Hello,

Here are some example shots from hf_tools.inc, which I just dropped at 
p.b.scene-files.

The top two images show the edge pattern at work. The edge pigment in 
the upper-left image was rendered at less than one third quality; it 
does get better than that :) The upper-right image is using a 
pre-rendered edge map at full quality. The edge radius is adjustable.

The bottom left image shows the superellisoidal pigment encasing a 
height field. It lets you make smooth transitions from height field to 
plane, while keeping more detail at the corners (as opposed to using, 
say a spherical pigment).

The bottom right image shows how an angle map can be used to transform 
textures according to the different angles of a height field.

Just a few features. Maybe they will prove useful...

Sam

P.S. The upper-right image shows some strange behavior at the height 
field's edges. POV-Ray is handling image maps incorrectly, I think.

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Attachments:
Download 'hf_tools.jpg' (156 KB)

Preview of image 'hf_tools.jpg'

El 15/12/09 07:45, stbenge escribió:
> Just a few features. Maybe they will prove useful...

   I'm without words... really. :O

-- 
Jaime Vives Piqueres

http://www.ignorancia.org

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"stbenge" <UN### [at] hotmailcom> schreef in bericht 
news:4b2730dc@news.povray.org...
> P.S. The upper-right image shows some strange behavior at the height
> field's edges. POV-Ray is handling image maps incorrectly, I think.
>

Well, that is easy for us to cut off in a difference or intersection.... :-)

This is really incredible. I need to experiment with this now!

You rule, Sam! You rule!

Thomas

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High!

stbenge wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Here are some example shots from hf_tools.inc, which I just dropped at 
> p.b.scene-files.

Awesome! When I saw the upper right and lower left image, I instantly 
thought "Afghanistan!"... yes, this tool would be great for rugged 
desert landscapes on DM +19 279 e XI (or Ghurghusht, how it is called by 
its colonists). For real Afghanistan, I better rely on actual elevation 
data... but perhaps there might be a way to enrich them with small-scale 
erosion details!

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

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Two words:  A Mazing!  ;-)

On 2009-12-15 01:45, stbenge wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Here are some example shots from hf_tools.inc, which I just dropped at
> p.b.scene-files.
>
> The top two images show the edge pattern at work. The edge pigment in
> the upper-left image was rendered at less than one third quality; it
> does get better than that :) The upper-right image is using a
> pre-rendered edge map at full quality. The edge radius is adjustable.
>
> The bottom left image shows the superellisoidal pigment encasing a
> height field. It lets you make smooth transitions from height field to
> plane, while keeping more detail at the corners (as opposed to using,
> say a spherical pigment).
>
> The bottom right image shows how an angle map can be used to transform
> textures according to the different angles of a height field.
>
> Just a few features. Maybe they will prove useful...
>
> Sam
>
> P.S. The upper-right image shows some strange behavior at the height
> field's edges. POV-Ray is handling image maps incorrectly, I think.

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Holy grab!

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stbenge wrote:
> The top two images show the edge pattern at work. The edge pigment in 
> the upper-left image was rendered at less than one third quality; it 
> does get better than that :)
> 
> Just a few features. Maybe they will prove useful...

WOW!
That top left one looks like a polycrystalline surface under high 
magnification, it already looks useful!

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Jörg 'Yadgar' Bleimann wrote:
> High!

Not yet! Maybe my second cup of coffee will do the trick ;)

> Awesome! When I saw the upper right and lower left image, I instantly 
> thought "Afghanistan!"... yes, this tool would be great for rugged 
> desert landscapes on DM +19 279 e XI (or Ghurghusht, how it is called by 
> its colonists). For real Afghanistan, I better rely on actual elevation 
> data... but perhaps there might be a way to enrich them with small-scale 
> erosion details!

I hope you know that this file _does_not_ produce erosion... That height 
map is an example I included from World Machine :/

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Jaime Vives Piqueres wrote:
> El 15/12/09 07:45, stbenge escribió:
>> Just a few features. Maybe they will prove useful...
> 
>   I'm without words... really. :O

That's the best way to be, at least until you learn the tool's 
limitations ;D

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Thomas de Groot wrote:
> "stbenge" <UN### [at] hotmailcom> schreef in bericht 
> news:4b2730dc@news.povray.org...
>> P.S. The upper-right image shows some strange behavior at the height
>> field's edges. POV-Ray is handling image maps incorrectly, I think.
> 
> Well, that is easy for us to cut off in a difference or intersection.... :-)

Yeah, but it's an annoying way to go about it. You can always use the 
boxed pigment to cut off the edges while building you HF.

