"Dave Dunn" <poi### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
news:3D6D7167.EA598FCF@aol.com...
> Pandora wrote:
>
> >     I think there is a need in POV for a more realistically modelled
'area
> > light' (for the want of a better term) and John's Photon Challenge
images
> > neatly demonstrate why -
>
> ....everyone realizes sooner or
> later that area_lights are there for basically one reason - to provide
soft
> shadows in a reasonable amount of time, and I think, when properly used,
they do
> a great job.
>


    Sure, I'm not criticising POVs area_light performance in terms of what
they were designed to achieve. However they don't achieve, what on the
surface, and on a quick read of the area_light docs, it would appear they
might. Correctly used, they're great at producing efficient soft shadowing,
but that's all they're good for. But, now we have things like photons and
dispersion, and to some degree before these things were available in the
standard POV distribution (for example, in the case of specular highlights)
I
do believe there is a need for a more realistic 'area light' light source
form that does behave in the way one might assume from a quick read of the
area_light documentation.

--
Pandora/Scott Hill/[::O:M:C::]Scorpion
Software Engineer.
http://www.pandora-software.com

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