Realistic Water with POV-Ray

An simple, opaque, flat, reflecting surface of water:

In most cases a surface of water seams to be an opaque mirrow: To simulate this a surface with a texture like "Polished_Chrome" is enough: The water itself is light transparent gray without any color (clear water has no color!!!). The color of the surface of water is mainly defined by the objects witch are seen by reflection on that surface (Blue is the color of the sea only on sunny days with blue sky! Water looks different with a different sky!).

// sea ------------------------------
plane{<0,1,0>, 0
      texture{pigment{rgb <.2,.2,.2>}
              finish {ambient 0.15
                      diffuse 0.55
                      brilliance 6.0
                      phong 0.8
                      phong_size 120
                      reflection 0.6}
              }// end of texture
     }// end of plane
//-----------------------------------

#include "textures.inc"
// sea ------------------------------
plane{<0,1,0>, 0
      texture{ Polished_Chrome }
     }// end of plane
//-----------------------------------

A simple, opaque, flat, reflecting surface of water:
Description of this scene for POV-Ray

Moderate moved water with reflections of clouds:

Moderate waves let a surface of water seem to be more realistic.
We add in the texture statement the following:

normal {bumps 0.03
         scale <1,0.25,0.25>*1
         turbulence 0.6 }

Moderate moved water:
Description of this scene for POV-Ray

Stronger moved surfaces of water:

We get this by adding in the texture statement the following:

normal {bumps 0.3
         scale 0.05
         turbulence 0.6}

Also a very realistic effect we get i.e. by this:

 normal {crackle 0.15
          scale 0.75
          turbulence 0.3
          translate<-1,0,5>}

Stronger moved surfaces of water by "bumps". Description of this scene for POV-Ray

Stronger moved surfaces of water by "crackle". Description of this scene for POV-Ray

part I | part II | part III