> > To only get photons shot at a part of your water only activate them for
a
> > part of the water. ;-)
>
> would that be the radius keyword?


I believe you have to make two separate water objects, one infinite (so it
goes out to the horizon) and one smaller (so it's only near your scene). You
could use the top of a big, short cylinder for the smaller part, and just
translate it slightly vertically so that it pops up above the infinite water
plane. Then shoot photons at the cylinder.

> or better yet what would YOU do to get sparkles on the water .... should I
> be reworking my Water material?

Well, photons aren't the right solution here. Photons won't change the
appearance of the water; rather, they'll bounce off the water and illuminate
whatever else they hit.

Since in real life, sparkles are caused by light reflecting off the water
into our eyes, specular highlights (phong or specular in the finish) may be
the best way to achieve this, but you might have to change the water's
normal to make the highlights the right size. (If so, you might try the
wrinkles pattern to get both large and small variations in the water
surface.) If you don't already have one there, put a red light source way
off in the direction of the sun. Then add a high specular value to the water
(higher = brighter sparkles) like 1 or 2, and a low roughness value (lower =
smaller sparkles) like .01 or less.

If you can't get the effect you want this way, you might try Chris Colefax's
"Lens Flare" include file which has a water-sparkle example.

 - Slime
 [ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

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