> This is really incredible. I need to experiment with this now!
> 
> You rule, Sam! You rule!

After reading Yadgar's reply, I started to worry that everybody thinks 
this file can produce erosion... it cannot... It only does what I said 
it does, plus some near-useless red/green functions that I'm not 
particularly proud of :/

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Rick Gutleber wrote:
> Two words:  A Mazing!  ;-)

Thanks... Hmm, your comment is making me think about height field mazes. 
It might just be possible with arrays and a variation of Tek's Cells 
pattern...

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nemesis wrote:
> Holy grab!

Clear the streets, the Caped Crusader is passing through ;)

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CShake wrote:
> stbenge wrote:
>> The top two images show the edge pattern at work. The edge pigment in 
>> the upper-left image was rendered at less than one third quality; it 
>> does get better than that :)
>>
>> Just a few features. Maybe they will prove useful...
> 
> WOW!
> That top left one looks like a polycrystalline surface under high 
> magnification, it already looks useful!

I hope so :)

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Le 2009-12-15 01:45, stbenge a écrit :
> Hello,
>
> Here are some example shots from hf_tools.inc, which I just dropped at
> p.b.scene-files.
>
> The top two images show the edge pattern at work. The edge pigment in
> the upper-left image was rendered at less than one third quality; it
> does get better than that :) The upper-right image is using a
> pre-rendered edge map at full quality. The edge radius is adjustable.
>
> The bottom left image shows the superellisoidal pigment encasing a
> height field. It lets you make smooth transitions from height field to
> plane, while keeping more detail at the corners (as opposed to using,
> say a spherical pigment).
>
> The bottom right image shows how an angle map can be used to transform
> textures according to the different angles of a height field.
>
> Just a few features. Maybe they will prove useful...
>
> Sam
>
> P.S. The upper-right image shows some strange behavior at the height
> field's edges. POV-Ray is handling image maps incorrectly, I think.

It looks like it can be prety usefull. I'll play with that one.



Alain

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stbenge wrote:

> P.S. The upper-right image shows some strange behavior at the height 
> field's edges. POV-Ray is handling image maps incorrectly, I think.

Did you use the "once" keyword? Otherwise the image_map will repeat and
the value at 1.0 will be identical to the value at 0.0 by definition.

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Christian Froeschlin wrote:
> stbenge wrote:
> 
>> P.S. The upper-right image shows some strange behavior at the height 
>> field's edges. POV-Ray is handling image maps incorrectly, I think.
> 
> Did you use the "once" keyword? Otherwise the image_map will repeat and
> the value at 1.0 will be identical to the value at 0.0 by definition.

Yes, I tried that. I also tried using repeat warps with the flip 
command, in the hope that mirrored edges would eliminate the problem. In 
theory, it should work, but it doesn't.

I really need to make a small functioning example to provide along with 
a bug report.

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Alain wrote:
> It looks like it can be prety usefull. I'll play with that one.

The edge map is probably the most useful feature :)

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"stbenge" <UN### [at] hotmailcom> schreef in bericht 
news:4b283e59@news.povray.org...
>
> I really need to make a small functioning example to provide along with a 
> bug report.

I may be talking nonsense here, but those same features are often also 
created by WM or GeoControl. I don't remember them from Leveller, but it has 
been a while since I last used that app. Do you think they have the same 
origin? Are they the same kind of bug?

In GeoControl I can correct manually with a brush, but in hf's from WM I 
just cut off a thin slice around from it by using an intersection in POV. 
Not very elegant as a solution but it works.

Thomas

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Where was this years ago??!!  You've created some real magic here. It must be
the coffee--drink lots more, so you can come up with more cool ideas!

I'm really looking forward to trying this out (and looking over your code, to
glean some ideas from 'the Master.')

Ken

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stbenge escreveu:
> Jörg 'Yadgar' Bleimann wrote:
>> High!
> 
> Not yet! Maybe my second cup of coffee will do the trick ;)

bwahaha.  Always wanted to do some fun with that... :D

-- 
a game sig: http://tinyurl.com/d3rxz9

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Thomas de Groot wrote:
> "stbenge" <UN### [at] hotmailcom> schreef in bericht 
> news:4b283e59@news.povray.org...
>> I really need to make a small functioning example to provide along with a 
>> bug report.
> 
> I may be talking nonsense here, but those same features are often also 
> created by WM or GeoControl. I don't remember them from Leveller, but it has 
> been a while since I last used that app. Do you think they have the same 
> origin? Are they the same kind of bug?

