Apart from combinations of Blender clouds procedural textures, are there any good displacement or normal maps that can be used for rendering photorealistic seas?
I aim to render with LuxRender and I don’t want to animate - and hence would like to obtain high quality texture maps. Four years ago I tried making my own maps by airbrushing in PaintShop but couldn’t get the complex curves and sharp top edges that are often given by waves at sea. I know that there are many, many different types of sea but a generic, gentle swell will be sufficient for now. I also know there are mathematical and physical models for seas - and there is at least one firm specializing in modelling seas.
Thanks Waternz, I picked that one up three years ago (and he has a 2004 version) and I also have the related Blend file. Its as good as we get isn’t it? Schulz was the first one to introduce me to the technique - http://www.pekaro.de/blender/water/water_tutorial.html and and I found RipSting good - http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=26995; Selleri had a relatively simple idea but, like them all, depends on cloud procedures for the shaping of waves. I’m sure there is a more accurate way.
I intend basing my sea on displacement and normal mapping and will probably use 90% of Cog’s approach. Thanks again.
Thanks Cire that’s more like it; the crests of the waves have a realistic sharpness about them. As I said I don’t need animation but, even as stills, Matt Ebb’s images are great.
I’m a recent convert to Ubuntu Linux and accept the fact that some facilities - such as Kai’s Blender modifier - isn’t available to me (two months and still no regrets).
I’ve just tried grabbing aerial pix of the sea from the net and turning those into normal maps; they begin to look acceptable.