Things I have learned to make POV-life easier:

For area light(s) and media, have media interaction off and no
shadow, and a point light at the same location with media
interaction on and no shadow.

For media-filled containers, give the object no shadow, and make
a duplicate object with a simple texture to cast the shadow with
no image and no reflection.

For objects with IOR that are only there for photon effects, use
no image on the refractive object.

For a light whose interaction with media is only in a small area
of the scene, make a media object surrounding the relevant space
with absorbtion a negative amount of the scattering; this will
remove the scattering of ambient light and only scatter the desired
light source.

For objects with transparent textures maps, if the alpha channels
of the textures are showing as opaque, make the object hollow.


Additions welcome!

-- 
Tim Cook
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean

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Timothy R. Cook wrote:
> For area light(s) and media, have media interaction off and no
> shadow, and a point light at the same location with media
> interaction on and no shadow.

Er sorry, have the area light with media interaction off, point
light with no shadow.  :P

-- 
Tim Cook
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GFA dpu- s: a?-- C++(++++) U P? L E--- W++(+++)>$
N++ o? K- w(+) O? M-(--) V? PS+(+++) PE(--) Y(--)
PGP-(--) t* 5++>+++++ X+ R* tv+ b++(+++) DI
D++(---) G(++) e*>++ h+ !r--- !y--
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

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Thank you for sharing these Tim! :-)

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I haven't used media much, I think your tricks will be very useful when
venturing into that area.

Some things I've learned:
http://hertel.no/peter/povray.asp?pov=1&ray=2

-Peter

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Timothy R. Cook <z993126bellsouth.net> wrote:
> For area light(s) and media, have media interaction off and no
> shadow

  An area light with no shadow is like no area light at all... :)

-- 
plane{-x+y,-1pigment{bozo color_map{[0rgb x][1rgb x+y]}turbulence 1}}
sphere{0,2pigment{rgbt 1}interior{media{emission 1density{spherical
density_map{[0rgb 0][.5rgb<1,.5>][1rgb 1]}turbulence.9}}}scale
<1,1,3>hollow}text{ttf"timrom""Warp".1,0translate<-1,-.1,2>}//  - Warp -

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Warp wrote:
>   An area light with no shadow is like no area light at all... :)

A light with no shadow AND no media interaction is like no light
at all even more ;)

(area lights interact with media pretty damn slowly, but I'm gonna
be giving that a whirl in a render or two...)

-- 
Tim Cook
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GFA dpu- s: a?-- C++(++++) U P? L E--- W++(+++)>$
N++ o? K- w(+) O? M-(--) V? PS+(+++) PE(--) Y(--)
PGP-(--) t* 5++>+++++ X+ R* tv+ b++(+++) DI
D++(---) G(++) e*>++ h+ !r--- !y--
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

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