Things like this have probably been done a thousand times... here's another 
one.

The "ball" is an isosurface, using data from terrainbase 
(<http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/seltopo.html>) and an image map (and 
clouds) from Blue Marble 
(<http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/>).

I'd still like to improve the lighting (with radiosity), the toothbrush's 
"hairs" and some textures, and maybe add a glass or something to be seen in 
the mirror.

-- 
light_source{9+9*x,1}camera{orthographic look_at(1-y)/4angle 30location
9/4-z*4}light_source{-9*z,1}union{box{.9-z.1+x clipped_by{plane{2+y-4*x
0}}}box{z-y-.1.1+z}box{-.1.1+x}box{.1z-.1}pigment{rgb<.8.2,1>}}//Jellby

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Preview of image 'earth.jpg'

I really like it so I'll take the trouble to tell you what improvements I'd
like to see:

 - I could be wrong, but it looks like the continents are too big on that
Earth, as if the mapping of the data to the sphere is at the wrong scale.
It looks from the picture that Siberia must extend all the way around the
globe through where the Americas should be.

 - Tighten that atmospheric shell.  At this scale the height of the cloud
cover would be microscopic, but it's not a bad idea to make it just
noticeable in order to keep that sense of depth.

I like the style of it and I think you have a really good start.  I'm no
expert so feel free to ignore everything I've said.

Jellby wrote:
>Things like this have probably been done a thousand times... here's another
>one.
>
>The "ball" is an isosurface, using data from terrainbase
>(<http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/seltopo.html>) and an image map (and
>clouds) from Blue Marble
>(<http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/>).
>
>I'd still like to improve the lighting (with radiosity), the toothbrush's
>"hairs" and some textures, and maybe add a glass or something to be seen in
>the mirror.
>
>--
>light_source{9+9*x,1}camera{orthographic look_at(1-y)/4angle 30location
>9/4-z*4}light_source{-9*z,1}union{box{.9-z.1+x clipped_by{plane{2+y-4*x
>0}}}box{z-y-.1.1+z}box{-.1.1+x}box{.1z-.1}pigment{rgb<.8.2,1>}}//Jellby
>

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Among other things, Mack Tuesday wrote:

> I really like it so I'll take the trouble to tell you what improvements
> I'd like to see:
> 
>  - I could be wrong, but it looks like the continents are too big on that
> Earth, as if the mapping of the data to the sphere is at the wrong scale.
> It looks from the picture that Siberia must extend all the way around the
> globe through where the Americas should be.

As far as I can tell, the mapping is right. It's just a spherical mapping of 
(a higher resolution version of) 
<http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/data/ev116/ev11612_land_ocean_ice_350.jpg>, 
which, it seems, has constant angular resolution in both vertical and 
horizontal directions. Take into account that, the most northern (and 
southern) zones look much larger in the plane map, since they are 
stretched. I rendered different views of this Earth and all seems to be 
fine.

>  - Tighten that atmospheric shell.  At this scale the height of the cloud
> cover would be microscopic, but it's not a bad idea to make it just
> noticeable in order to keep that sense of depth.

Yes, the radial (surface) detail is much exaggerated, in a correct scale, 
the Earth would be more featureless than an orange... I halved the height 
of the clouds over the sea's surface.

This is the current state. Radiosity and photons are on, and it took too 
long to render in my box, so it's only 300x400 :( Sadly, much of the detail 
is lost (it's maybe too dark, too, what could I do?), like the underwater 
relief, but I like the metallic shine and how the desertic areas in Africa 
and Asia are cloudless. In a few days I hope to have a new computer at 
work, when I have it configured and running I will render a bigger image 
there and maybe try to fiddle a bit more with textures...

Any additional suggestions?

P.S. Would this Earth be interesting for the "Balls Collection" project?

-- 
light_source{9+9*x,1}camera{orthographic look_at(1-y)/4angle 30location
9/4-z*4}light_source{-9*z,1}union{box{.9-z.1+x clipped_by{plane{2+y-4*x
0}}}box{z-y-.1.1+z}box{-.1.1+x}box{.1z-.1}pigment{rgb<.8.2,1>}}//Jellby

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