IsoWood Include File 0.3 - Documentation

This POV-Ray include file offers a several maros that generate realistic wooden shapes like planks, posts etc. Most shapes can be generated in different quality levels.

The first version of this tool (0.1) was published in August 2000 for use with the isosurface patch in MegaPOV 0.5 and offered a few basic plank and cylinder macros. The second version (0.2) added more macros and offered additional features like deformation of wood objects and parquet macros.

Meanwhile the isosurface feature has been integrated into POV-Ray 3.5 and this version is designed to be used with this version. Some features will require MegaPOV 1.x. This version is no more syntax compatible to the older versions.

For some features of the IsoWood include file the IsoCSG library is required.

Modelling with isosurfaces is not trivial - it requires a good deal of experience to create good results efficiently. Some basic information about isosurfaces can be found in the POV-Ray documentation and in Mike's isosurface tutorial.

The macros in this include file create different types of wooden objects. The main function of these macros is to disturb the surface of the wood objects according to a wood pattern. Using isosurfaces for this purpose really changes the shape of the surface rather than just modifying the normal vector.

Of course this very detailed geometry has its price - the render speed can be very slow. Therefore the IsoWood include file offers different quality modes for most shapes to allow fast previews.

List of available macros

The main macros included in the file are the following:

• plank macros
  • IW_Plank_Round a simple rounded box
  • IW_Plank_RoundW a simple rounded box with warp
  • IW_Plank_RoundT a simple rounded box with separate texture
  • IW_Plank_Round_Cut rounded box cut at the front/back
  • IW_Plank_Round_CutE rounded box cut at the front/back increased roughness to ends
  • IW_Plank_Round_CutW rounded box cut at the front/back with warp
  • IW_Plank_Round_CutT rounded box cut at the front/back with separate texture
  • IW_Plank_Chamfered chamfered box cut at the front/back
  • IW_Plank_ChamferedE chamfered box cut at the front/back increased roughness to ends
  • IW_Plank_ChamferedW chamfered box cut at the front/back with warp
  • IW_Plank_ChamferedT chamfered box cut at the front/back with separate texture
  • IW_Plank_DRound double rounded box


• cylinder macros
  • IW_Cylinder cylindrical wood
  • IW_CylinderT cylindrical wood with separate texture
  • IW_Cylinder_Chamfered cylindrical wood with cut & chamfered ends
  • IW_Cylinder_ChamferedT cylindrical wood with cut & chamfered ends with separate texture
  • IW_Cylinder_Half half cylindrical wood
  • IW_Cylinder_HalfT half cylindrical wood with separate texture
  • IW_Cylinder_Half_Chamfered half cylindrical wood with cut & chamfered ends
  • IW_Cylinder_Half_ChamferedT half cyl. wood with cut & chamfered ends with separate texture
  • IW_Cylinder_Spike4 cylindrical wood spike - 4 cuts
  • IW_Cylinder_Spike8 cylindrical wood spike - 8 cuts
  • IW_Cylinder_Post_Round cylindrical wood post - rounded end
  • IW_Cylinder_Post_RoundT cylindrical wood post - rounded end with separate texture
  • IW_Cylinder_Post_Broken cylindrical wood post - broken end
  • IW_Cylinder_Post_BrokenT cylindrical wood post - broken end with separate texture


• custom shape macros
  • IW_Shape custom wood shape
  • IW_ShapeW custom wood shape with warp
  • IW_ShapeT custom wood shape with separate texture


• box wrapper macros
  • IW_Box_Round box wrapper macro for IW_Plank_Round
  • IW_Box_RoundW box wrapper macro for IW_Plank_RoundW
  • IW_Box_RoundT box wrapper macro for IW_Plank_RoundT
  • IW_Box_Round_CutE box wrapper macro for IW_Plank_Round_CutE
  • IW_Box_Round_CutW box wrapper macro for IW_Plank_Round_CutW
  • IW_Box_Round_CutT box wrapper macro for IW_Plank_Round_CutT
  • IW_Box_Chamfered box wrapper macro for IW_Box_Chamfered
  • IW_Box_ChamferedE box wrapper macro for IW_Box_ChamferedE
  • IW_Box_ChamferedW box wrapper macro for IW_Box_ChamferedW
  • IW_Box_ChamferedT box wrapper macro for IW_Box_ChamferedT


• distorted shapes macros
  • IW_Plank_RoundN rounded box distorted
  • IW_Plank_Round_CutN rounded and cut box distorted
  • IW_Plank_ChamferedN chamfered box distorted
  • IW_CylinderN cylinder distorted


