> Okay, I figure out how to create the spheres using a SQL script

That's "SDL."

> This is all on one plane.  It is a flat map.  So, I want the lighting to
be
> the same over the whole map.

Well, I would place all of the objects on the X-Y plane. Then you could
place a primary light source way off in the distance behind the camera:

light_source {
    <-.3,.4,-1>*9999
    rgb 1
}

And maybe a secondary light source for back lighting from the other side of
the X-Y plane:

light_source {
    <.3,-.4,1>*9999 // same as other light's position but negative
    rgb <0.75, 0.8, 1> // slightly bluish for a darker look; experiment!
}

(You could experiment with "parallel" light sources rather than just putting
them really far away as I have. Check the documentation.)

> I want the camera to just be fairly simple,
> but, the coords are pretty large.

Then you probably want an orthographic camera:

#declare maxdist = 100; // the maximum distance that an object can be from
the origin and still be visible

camera {
    orthographic
    location -z*10
    right x*maxdist*4/3
    up y*maxdist
    look_at 0
}

> > The goal is to use a database of sometype to store the
> > coordinate and planet information.

If you have the data in some sort of comma-separated format, then you can
read it in with SDL using #fopen and #read.

> > Once the
> > picture is generated, I want to create a coordinate field over the top
of
> > it for web use that will show information on the planet when you hover
over
> > it.

That's a little more difficult, but it would be possible to use #fopen and
#write to actually write out an HTML image map corresponding to your image.
This will have to be accompianied by some JavaScript to display information
with onmouseover. If you're not familiar with this sort of thing then you
should probably learn to do it by hand first before worrying about making
POV-Ray automatically do it.

 - Slime
 [ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

Post a reply to this message