Hi(gh)!

On 17.06.2015 23:54, Alain wrote:

> I'd start with an hight_field, then, start to play with functions and
> isosurface.
> Take your TIFF image, convert it into an image pattern, then into a
> function.
> The image's coordinates would become the longitudes and latitudes, to be
> adjusted by the base coordinates of the location to be rendered, and the
> values of each points would be added to a base radius to give the actual
> elevation.
>
> Just don't convert into a mesh.

O.k., this would avoid the memory-consuming generation of ASCII script 
code - of course at the expense of rendering time. But I never found out 
how to constrain such a function to a certain surface area defined by 
geographic coordinates rather than just producing a whole "sphere"...

The more sophisticated approach would be hacking the very source code of 
POV-Ray, adding an object type "Geo_Mesh", which internally would be 
treated just like a heightfield - you would specify an image map (or 
even ASCII matrix file) containing the elevation data, then geographic 
coordinates for opposite corners, finally the "base radius" of the 
sphere to which the elevation values would be added.

Does such a patch for POV-Ray already exist - or would I be the first to 
write it?

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

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