• parquet macros
  • IW_Parquet_A parquet macro (geometry A)
  • IW_Parquet_B parquet macro (geometry B)


• warp macros
  • IW_Warp_01 warp macro Nbr. 1
  • IW_Warp_02 warp macro Nbr. 2
  • IW_Warp_03 warp macro Nbr. 3
  • IW_Warp_04 warp macro Nbr. 4
  • IW_Warp_05 warp macro Nbr. 5

---

Description of the macros

some general variables

IW_Quality

This is a global quality parameter. Depending on its value the macros generate different kinds wood shapes. This can be useful especially for test renders.

possible values are:

• 0: plain color shape
• 1: textured shape
• 2: isosurface

This variable has only influence on some of the macros. It can be changed anywhere in the POV-Script and inluences following macro calls. The default value is 2.

The following table shows examples with the different qualities.

IW_Quality 0	IW_Quality 1	IW_Quality 2

IW_ISO variables

parameters for the isosurface object. See the megapov documentation for their use.

• IW_ISOaccuracy (default=0.001)
• IW_ISOmaxgrad (default=1.1)
• IW_ISOmax_trace (default=0)

IW_Plain_Tex

This is the texture used for the wood shapes with IW_Quality 0. By default it is a plain red texture.

IW_Rand_Seed

The random seed used in the macros. Default is seed(0).

The plank macros

These macros generate box shaped wooden planks. They are created at the origin like shown in the following illustration.

all these macros have a number of common parameters:

• Seed: random seed for pigment variation
• xSize: Width of the plank
• ySize: Height of the plank
• zSize: Length of the plank
• Rotate: Amount of random rotation of the pigment. The pigment is rotated by a random amount influenced by this parameter and the random seed.
• Translate: Amount of random translation of the pigment The pigment is translated by a random amount influenced by this parameter and the random seed.

IW_Plank_Round

A simple rounded box shape

parameters:

• Seed, xSize, ySize, zSize, Rotate, Translate: see above
• Round: Rounding radius of the edges
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_Plank_RoundW

Same as IW_Plank_Round but with a warp.

parameters:

• same as IW_Plank_Round +
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment

IW_Plank_RoundT

Same as IW_Plank_Round but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, xSize, ySize, zSize, Rotate, Translate: see above
• Round: Rounding radius of the edges
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the plank

IW_Plank_Round_Cut

A rounded box shape cut at the ends in z-Direction

parameters:

• Seed, xSize, ySize, zSize, Rotate, Translate: see above
• Round: Rounding radius of the edges
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the cut ends (z)
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_Plank_Round_CutE

Same as IW_Plank_Round_Cut but with roughness changing towards the ends from Strength to Strength2 and warp.

parameters:

• same as IW_Plank_Round_Cut +
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment

IW_Plank_Round_CutW

Same as IW_Plank_Round_Cut but with warp.

parameters:

• same as IW_Plank_Round_Cut +
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment

IW_Plank_Round_CutT

Same as IW_Plank_Round_Cut but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, xSize, ySize, zSize, Rotate, Translate: see above
• Round: Rounding radius of the edges
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the cut ends (z)
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the plank

IW_Plank_Chamfered

A chamfered box shape cut at the ends in z-Direction

parameters:

• Seed, xSize, ySize, zSize, Rotate, Translate: see above
• Round: chamfer size
• Round2: chamfer size of the cut ends (z)
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the cut ends (z)
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_Plank_ChamferedE

Same as IW_Plank_Chamfered but with roughness changing towards the ends from Strength to Strength2 and warp.

parameters:

• same as IW_Plank_Chamfered +
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment

IW_Plank_ChamferedW

Same as IW_Plank_Chamfered but with warp.

parameters:

• same as IW_Plank_Chamfered +
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment

IW_Plank_ChamferedT

Same as IW_Plank_Chamfered but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, xSize, ySize, zSize, Rotate, Translate: see above
• Round: chamfer size
• Round2: chamfer size of the cut ends (z)
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the cut ends (z)
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the plank

IW_Plank_DRound

A double rounded box shape

parameters:

• Seed, xSize, ySize, zSize, Rotate, Translate: see above
• Round: Rounding radius of the edges
• Round2: Rounding radius of the corners, should be larger than Round
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

The cylinder macros

common parameters:

• Seed: random seed for pigment variation
• Radius: Radius of the cylinder
• Length: Length of the cylinder (z)
• Rotate: Amount of random rotation of the pigment. The pigment is rotated by a random amount influenced by this parameter and the random seed.
• Translate: Amount of random translation of the pigment The pigment is translated by a random amount influenced by this parameter and the random seed.

