[comp.graphics] Use of fractals for relief shading

rdd@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Robert Dorsett) (11/16/89)

I recently got into a conversation with a geographer on the use of shading to
accentuate relief on maps.  What it boils down to is that a good job depends a 
LOT on the artistic skill on the cartographer.

Have any of you played with fractals to demonstrate relief?  What I have in
mind is using an arbitrary light source on a mountainous statistical surface, 
irregular illumination on the leeward surface, and projecting the surface
orthoganally onto a plane.

The geographer hadn't heard of any use of fractals for this type of relief,
although he said that he'd heard of people using fractals with population 
graphs somehow. 




Robert Dorsett                                   
Internet: rdd@rascal.ics.utexas.edu               
UUCP: ...cs.utexas.edu!rascal.ics.utexas.edu!rdd