gonzo <rgo### [at] lansetcom> wrote:
> Haven't tried without shadows yet because the self shadowing is part of
> what makes it look good.  I'll try that though, and if its significantly
> faster maybe I can do something else to fake the shadows...

Well, that answers that! Using no_shadow renders about 90% faster... Doesn't
look near as good though, as the shadows define the billowiness (new word?)
and give it some shape.  Playing around now with a gradient texture_map
using a dark and light version of the texture to get back some of the
shape.  Looking at the finish Zaeger uses in his smoke from his nuclear
explosion too.  Adding brilliance helps.  Thanks Zaeger!

> Hadn't thought about lightgroups, something else to try... may help with
> the self shadowing.

Lightgroup didn't do much...

> Heh heh, I started down this path thinking textures would be faster than
> media...  Been experimenting with it, but my knowledge of media is thin
> at best. I'm likely to spend more time figuring out the media than I
> save in render time :-/

Media is working as expected... don't have anything I like yet, and its also
slow.

But I think I can get something workable in a texture by the deadline now,
so WOOHOO!  Thanks for all your help!

RG

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