IW_Cylinder

simple cylindrical wood shape

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_CylinderT

Same as IW_Cylinder but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the cylinder

IW_Cylinder_Chamfered

cylindrical wood with cut & chamfered ends

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Round: chamfer size
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the cut ends (z)
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_Cylinder_ChamferedT

Same as IW_Cylinder_Chamfered but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Round: chamfer size
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the cut ends (z)
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the cylinder

The half cylinder macros

Syntax is the same as with the full cylinder macros.

IW_Cylinder_Half

simple half cylindrical wood shape.

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_Cylinder_HalfT

Same as IW_Cylinder_Half but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the cylinder

IW_Cylinder_Half_Chamfered

half cylindrical wood with cut & chamfered ends.

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Round: chamfer size
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the cut ends (z)
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_Cylinder_Half_ChamferedT

Same as IW_Cylinder_Half_Chamfered but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Round: chamfer size
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the cut ends (z)
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the cylinder

The cylindrical wood post macros

These macros create wood shapes to be used as wooden posts. The shapes are only modelled at one end, the other end is left open so it will be cut by the container shape of the isosurface. This will make the function faster than in the conventional cylinder shape macros.

The Length parameter specifies the distance of the modelled end from the origin (in z-direction).

IW_Cylinder_Post_Round

Cylindrical wood post with rounded end

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Round: Rounding Radius
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_Cylinder_Post_RoundT

Same as IW_Cylinder_Post_Round but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Round: Rounding Radius
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the cylinder

IW_Cylinder_Post_Broken

Cylindrical wood post broken at one end

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length: see common parameters.
• fn_Break: user defined function for the cracked end. Evaluated in the x-y-plane.
• Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_Cylinder_Post_BrokenT

Same as IW_Cylinder_Post_Broken but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length: see common parameters.
• fn_Break: user defined function for the cracked end. Evaluated in the x-y-plane.
• Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the cylinder

The cylindrical wood spike macros

IW_Cylinder_Spike4

Cylindrical wood spike with 4 cuts at the end

parameters:

• Seed, Radius, Length, Rotate, Translate: see common parameters.
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the cut ends (z)
• Angle: Angle of the cuts, lower values lead to more pointed spike, keep between 0 and 1
• Irreg: Amount of random variation of the cuts
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_Cylinder_Spike8

Same as IW_Cylinder_Spike4 but 8 cuts at the end.

The custom shape macros

IW_Shape

Creates a wood shape from an arabitrary user defined function, for example a function created with the IsoCSG library.

parameters:

• Seed: random seed for pigment variation
• fn_Shape: user defined function defining the shape.
• Start, End: Limits of the shape for creating the container box
• Rotate: Amount of random rotation of the pigment. The pigment is rotated by a random amount influenced by this parameter and the random seed.
• Translate: Amount of random translation of the pigment The pigment is translated by a random amount influenced by this parameter and the random seed.
• Strength: Strength of surface irregularity.
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shape
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture

IW_ShapeW

Same as IW_Shape but with warp.

parameters:

• same as IW_Shape +
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment

IW_ShapeT

Same as IW_Shape but with independent texture.

parameters:

• Seed, fn_Shape, Start, End, Rotate, Translate, Strength: see above.
• Pigm: Pigment for surface shape
• Text: Texture to be applied to the shape.

box wrappers for plank macros

The parameters xSize, ySize, zSize are replaced by two vectors: Start and End. This way the macros can be used as replacement for the Povray box shape.

IW_Box_Round see IW_Plank_Round. IW_Box_RoundW see IW_Plank_RoundW. IW_Box_RoundT see IW_Plank_RoundT.

IW_Box_Round_CutE see IW_Plank_Round_CutE. IW_Box_Round_CutW see IW_Plank_Round_CutW. IW_Box_Round_CutT see IW_Plank_Round_CutT.

IW_Box_Chamfered see IW_Plank_Chamfered. IW_Box_ChamferedE see IW_Plank_ChamferedE. IW_Box_ChamferedW see IW_Plank_ChamferedW. IW_Box_ChamferedT see IW_Plank_ChamferedT.

distorted shapes

These macros generate wood objects distorted by additional functions.

IW_Plank_RoundN

Same type as IW_Plank_Round.

