Hi. I am having a problem figuring out why POV-Ray is not allowing me to overlap
several objects that have emission media interiors. I have attempted to vary
both pigment and finish, but it seems that the resulting images show the
surfaces of the objects when they intermix with the interior media of another
(an effect I do NOT want). Here is a simple illustration to show my point. I
modified a simple example from the POV-Ray documentation. If you set "NumOrbs"
to 1, you get the familiar glowing orb. With NumOrbs=2, it seems to look okay.
But as you add more orbs (that overlap), the surfaces of the orbs interact and
become visible. I have attempted adjusting the pigment (filter and transmit
values), finish, and even the density_map of the interior, without success.
Also, wrapping the spheres with a UNION has no effect. I am sure I am just
overlooking something obvious, but can't figure this out. Can anyone help me
understand WHY POVRay is doing this? Thanks in advance for your advice!

 background { rgb 1 }
 camera { location <0,4,0> //<3,4,-5>*.8
          look_at 0
          angle 35 }
 light_source { <20,40,10>, 1 }

 box // floor
 { <-1.5,-1.01,-1.5>, <1.5,-1.2,1.5>
   pigment { checker rgb 0.75, rgb 0.25 scale 0.2 }
 }

#declare NumOrbs = 3;
union {
#declare i = 0;
#while (i < NumOrbs)
 sphere // transparent sphere containing media
 { 0,
   1
   pigment { rgbft <1,1,1,0,1> }
   finish {
       ambient 0
       //diffuse 0
       //brilliance 0
       //specular 0
   }
   hollow
   interior
   { media
     { emission 1
       density
       { spherical density_map
         { [0 rgb 0 ]
           [0.4 rgb <1,0,0>]
           [0.8 rgb <1,1,0>]
           [1 rgb 1]
         }
       }
     }
     //ior 1
   }
   translate <-0.5+i/2,0,0>
 }
 #declare i  = i + 1;
#end
}

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