Chris H., thanks for the macro.  I hadn't thought about doing that.

I'm finding I don't understand the concept of area_light very well, and
I was wondering if someone could clarify it for me?  Looking at page 222
of the official documentation, I read that the syntax is:

light_source { <location>, COLOR area_light <Axis_1>, <Axis_2>, Size_1,
Size_2 [adaptive ADAPTIVE] [jitter JITTER] [LIGHT_MODIFIERS] }

What I don't understand is the axis_1 and axis_2.  The descriptive
paragraph just above the syntax says that an area light is a one or
two-dimensional area of space.  

Therefore, one possible interpretation of this syntax would be that the
area starts at the location of the light_source, and extends in one
direction until the limit set by the axis_1, then again starts at the
location, and extends in a second direction until it hits the limit set
by axis_2, forming between them the two sides we need to know to form a rectangle.

A second possible interpretation of this syntax is that it should be
specified in the same way as a box, with more than one plane location
specified in the vector arguments, and the area_light filling the area
between the two points.

Which is the correct interpretation?

If it is the first one, how do you use this with the looks_like
argument?  You'd get half of your cylinder, for instance, lit... or even
a quarter of it, depending on how the object is displayed around the
<location> argument.

I know that I'm probably making this more difficult than it ought to be,
but I just don't understand.

As an afterthought, can anyone suggest a good texture for simulating leather?

Thanks in advance.

Dawn, the confused.

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