> Is there a way you could make height fields more flexible? Make it so you
> can bend, wrap, join height field into a 3D object, like a head or skull?
>
> Is what I'm asking clear?
>
> Don't tell me a height field isn't a wireframe internally... It doesn't
> matter, a grey scale picture should certainly easily become a wireframe.


The code to render height fields is strongly based upon their rectangular
shape. The way it's coded, it's able to speed up the rendering a lot just by
making use of this fact. If you distort the height field's shape, you lose
this property and the height field will render at the same speed as a mesh.
Therefore, you might as well use a mesh. You should be able to write macros
that will take a function or pigment and create any shape mesh you want from
it in a height-field like fashion.

In fact, I believe there are macros for cylindrical and spherical height
fields in the standard include files somewhere.

 - Slime
[ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

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