<#74#><#1745#>Rayshade<#1745#><#74#> can take anywhere from seconds to weeks to render an image. The exact time required is a function of the speed of the machine(s) on which you're working, the complexity of the scene, and how ``good'' you want the final image to be. 2.1
Creating a finished ray-traced image is an iterative process. Usually, many test renderings are made at low resolution and with non-essential features turned off. After each test image is created, surface definitions might be modified, the eye or look positions may be slightly changed, or the intensity of a light source changed.
This chapter describes the basic operation of <#76#><#1747#>rayshade<#1747#><#76#> and some of the options that control that operation. Setting these options properly can greatly reduce rendering time, improve the quality of your images, and make you a better person.
<#77#><#1749#>Rayshade<#1749#><#77#> usually works as a filter, reading a description from the standard input and writing an image file to the standard output. As it is working, <#78#><#1751#>rayshade<#1751#><#78#> reports on the progress of the rendering by writing messages to the standard error.