Hi

Question #1:
How do I use a simple bitmap file as a simple texture on a simple box? 
Sounds simple, doesn't it?

Question #2:
Why is there absolutely nothing about this in any documentation, 
anything Google can find, no working examples, nothing?

Thanks
Timwi

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Timwi wrote:
> 
> Question #1:
> How do I use a simple bitmap file as a simple texture on a simple box? 
> Sounds simple, doesn't it?
> 
> Question #2:
> Why is there absolutely nothing about this in any documentation, 
> anything Google can find, no working examples, nothing?

Shortly after asking this, I discovered image_map. Please consider 
improving the documentation for it so that it can be found. Currently it 
makes no prominent mention of "bitmap" or "texture". Google searches for 
anything containing these terms does not find it.

Thanks
Timwi

Post a reply to this message

Timwi schrieb:
> Question #1:
> How do I use a simple bitmap file as a simple texture on a simple box? 
> Sounds simple, doesn't it?
> 
> Question #2:
> Why is there absolutely nothing about this in any documentation, 
> anything Google can find, no working examples, nothing?

Answer #1 and #2:

Check out section 3.5.1.5 "Image Maps" in the documentation.

As for mapping this onto a box, that section provides a general 
description of how the image is mapped into 3D space (by default), which 
should be so darn easy to adapt to mapping it onto a box that probably 
authors of documentation and sample scenes deemed it too trivial to 
provide examples:

-----------------------
By default, the image is mapped onto the x-y-plane. The image is 
projected onto the object as though there were a slide projector 
somewhere in the -z-direction. The image exactly fills the square area 
from (x,y) coordinates (0,0) to (1,1) regardless of the image's original 
size in pixels. If you would like to change this default you may 
translate, rotate or scale the pigment or texture to map it onto the 
object's surface as desired.

In the section "Checker", the checker pigment pattern is explained. The 
checks are described as solid cubes of colored clay from which objects 
are carved. With image maps you should imagine that each pixel is a 
long, thin, square, colored rod that extends parallel to the z-axis. The 
image is made from rows and columns of these rods bundled together and 
the object is then carved from the bundle.
-----------------------

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Timwi wrote:
> Shortly after asking this, I discovered image_map. Please consider 
> improving the documentation for it so that it can be found. Currently it 
> makes no prominent mention of "bitmap" or "texture". Google searches for 
> anything containing these terms does not find it.

... not surprising given your terminology is not correct, so it is obvious 
that by searching you cannot get the correct answer if you use incorrect 
terms ;-)

Post a reply to this message

Timwi schrieb:
> Shortly after asking this, I discovered image_map. Please consider 
> improving the documentation for it so that it can be found. Currently it 
> makes no prominent mention of "bitmap" or "texture". Google searches for 
> anything containing these terms does not find it.

If you have a good suggestion how to rephrase the section, you may want 
to submit it to the POV-Ray wiki (http://wiki.povray.org), which is 
actually where development of the 3.7 documentation takes place.

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"Timwi" <tim### [at] gmxnet> wrote in message news:4a8d95e6$1@news.povray.org...
> Timwi wrote:
>>
>> Question #1:
>> How do I use a simple bitmap file as a simple texture on a simple box? 
>> Sounds simple, doesn't it?
>>
>> Question #2:
>> Why is there absolutely nothing about this in any documentation, anything 
>> Google can find, no working examples, nothing?
>
> Shortly after asking this, I discovered image_map. Please consider 
> improving the documentation for it so that it can be found. Currently it 
> makes no prominent mention of "bitmap" or "texture". Google searches for 
> anything containing these terms does not find it.
>

Strange. I did a google for "povray bitmap texture" and the first site 
returned was the POV_Ray Textures documentation which includes the syntax 
for using bitmap based textures. That texture page also contains a link to 
the "image map" amd "image pattern" pages in the documentation which 
describe the use of images within pigment definitions. I would suggest that 
the image_map page at http://www.povray.org/documentation/view/3.6.1/337/ 
probably describes the way that you wish to use image maps in POV-Ray.

If you wish to wrap your image around a simple box, then the section on 
uv_mapping at http://www.povray.org/documentation/view/3.6.1/358/  describes 
how that works. If you just want it to map to the front face (and run 
through it like a stick of rock) then that's the default that Clipka has 
described.

There are really quite a lot of ways of using image files in POV-Ray and 
quite a lot of the documentation and various tutorials are dedicated to 
them.

Regards,
Chris B.

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