After reviewing the documentation on generating terrains, I have come up
with a simpler version in povray that should yield more accurate results. If
this kind of thing has already been posted, my apologies in advance.

-- povray.ini

Input_File_Name=main.pov
Output_File_Name=terrain.tga
Output_File_Type=t

Width=512
Height=256 // Any size

--- main.pov

#include "colors.inc"


global_settings
{
 hf_gray_16
}

camera
{
 orthographic // Orthographic is going to be faster.
 location <0, 0, -5> // Change z from 0...inf depending on how many
mountains you want.
}

plane
{
 z, 0

 pigment
 {
  wrinkles

  color_map
  {
   [0 Black]
   [1 White]
  }
 }

 finish
 {
  ambient 1 // Using ambient here removes the need for a light source and
gives the precise value for the pixel instead of one modified by a light
source.
 }
}

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"Dan P" <dan### [at] yahoocom> wrote in message
news:3ff77168@news.povray.org...
> After reviewing the documentation on generating terrains, I have come up
> with a simpler version in povray that should yield more accurate results.
If
> this kind of thing has already been posted, my apologies in advance.

LOL -- well, after reading your other posts, I have an inkling of just how
behind I am. I just did an isosurface using the wrinkles function and I'm
laughing at all the effort I went through this weekend writing a program to
generate plasma fractals.

I am REALLY happy to have found the ultimate resource for real development
in POVray. Thank you, guys!!!

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Dan P <dan### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> LOL -- well, after reading your other posts, I have an inkling of just how
> behind I am. I just did an isosurface using the wrinkles function and I'm
> laughing at all the effort I went through this weekend writing a program to
> generate plasma fractals.

  Isosurfaces are very flexible and allow you to eg. make terrains with
shapes not possible with a height_field (eg. tunnels and such).
However, the problem with isosurfaces is that they tend to take much
longer to render than a height_field.

  If you want to generate a height_field from POV-Ray itself using a
pattern, you can do it without having to create an external image file
using the function image feature.
  (The example in the documentation about creating the image file for
the heightfield was written in the POV-Ray 3.1 era, and while it still
can sometimes be useful, it's slightly obsolete due to the new function
image feature which allows you to do the same thing without an external
image file.)

-- 
plane{-x+y,-1pigment{bozo color_map{[0rgb x][1rgb x+y]}turbulence 1}}
sphere{0,2pigment{rgbt 1}interior{media{emission 1density{spherical
density_map{[0rgb 0][.5rgb<1,.5>][1rgb 1]}turbulence.9}}}scale
<1,1,3>hollow}text{ttf"timrom""Warp".1,0translate<-1,-.1,2>}//  - Warp -

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message
news:3ff78476@news.povray.org...
> Dan P <dan### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> > LOL -- well, after reading your other posts, I have an inkling of just
how
> > behind I am. I just did an isosurface using the wrinkles function and
I'm
> > laughing at all the effort I went through this weekend writing a program
to
> > generate plasma fractals.
>
<snip>
>
>   If you want to generate a height_field from POV-Ray itself using a
> pattern, you can do it without having to create an external image file
> using the function image feature.
>   (The example in the documentation about creating the image file for
> the heightfield was written in the POV-Ray 3.1 era, and while it still
> can sometimes be useful, it's slightly obsolete due to the new function
> image feature which allows you to do the same thing without an external
> image file.)

Very cool. Thanks!!! I was still living in the past (man!). I've been
playing with isosurfaces tonight and am having a lot of fun. It opens up a
lot of new possibilities that I hadn't considered before (in particular, I
like the bumps pattern effect on it). Before, I always created my textures
using Photoshop and such. Now, I'll use bozo and wrinkles more and save a
lot of parsing time. I'll also use the function for the height_field (gonna
try that now).

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On 3 Jan 2004 22:11:50 -0500, Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:

>Dan P <dan### [at] yahoocom> wrote:

>  If you want to generate a height_field from POV-Ray itself using a
>pattern, you can do it without having to create an external image file
>using the function image feature.

Wow.  Thank you.  That is so cool.

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"nospam" <Pet### [at] nymaliasnetalmost> wrote in message
news:3ffe2b76.11134262@localhost...
> On 3 Jan 2004 22:11:50 -0500, Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
>
> >Dan P <dan### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
>
> >  If you want to generate a height_field from POV-Ray itself using a
> >pattern, you can do it without having to create an external image file
> >using the function image feature.
>
> Wow.  Thank you.  That is so cool.

I wish I could take credit for knowing that, but that sentence was from
someone else teaching me :-) This group really rocks!

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