The downside of a bump_map is that it isn't real, it just looks real - and only if
you are far away enough or at such an angle that it doesn't look fake. I think the
mesh idea would give more controll, but, actually, thinking about it, a hightfield
is not really a bad idea.

Just throwing my 2 cents in,

Tim Soderstrom
TigerHawk


Nieminen Juha wrote:

> Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote:
> :>   Would leaf veins be represented more efficiently with a proper normal map?
>
> : See P.B.I. for an example of my method.
>
>   It looks great, of course, but I still think that a proper bump map would
> achieve an almost identical result (unless you zoom very near the leaf) and
> the rendering time would be quite smaller.
>   Of course there have to be a way of representing the leaf itself. Perhaps
> a mesh (number of triangles would be a lot smaller than with the heightfield).
> The advantage of the mesh would be that you could bend the leaf, which I think
> is not possible with the heighfield.
>
> --
> main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
> ):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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