I was looking online for some good weathering references, and stumbled 
across something even more exciting - subsurface scattering.

Subsurface scattering takes into account that many materials are slightly 
translucent. Marble allows some light to pass a very short distance, as 
does milk. Light hitting skin is not immediately reflected, but will 
penetrate a few layers, diffuse, and then travel towards the viewer. The 
examples I've seen are incredible. Such a small effect makes images 
massively more realistic.

I haven't read the paper yet, but a copy is available at:
http://www-graphics.stanford.edu/~henrik/papers/bssrdf/

and some more example images are at:
http://www-graphics.stanford.edu/~henrik/images/subsurf.html


Please, take a look! I am not familiar enough with the inner workings of 
POV to judge if this is implementable. If it is, it would be an incredible 
step forward!


-- Simon

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