POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.general : Height Field Tutorial Update Server Time
31 Jul 2024 12:20:04 EDT (-0400)
  Height Field Tutorial Update (Message 1 to 6 of 6)  
From: FrogRay
Subject: Height Field Tutorial Update
Date: 28 Apr 2007 05:00:02
Message: <web.46330c75c9e0b54d310436ff0@news.povray.org>
Hello all,
  I have just updated my Povray Height-Field tutorial located at
http://homepages.xnet.co.nz/~calculus/index.html
  It has less content at the moment but I feel that the content is of much
higher quality.  I'll be adding more to it in future.
  As before, any comments (what's good, what's not) are appreciated.
  Enjoy!

And thanks again to those who took the time to critique my first attempt


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From: Alain
Subject: Re: Height Field Tutorial Update
Date: 28 Apr 2007 11:21:52
Message: <46336690@news.povray.org>
FrogRay nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 28-04-2007 04:57:
> Hello all,
>   I have just updated my Povray Height-Field tutorial located at
> http://homepages.xnet.co.nz/~calculus/index.html
>   It has less content at the moment but I feel that the content is of much
> higher quality.  I'll be adding more to it in future.
>   As before, any comments (what's good, what's not) are appreciated.
>   Enjoy!

> And thanks again to those who took the time to critique my first attempt


Nice. You will need to re-proofread it, as I found some typos in the text.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------


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From: Ray Gardener
Subject: Re: Height Field Tutorial Update
Date: 28 Apr 2007 16:41:38
Message: <4633b182$1@news.povray.org>
fwiw, you should avoid referring to changes in pixel resolution as 
"bigger" and "smaller". It's more clear to say "higher resolution" and 
"lower resolution". Changing resolution is also better referred to as 
resampling instead of resizing.

"heightfield" is also one word.

Ray


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From: Kenneth
Subject: Re: Height Field Tutorial Update
Date: 15 May 2007 02:20:02
Message: <web.4649500f3aeca03b7eccc0ee0@news.povray.org>
"FrogRay" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> Hello all,
>   I have just updated my Povray Height-Field tutorial located at
> http://homepages.xnet.co.nz/~calculus/index.html

Nice work. A good addition to the tutorials out there.  I'm sure it will be
appreciated my many new POV-er's.

Actually, I've always felt that POV-Ray's own description of a heightfield,
and how to create one, is a bit too "technical" for newbies.  I remember
being *completely* flummoxed when I first read about it. Scratched my head
about it for quite awhile. Of course, the description makes perfect
sense--*after* you know what it's all about!  If *I* were to try and
explain a heightfield to a newbie, I think I would dispense (temporarily)
with all the "x/y" jargon, and just say (--trumpet fanfare here--):  It's
just a square horizontal surface, a shell with no thickness, made of many
small connected triangles; this surface is automatically "extruded" or bent
by a user-supplied image--either color or grayscale.  (Leaving out
procedural heightfields for the moment, which are beyond a newbie anyway.)
The image distorts the field of triangles, based on its color or brightness
at any point.

Of course, as Mr. Spock used to say, such a description is "less technical,
therefore less accurate."  Probably true.  But newbies don't need to be
inundated with tech jargon, that they probably don't even fully understand
yet. And a heightfield is certainly one of those "Wow!" techniques /
objects that a beginner would like to jump right into.  I know I did!

Ken W.


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Height Field Tutorial Update
Date: 15 May 2007 06:15:02
Message: <web.464987203aeca03bb3e3af320@news.povray.org>
"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote:
> "FrogRay" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> > Hello all,
> >   I have just updated my Povray Height-Field tutorial located at
> > http://homepages.xnet.co.nz/~calculus/index.html
>
> Nice work. A good addition to the tutorials out there.  I'm sure it will be
> appreciated my many new POV-er's.
>
> Actually, I've always felt that POV-Ray's own description of a heightfield,
> and how to create one, is a bit too "technical" for newbies.

I agree that for a newbie a less technical definition might be better. I
would also add, in different words, that the elevation of the hieghtfield
depends on the lightness of the image. That is the lighter the point is in
the image the higher the corresponding point will be on the hieghtfield. I
might be tempted to include a hieghtfield using a recognizable image, a
logo or a photograph might be an idea.

It is a nice clean and simple site, and I wish that it had been around when
I started PovRay.


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From: FrogRay
Subject: Re: Height Field Tutorial Update
Date: 3 Jun 2007 18:55:02
Message: <web.466346373aeca03b5aa4dbc10@news.povray.org>
Thanks for the feedback guys.  Lots of new things to think about. I'm glad
that my tutorial is going to be of some help to newbies.  I probably
wouldn't have got too far with POV-ray without all the tutorials on the
net. Writing for new or new-ish users is always difficult as it's nearly
impossible to remember exactly what I did or didn't know when I started
out.
I have some more ideas that I will develop and add to the site as time
permits.
Thanks again and happy POV-ing


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