Am 14.01.2013 01:55, schrieb Woody:
> I'm having an issue which I'm hoping someone can give me some insight into.

You seem to have some misconceptions about how POV-Ray's CSG and 
handling of transparent textures cooperate. Because as a matter of fact 
they don't.

First it is crucial to understand that POV-Ray renders /surfaces/. This 
is true even for "solid" objects: The concept of being "solid" only has 
a meaning in the context of "Constructive Solid Geometry" (CSG) 
intersections and differences, where the volumetric definitions of 
objects are used to mutually determine which sections of the other 
objects' surfaces are to be rendered; the only reason why this doesn't 
lead to visible holes in the geometry is because the holes that are 
ripped open in the surface of one object are precisely filled with the 
remaining surfaces of the other objects.

When applying partially transparent textures to an object, other rules 
apply: Textures define the colors (and transparency values) to use when 
an object's surface is rendered, but they don't define any surfaces 
themselves. Textures can be used to suppress all or part of an object's 
surface (by using a transparent pigment), but they can't define new 
surfaces: They are unable to fill the holes they rip open.

You /can/ define a shape based on a transparent texture, but this 
requires the use of the slow isosurface object.

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