Mapping Hacks

88

|

Chapter 2, Mapping Your Neighborhood

#20 Make 3-D Raytraced Terrain Models

HACK

The +W and +H options specify the image width and height, and +A turns anti-

aliasing on, which makes the rendering look nicer but take longer. We get a

grayscale model of the terrain, as illustrated in Figure 2-19. Not bad for a

first try.

To save time when experimenting with POV-Ray settings,

try leaving anti-aliasing turned off. This will speed up ren-

dering time by at least a factor of two—and then, when

you’ve got your .pov file tweaked just the way you want it,

you can do one more rendering pass with anti-aliasing

turned on.

Color Your Terrain with an Image Map

POV-Ray also offers an image_map function in POV-Ray, which allows us to

specify an image with which to color each value in the height field repre-

sented by your elevation raster layer. You can use the color values in the ter-

rain image itself for a basic grayscale height-shaded effect. With your

favorite graphics program, you can adjust the palette in the image to pro-

duce a more colorful effect, in a similar fashion as that described in “Hack

on Base Maps in Your Favorite Image Editor”

[Hack #32].

Figure 2-19. A grayscale rendering of Crater Lake

Make 3-D Raytraced Terrain Models #20

Chapter 2, Mapping Your Neighborhood

|

89

HACK

The excellent terraform