Felbrigg <som### [at] microsoftcom> wrote:
> The problem with my question is that I dont know what to ask for!  My
> tabletop scenes always seem rather flat and boring,  I was wondering if
> there is a quick piece of pov code for a decent light source.  I've tried
> area lights which give me a nice penumbra.

  Making your light source an area light certainly adds realism to the
scene when used well.

  If you want more realistic lighting you are probably looking for
radiosity. Be warned, though, that depending on the scene you might
get a good-looking radiosity right away or (most often than not)
you'll be fine-tuning the radiosity settings for hours and days
before you get something decent.

  Lighting is not, however, the only (nor even the most important) thing
that affects the realism of a scene. Textures (all its components,
pigment, finish and normal) are a very important part of making a
scene look realistic. Often a single texture alone can make an enormous
difference all the way from plastic CG-looking image to a photorealistic
one.
  I recommend that you practice making good-looking textures.

  (Focal blur is one feature which sometimes adds surprising amounts
of photorealism to a scene... Not always, though.)

-- 
#macro N(D)#if(D>99)cylinder{M()#local D=div(D,104);M().5,2pigment{rgb M()}}
N(D)#end#end#macro M()<mod(D,13)-6mod(div(D,13)8)-3,10>#end blob{
N(11117333955)N(4254934330)N(3900569407)N(7382340)N(3358)N(970)}//  - Warp -

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