"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlDOTnet> wrote in message 
news:47bbe388$1@news.povray.org...
>
> "William Tracy" <wtr### [at] calpolyedu> schreef in bericht
> news:47bbc1f4$1@news.povray.org...
>> Well, if render times are the only issue, you might want to play with
>> this:
>> http://runevision.com/3d/povgoodies/
>>
>> I could have sworn that there used to be some macro called "FastCloud"
>> floating around. In fact, I remember it filling up my search results to
>> the point that I had to hunt to find anything else. Now I can't find it 
>> at
>> all. Am I going nuts?
>>
>
> No. Not nuts. There is the FastClouds macro by Zeger Knaepen which I use
> very often and gives really excellent results. I know Zeger posted the 
> code
> some time in the past but I am unable to find that post again.

yes, I should put it on my website actually :)
but for now: see attachment.  And here's a demo-scene:

--BEGIN CODE--
#include "fastclouds.inc"
fastclouds(<750,600,-500>*1000,.455,.1,0,10,.05,0,<1.5,1.3,1.1>,1)
fog {
  fog_type 2
  distance 75
  color rgb <213,205,194>/255 //<.6,.7,1>
  transmit 0
  fog_offset -1
  fog_alt 2
}

sky_sphere {
 pigment {
  planar
  color_map {
   [0 rgb <22,44,68>/255]
   [.5 rgb <88,120,179>/255]
   [1 rgb <213,205,194>/255]
  }
 }
}

--END CODE--

These are the macro-arguments:
1. Sun Location
2. cloud 'Cast' (0=no clouds, 1=fully clouded sky, can be >1)
3. 'Fluffyness', controls the sharpness (or lack thereof) of the clouds
4. Translate-vector for the cloud-pattern
5. Size of the cloud-skysphere (*500)
6. Size of the cloud-pattern
7. Minimum transparency, or: the main-transparency of the clouds (could be 
seen as the cloud-thickness)
8. Color of the Sun
9. Color of the clouds

also, you can provide your own cloud-pattern by #declare'ing CloudForm 
(which should be a pigment)

cu!
-- 
#macro G(b,e)b+(e-b)*C/50#end#macro _(b,e,k,l)#local C=0;#while(C<50)
sphere{G(b,e)+3*z.1pigment{rgb G(k,l)}finish{ambient 1}}#local C=C+1;
#end#end _(y-x,y,x,x+y)_(y,-x-y,x+y,y)_(-x-y,-y,y,y+z)_(-y,y,y+z,x+y)
_(0x+y.5+y/2x)_(0x-y.5+y/2x)            // ZK http://www.povplace.com

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Attachments:
Download 'fastclouds.inc.txt' (2 KB)