After the release of Granite_21 by Thomas de Groot and his collaborators, I
hesitate to share my amateurish attempt at a granite texture. The quality of the
results and the levels of sophistication do not compare (Thomas's granite is far
better than anything I can achieve). However, the approach I took did happen to
lend itself somewhat well to making the veins in the rock so with that in mind
I'll go ahead and show some examples.

The basic technique is to make an array of colors, possibly by sampling a
photograph, then create a multi-layered texture consisting of color_maps that
are partly colored with random array entries, and partly transparent. Increasing
the brightness of just one of the color array entries has the effect of
"lighting up" the layers above it. Selecting different colors to brighten can
create dramatically different and sometimes surprising results.

The image attached to this post is the final product for the project I was
working on. The veins are necessarily boring. The next two posts are
developmental experiments and will show the lighting effect more intensely.

I'll post the source code in case anyone is interested but be warned, it's a
little messy.

Have a great day!

Best regards,
Dave Blandston

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