In article <37E97191.A83EADD8@pacbell.net>, Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote:
> Think of it this way. If you have a standard POV-Ray box primitive and
>apply an ior value to it Pov will treat it as a solid object. If we take
>an example of a box created by six individual pieces, each with a known
>thickness, then apply and ior value to it, Pov will handle the index of
>refraction of each panel of the box but not the center of it. A good
>example of this would be a drinking glass. It is a solid material where
>the outer glass portion is, but the inside is hollow, where the liquid
>goes. Pov will calculate the ior for the glass but not the hollow space
>between it's walls.

Hm...now is there a way to create an "inside" in a box made from six 
individual pieces?  I could see something like that if I made a more complex 
shapes from primitives.

>  In the case of your "sword in a stone" Pov appears to be handling it
>as one solid object which I presume is what you want. If you intentionally
>hollowed out the inside of the stone and gave it's walls a finite thickness
>the sword itself would appear differently in different areas of the stone.

I forgot to meantion that I made the stone in sPatch.  Is it still treating 
the stone as a solid object?  Since the stone itself is just made up of unions 
of a buch of bicubic patches....or is the act of using a union make it a solid 
object without a hollow inside?  Or am I missing the point entirely???

Thanks for the insight though.  It does make sense that POV Ray would treat a 
primitive as a solid rather than a thin walled hollow object.

Tim

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