Folks:

  I'm trying to figure out the best way to do an aquarium.  I want to show
the 'ripple pattern' of light moving across the top surface of the water.
This is a 'reef tank' and has high water flow.  I want this to be in effect
a clear block (withan IOR) with a 'wavy' top surface.  My goal is to put
some bright lights in the center where the 'hood' would be to show the
'glitter lines' tracing down through the turbulent top surface.

  I can get the look I want with MegaPOV and a heightfield using a pattern,
but this doens't do the refraction properly.  I've also considered an
Isosurface, but I need some variable 'noise' added to the ripples so that
they can 'move' across the tank.

  If anyone needs, I can post my heightfield attempts, but I'm not sure this
is the right apprach.

  Any suggestions?

        == John ==

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"John D. Gwinner" wrote:
> 
> Folks:
> 
>   I'm trying to figure out the best way to do an aquarium.  I want to show
> the 'ripple pattern' of light moving across the top surface of the water.
> This is a 'reef tank' and has high water flow.  I want this to be in effect
> a clear block (withan IOR) with a 'wavy' top surface.  My goal is to put
> some bright lights in the center where the 'hood' would be to show the
> 'glitter lines' tracing down through the turbulent top surface.
> 
>   I can get the look I want with MegaPOV and a heightfield using a pattern,
> but this doens't do the refraction properly.  I've also considered an
> Isosurface, but I need some variable 'noise' added to the ripples so that
> they can 'move' across the tank.
> 
>   If anyone needs, I can post my heightfield attempts, but I'm not sure this
> is the right apprach.

Have you thought about using surface normals ? You can also feed an
isosurface function into a normal statement to modifiy the waveform
to your liking.

-- 
Ken Tyler

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WOW that was fast ;-)

Normals would work, but I want the photons to trace through the 'upper'
surface and show the lines on the bottom of the tank (sand).  I'm trying to
use a surface function so that you can see the sides of the waves through
the side of the tank as well as get the pattern of the lines on the bottom
of the tank.

        == John ==

> Have you thought about using surface normals ? You can also feed an
> isosurface function into a normal statement to modifiy the waveform
> to your liking.
>
> --
> Ken Tyler

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Check back at the povray.animations group where I replied with a possibly
working water surface with caustics.

"John D. Gwinner" <jgw### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message
news:3b474113$1@news.povray.org...
> WOW that was fast ;-)

Sometimes breaks the time barrier too.

Bob H.

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