"Ben Birdsey" <cla### [at] netscapenet> wrote in message
news:39C05E87.2C284B3D@netscape.net...
|
| Another *real physics* effect that you have some control over is the
| size of the sun.  If you're not using an area light for the sun, I'd
| suggest one.  On the earth, the sun's diameter takes up about 2 degrees
| of the sky.  It really does have an effect if you look at the edges of
| shadows cast by buildings and tree leaves, etc.  Maybe it would smooth
| the shadow out over a couple of degrees around R2's dome.

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.

Bob

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