<!-- 
  This is at the top level to avoid any chapter TOC.
-->

<para>
  <application>Truevision</application> is a 3 d modeler designed for
  <ulink type="http" url="http://www.povray.org/">Persistence of vision 
  raytracer 3.6 (aka povray) </ulink> and <ulink type="http" 
  url="http://www.gnome.org/">Gnome 2.0</ulink>.

  This manual describes version 0.5.4 of <application>Truevision</application>.
</para>

<para>
  <application>Truevision</application> features are for now:
  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>
	<guilabel>Povray objects creation :</guilabel>
      </para>
      <para>
        <application>Truevision</application> can create spheres, boxes, cylinders, cones, torus, heightfield, superellipsoid, plane, disc, all light types (point, spot, area etc...), and athmospherics (background, media, fog, skysphere). Scene can contains objects organised in multiple layers.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
	<guilabel>Transform objects :</guilabel>
      </para>
      <para>
        All povray transformations are supported, including CSG operations. Complex objects can be independently saved with their materials included in object file.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <guilabel>Texture objects :</guilabel>
      </para>
      <para>
        Material editor support almost all povray material types. UV mapping is currently not supported. Material library contains standart materials. Materials can be saved with or without preview, and can be added to the library.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
	<guilabel>Camera manipulation :</guilabel>
      </para>
      <para>
        All camera options and manipulations are currently supported.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <guilabel>Render frontend :</guilabel>
      </para>
      <para>
	<application>Truevision</application> provides a multi threaded frontend to Povray that support almost all rendering options, including photons, radiosity etc...
      </para>
    </listitem>

   
  </itemizedlist> 
</para>



<para>
  <guilabel>Known Issues in the Truevision 0.5.4 release:</guilabel>
</para>
        
<para>
Issues which cannot be fixed immediately will be added to this list as they are discovered.
 <itemizedlist>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <guilabel>Issue 1: Render end detection</guilabel>
      </para>
      <para>
        The Povray front-end does not detect the end of render process. 
      </para>
    </listitem>


  </itemizedlist>

</para>
        
