On Thu, 2 Jan 2003 21:09:46 -0000, Andrew Coppin wrote:

> He folks.
> 
> I'm baaaaaack!!!
> 
> (Oh, what's that - no one noticed I was gone? *sigh* Oh well...)
> 
> Anyway, I've been wondering about something... I love lights on Christmas
> trees. And my dad has more sets of lights than you can shake a VERY big
> stick at!! I've been thinking about trying to simulate some with POVRay, but
> I already know it's not going to be easy. The question is... Why do bright
> lights have an "aura" around them? I mean, you can see a fairy lights from
> quite a distance, considering how tiny they are. If I try and draw them with
> POVRay they'll be smaller than a single pixel... but in the real world they
> have a kind of "glare" around them which takes up more space and makes it
> easier to see them from a distance (when they're lit!) Is there some
> physical explaination for this?
> 
> Or do I just need to clean my glasses???
> 
> Thanks!
> Andrew.

I made my own lens flare include file. It points the camera at a mirror 
with reflection 1 and a specular highlight is used to simulate these halos. 
It works fairly well with point lights but it's a pain to use. The basic 
idea is simple and you should be able to do it yourself.

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