So, I've just had a few Stack-Overflows when rendering a blob with
reflective finish. I had raised the max_trace_level to 256 (because I had
been using media in the scene before I switched to the metallic blob) and
then the overflow happened. I experimented and ended up with raising
max_intersections to 256 and reducing max_trace_level to 64, and then
everything worked fine.

My question is: how do adc_bailout, max_trace_level and max_intersection
interact with each other? From the Docs I understand that once POV-Ray
notices that a new ray will change the color of the ray by an amount smaller
than the set adc_bailout, it will, as the name suggests, "bail out" and
won't track that ray any further. But what does max_intersections do?

I thought that if ADC-Bailout doesn't kick in, max_trace_level would set an
upper boundary how far the ray is traced. In my particular case (reflective
blobs) it seems like max_intersections was the main factor to work around
the overflow, but when reading the Section 6.11.8 of the Docs I don't
understand how it interacts with the raytracing-engine.

Anyone care to enlighten me? I'm just curious, that's all. :-)

Regards,
Tim

-- 
"Tim Nikias v2.0"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>
Email: tim.nikias (@) nolights.de

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