The Ball procedure maps photographs of reflective balls into 3D environments.
This texture is designed primarily to accompany a pix file background. If you take a photograph at a desired location and camera view for a scene, a reflective sphere is then placed in the scene at the location where you wish to view your model. The photo of the ball is essentially a sample of the total environment. It contains a full 360 degree field of view, minus the portion directly behind the ball. The highest resolution is in the direction of the camera, therefore providing the best compression of data for that point of view.
The Ball procedure has optional planes and a finite sphere to assist in modeling the geometry of the environment. An eyespace toggle is provided to simplify placement when a background pix file is used. In addition, a reflection toggle can be used to help in advanced modeling of background geometry.
| Argument Name | Absolute Range | Useful Range | Default | Description |
| image | no default | Name of pix file for reflection maps | ||
| inclination; | -infinity, infinity | -180, 180 | 0 | Angle of camera with walls |
| elevation | -infinity, infinity | -90, -90 | 0 | Angle of Camera with floor |
| eyespace | ON OFF | OFF | When ON, the reflections will match the background pix, regardless of the camera location. | |
| sky_radius | 0, infinity | 0, 50 | 0 | Radius of intersection sphere |
| top | 0, infinity | 0, 50 | 0 | Distance of intersection planes from origin |
| bottom | 0, infinity | 0, 50 | 0 | Distance of intersection planes from origin |
| left | 0, infinity | 0, 50 | 0 | Distance of intersection planes from origin |
| right | 0, infinity | 0, 50 | 0 | Distance of intersection planes from origin |
| front | 0, infinity | 0, 50 | 0 | Distance of intersection planes from origin |
| back | 0, infinity | 0, 50 | 0 | Distance of intersection planes from origin |
| reflect | ON OFF | ON | If set to OFF, ball behaves like a solid texture |
