> Unfortunately I don't think it's possible.  Area lights only effect shadows
> as they fall onto other objects not the object creating the shadow.  I'm
> sure many people have tried many times to get a area light to do this and
> found the same thing.  Seems they will only affect the shadow which is cast
> away from the object.  And the highlights don't change whether from point
> sources or area lights either, same goes for the diffuse too I guess.  So
> any such attempt is probably futile.

i do remember that limitation of area lights, but that makes them faster
than a bunch of points right?  but how about a small array of points for
this?  or maybe spots?  can an angle of close to 180 be specified?  are
there any calculation speed ups with spots since light obviously can't
go behind them?  or are light calculations done another way?  and can
spot lights have their penumbra (is that the right word?) set to zero so
all light from the spot light is of the same intensity (ie no lateral
falloff)?  let's say i make a planet 70000 units in radius, how should i
go about finding the minimum acceptable distance (given the
size/distance ratio of 1/100 in christopher's post)?  would i use
different distances for spots than i would for points?  and what about
all those new keywords in megapov like circular and parallel?  might
they be of any use here?  has anyone ever done a looks_like to make a
sun?

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