughness 0>
    <transparency 0>
    <reflectivity 0>
</trait>
We're done describing the trait here.

    <normalize>
Normalize isn't totally necessary in this example, but it is useful in returning to defaults. If you use normalize consistently, you needn't to keep track of if and when you changed certain settings.

Matte ball:
    <position 0 0 0> <radius 3>
     Place the object at the center of the ray tracer's universe, its radius will be 3 units.
    <apply "matte">
    Invoke the trait defined above, the settings defined in the trait become the settings for the object.
    <color 1 0 0>
    Set the color to Red (100% red, 0% green, 0% blue)
<object sphere "My Sphere">
The object we've been configuring is a sphere, it's name is "My Sphere"
    <normalize>
<object bound>
Bounding is a more advanced concept we'll approach later, for now it neither adds to nor detracts from the functionality of this script, it is a statement that affects the speed of the ray tracer.

Light:
    <position 50 50 -75>
    The light will be far up, left, and back.
    <color 1 1 1>
    The light will be colored white
<object light "light_1">
The object is a light source named "light_1".

The next two statements are critical. They control how the viewing frustrum is oriented by defining where the viewpoint is in the ray tracer's universe and a specific location towards which the camera is oriented.

<viewlocation 0 0 14>
The camera is sitting at the point (0,0,14).
<viewtarget 0 0 0>
The camera is "looking at" the origin (0,0,0).