Christoph Hormann wrote:
>I used the 1km resolution data sets for geometry and coloring available
>on:
>
>http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/
>
>and used real surface geometry instead of bump mapping.  Of course the
>detail is hardly visible at this size, the second image shows a sample
>from the original render at 6400x4800 pixel size.

Wow, those are impressive images! I've never seen an image such as your
Himalaya image, where you can see the curvature of the earth and the
non-smoothness of the surface (mountains). It would make a great backdrop
for an animation. I like the atmosphere also.

How was the earth's surface modeled, as a triangle mesh or some other
method?

Another way to show the depths of the seas would be to color-code a smooth
surface (deeper waters darker blue).

How long did it take to render? I've always been impressed with how fast
POV-Ray can render huge files. I was able to render an image (Space Station
Node 2) from 700MB of triangles in about five minutes.

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