The function used for the distortion is a vector function defining the displacement in x, y and z direction.

parameters:

• same as IW_Plank_Round +
• C_Map: color_map for the texture. This has to be specified separately due to the structure of the macro
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment
• fn_Disp: function used for distortion
• fn_Max_Val: maximum value of the function to determine container size.

IW_Plank_Round_CutN

Same type as IW_Plank_Round_Cut.

The function used for the distortion is a vector function defining the displacement in x, y and z direction.

parameters:

• same as IW_Plank_Round_Cut +
• C_Map: color_map for the texture. This has to be specified separately due to the structure of the macro
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment
• fn_Disp: function used for distortion
• fn_Max_Val: maximum value of the function to determine container size.

IW_Plank_ChamferedN

Same type as IW_Plank_Chamfered.

The function used for the distortion is a vector function defining the displacement in x, y and z direction.

parameters:

• same as IW_Plank_Chamfered +
• C_Map: color_map for the texture. This has to be specified separately due to the structure of the macro
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment
• fn_Disp: function used for distortion
• fn_Max_Val: maximum value of the function to determine container size.

IW_CylinderN

Same type as IW_Cylinder.

The function used for the distortion is a vector function defining the displacement in x, y and z direction.

parameters:

• same as IW_Cylinder +
• C_Map: color_map for the texture. This has to be specified separately due to the structure of the macro
• fn_Disp: function used for distortion
• fn_Max_Val: maximum value of the function to determine container size.

IW_CylinderR

Same type as IW_Cylinder.

The function used for the distortion is a float function defining the displacement in radial direction. The wood structure does not follow the distortion.

parameters:

• same as IW_Cylinder +
• fn_Disp: function used for distortion
• fn_Max_Val: maximum value of the function to determine container size.

parquet macros

These macros can be used for generating parquet floors.

parameters:

• Seed: random seed for pigment variation
• Start: starting point of the box containing the parquet
• End: end point of the box containing the parquet
• xSize: Length of the planks
• ySize: Width of the planks
• Height: Height of the planks
• Rotate: Amount of random rotation of the pigment. The pigment is rotated by a random amount influenced by this parameter and the random seed.
• Translate: Amount of random translation of the pigment The pigment is translated by a random amount influenced by this parameter and the random seed.
• Round: rounding/chamfer size
• Round2: chamfer size for ends (z)
• Strength: Roughness of the surface
• Strength2: Roughness of the surface at the ends (z)
• Pigm: Pigment for texture and surface shapes
• Fin: Finish for the texture
• Norm: Normal for the texture
• Text: Texture to be applied to the planks
• WarpNbr: Number of the Warp macro to be applied to the pigment
• Typ: type of the plank to be used
  1:  IW_Plank_Round
  11:  IW_Plank_RoundW
  12:  IW_Plank_RoundT
  2:  IW_Plank_Round_Cut
  20:  IW_Plank_Round_CutE
  21:  IW_Plank_Round_CutW
  22:  IW_Plank_Round_CutT
  3:  IW_Plank_Chamfered
  30:  IW_Plank_ChamferedE
  31:  IW_Plank_ChamferedW
  32:  IW_Plank_ChamferedT
  

xSize and ySize must be dividable without remainder, otherwise an error occurs. Their order does not matter.

Some of the parameters are only needed for certain types of planks. Otherwise you can use anything in those fields.

IW_Parquet_A

Geometry:

      ------||||----
      |------||||---
      ||------||||--
      |||------||||-
      ||||------||||
      -||||------|||
      --||||------||
     

IW_Parquet_B

Geometry:

      ------||||||--
      ||||||------||
      ||||||------||
      ||||||------||
      ||||||------||
      ------||||||--
      ------||||||--
     

the warp macros

The warp macros can be used in the E, W and N type wood planks for additional irregularities like knotholes. The WarpNbr parameter specifies the macro used. WarpNbr 0 does not use any warp.

All warp macros have 4 parameters for proper placement of the warps:

• Seed: random seed for variation
• xSize: Height of the plank
• ySize: Width of the plank
• ySize: Length of the plank

There are 4 warp macros that should be considered as working examples, feel free to write additional ones.

The warp macros 3 and 4 require MegaPOV 1.x.

IW_Warp_01 (WarpNbr 1)

IW_Warp_02 (WarpNbr 2)

IW_Warp_03 (WarpNbr 3)

IW_Warp_04 (WarpNbr 4)

IW_Warp_05 (WarpNbr 5)