Slime wrote:

>> have never used radiosity before though. The object in question is just a
>> simple blue sphere. what coding can I put to make it simulate glowing?
>> Thanks for any help.
 
> Although radiosity can be used with a high ambient value to cause an
> object to emit light, it's probably better to just use an actual
> light_source with the looks_like keyword. To make the sphere itself appear
> bright, you can use a high ambient value or emission media; this was
> recently discussed briefly in the thread "Grr... I want it to GLOW!!!" in
> povray.newusers.

To summ up:

ambient:
+ very soft shadows, exacly same shape as object
- light comming from radiosity can not cause speculars and other light
effects

light_source:
+ fast
+ can produce highlights, photons, media, and so on
- is only a point (shadow can look like cased from sphere, rectangle or box)

union of many small light_source:
+ is very accuarate, can be almost as detailed as ambient-based light
- is very slow
+ but can be speeded up using light_group

So I would suggest to combine this light models, in example 
* an ambient object
* light_source in center with smooth area_light
* few smaller light_sources with less detailed area_light, number and
quality based on scene quality settings 




-- 
Rafal Maj Raf256

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