> I'm not sure if this question would be considered for "advanced" users or not,
> but: Is it possible to cast caustics from an object without seeing things
> reflected in its surface?
>
> I am modeling a planet, and I would like to see reflected light illuminating the
> dark side of one of its moons. I briefly tried radiosity, but photon mapping
> seemed more accurate.
>
> My problem is that I don't want to see objects reflected in the surface of the
> planet; I only want the caustics it casts. ...Is this outright impossible?
>

If you don't want to see the reflection of something, you add 
no_reflection to that something.

It should not affect the photons, but if your photons do cast caustics 
on that object, they won't show as the receiving surface is no longer 
visible in any reflection. A reflective object with no_reflection will 
reflect it's environment but will itself won't be reflected by other 
reflective surfaces. It will also not self reflect.

Another aproach would be to use a totaly transparent object with only 
the bright areas not transparent and having emission 1 in the finish.

In your particular case, your "solution" is not realistic.
You must NOT use both count and spacing for your photons. One OR the 
other, never both. You don't need the photons block on the light_source: 
By default all light_source emit photons that both reflect and refract 
acording to the target objects properties. It's a left over from around 
version 3.1 when photons was just begining. Exception, shadowless lights 
don't emit any photons. Your moon don't need a photons block as it don't 
reflect nor refract.

I got very good results using radiosity only.
You should make your light_source parallel.
You should NOT use ambient_lights 0.
It beter to always use assumed_gamma 1 for all scenes.
You should upgrade to version 3.7. It works much beter.




Alain

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