"Woland" <ziz### [at] wppl> wrote:
> hello.
> I'm trying to make real looking water. This is first attempt. Any sugestions?

Looking good so far.  As has been suggested, a sky would look nicer.  Often with
materials such as water, what they reflect is just as important in their look as
other attributes.  A little environment can go a long way, you can even just try
a simple environment map (or use an HDR one if using the beta or megaPOV)

A few suggestions from my experiences:

Isosurface or heightfield?  There are advantages to both.  Isosurfaces have much
better resolution, whereas heightfields are quicker (isosurfaces can add a lot
to render time, heightfields add mostly to parse time).  But, using a high
enough resolution on a heightfield can make the differences almost
indistinguishable.  Have a look at both perhaps.

Fresnel reflection > variable reflection > non-variable reflection (fresnel is
variable, just different model)

I like to make the surface clear (rgbt 1) and let the interior do the work.
Make use of fade_distance, fade_power (use 1000 for exponential, read the docs
on attentuation) and fade_colour. Even better is to make use of media instead,
scattering and absorption.

Hope this helps.

-tgq

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