Hymyly <christoffer1989 [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> Aren't shaders used mainly for pseudo-realistic effects (such as creating
> shadows by superimposing a transparent texture generated from a stencil buffer)
> rather than proper raytracing? How do you envision a shader being merged with a
> full-fledged raytracer such as povray?

  What's the relation between "what shaders are usually used for" and
"what can be done with shaders"?

  Besides shaders are not mainly used for what you describe. They are mainly
used for texturing.

  I don't see the slightest problem in incorporating shaders to a raytracer.

> To me it seems that what could be introduced into povray is a system for
> altering the lighting model on a local level, which I agree could be done by
> creating a brand-new programming language.

  It's called "shader". Even the name implies it (shading algorithm -> shader).

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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