Well, I am looking at interesting things regarding height map rendering using ray casting/tracing techniques. I am trying to get a working high quality map renderer using modern hardware (since it requires lots of GPU power it probably won't run on legacy hardware). With this kind of renderer it's possible to achieve very convincing light effects (fog/light absorption, ambient occlusion/environment lighting, physically correct refraction, etc...). Maybe it could be integrated into TA3D if I manage to get something interesting.
PS: this is what we can expect of such HQ renderers:
![Image](http://www.iquilezles.org/trastero/raymarchcone.jpg)
That's not my work, only something I've seen here :
http://www.pouet.net/topic.php?which=7236&page=1 and I'd like to get something similar in real time
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)