I doubt they are the same bug.

Check this out:

height_field{
  png"mountains.png"
  ...
}

It works just fine, always has.

Compare it to this:

height_field{
  function 513, 513{
   pigment{
    image_map{
     png"mountains.png"
     interpolate 2 once
    }
   }
  }
  ...
}

This is when edge artifacts show up. The dimensions are correct. The 
problem happens regardless of image_map attributes such as interpolation 
and repetition.

I would say it's a height_field issue, but I know it's not. I have 
encountered this same problem when using image_maps at other times, like 
for my luminous bloom code.

> In GeoControl I can correct manually with a brush, but in hf's from WM I 
> just cut off a thin slice around from it by using an intersection in POV. 
> Not very elegant as a solution but it works.

Whatever works :)

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Kenneth wrote:
> Where was this years ago??!!  You've created some real magic here. It must be
> the coffee--drink lots more, so you can come up with more cool ideas!

Drink more coffee? Okay :)

> I'm really looking forward to trying this out (and looking over your code, to
> glean some ideas from 'the Master.')

Whatever you do, have fun!

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"stbenge" <UN### [at] hotmailcom> schreef in bericht 
news:4b2931c8@news.povray.org...
> Check this out:
>
> height_field{
>  png"mountains.png"
>  ...
> }
>
> It works just fine, always has.
>
> Compare it to this:
>
> height_field{
>  function 513, 513{
>   pigment{
>    image_map{
>     png"mountains.png"
>     interpolate 2 once
>    }
>   }
>  }
>  ...
> }
>
> This is when edge artifacts show up. The dimensions are correct. The 
> problem happens regardless of image_map attributes such as interpolation 
> and repetition.
>
> I would say it's a height_field issue, but I know it's not. I have 
> encountered this same problem when using image_maps at other times, like 
> for my luminous bloom code.

Ah, right. I see your point. One way or another I have never noticed this 
difference. Strange indeed. Thanks for drawing my attention to it.

Thomas

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stbenge <UN### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:

> I doubt they are the same bug.
>
> Check this out:
>
> height_field{
>   png"mountains.png"
>   ...
> }
>
> It works just fine, always has.
>
> Compare it to this:
>
> height_field{
>   function 513, 513{
>    pigment{
>     image_map{
>      png"mountains.png"
>      interpolate 2 once
>     }
>    }
>   }
>   ...
> }

Yeah, there are some strange goings-on in HFs made from functions.  I think I've
noticed the edge artifacts you mentioned.  But there's also the odd fact that
the applied pattern (or image_map) ends up being flipped upside down(?) like a
mirror-image, AND that the 'origin point' of the pattern/image is out of place.
The usual origin that we all know and love is at <0,0,0>; with a HF function,
the 'origin' is mysteriously at <0,0,1>, and the applied pattern/image
scales out from there. I've come up with simple workarounds to these particular
situations--but, along with the edge artifacts, it's apparent that HF functions
are not working correctly. I suppose, though, that re-engineering the
problematic code (whatever it is!) would cause lots of backward-compatibility
problems with previously-made scenes.

Ken

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"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote:
> ...But there's also the odd fact that
> the applied pattern (or image_map) ends up being flipped upside down(?) like a
> mirror-image, AND that the 'origin point' of the pattern/image is out of
> place...

BY 'image_map,' what I meant to say was "an image_map used as [or used as part
of] the HF function"--not an image_map *texture* applied to the HF afterward
(which is applied as it should be.) Sorry if that confused anyone.

Ken

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Kenneth wrote:
> "Kenneth" <kdw### [at] earthlinknet> wrote:
>> ...But there's also the odd fact that
>> the applied pattern (or image_map) ends up being flipped upside down(?) like a
>> mirror-image, AND that the 'origin point' of the pattern/image is out of
>> place...
> 
> BY 'image_map,' what I meant to say was "an image_map used as [or used as part
> of] the HF function"--not an image_map *texture* applied to the HF afterward
> (which is applied as it should be.) Sorry if that confused anyone.

It didn't confuse me, Kenneth :) It's an annoying problem, but easy 
enough to work around. It probably should be fixed, but you're right 
when saying that by doing so, many older scenes will be broken.

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