Hi !

For combining heightfields, you will probably find several tools that do that
(as pointed out in another answer-post).

>     While I've proposed compositing 2 height fields, I don't see why one
> could not 'drape' a plasma fractal height field over objects, either.

This would be a feature many people would appreciate. But thinking of it, isn't
it just another description of a displacement map? (Draping a heightfield over
an object I mean) At least a displacement map with only positive (additive)
displacement.
The problem I see with draping a heightfield over an object is that, that a
heightfiled (as a bitmap) is flat, and POV-Ray (at this point) only allows
planar heightfield mapping (you can't map a heightfield on a sphere for example,
like to create moutains and craters on a moon).
So what POV-Ray would need, would be a way to map heightfields to other shapes
than a plane (sphere, cylinder?), and/or a way to define a different mapped
heightfield for different surfaces of the same object (like mapping six
heightfields to the six sides of a cube for example), well, or a real
displacement map implementation, which would practically give the same effect,
with the addition of possible negative (subtractive) displacement too.

Johannes.

Post a reply to this message