i don't think tweaking parameters in any program is a good way to go
about getting more realistic images.  in my opinion, the search for
realistic image making lies in better algorithms 'inside' the given
application.  beside, once you get settings you like with the current
pov, the next pov comes out and may change the underlying code you
relied on.  i really don't mean to discourage you.  your overall goal is
a good one; photorealism.

Hugo wrote:
> 
> Hello everybody.  :o)
> 
> I see you're currently discussing radiosity, so please let me add my
> thoughts. I'm aware that the attached pictures aren't beautiful, but
> they are meant as a suitable test. Hope you can accept them.
> 
> I experimented with some ideas, cause I look forward to the day where
> raytracing produce realistic looking pictures, and I'm trying to make
> POV do it, do it first, and do it BEST! Of course.
> 
> Please understand the concept: I have skipped all "light_source"
> commands because they are poor fakes. Instead I try to use a realistic
> enviroment. This means, I set up any object and let it's ambient value
> determine how much light it emits with radiosity. Then I (as with the
> sphere in the attached pictures) use blurred reflection to get specular
> highlights on light-absorbing objects.. This is the realistic way of
> making highlights, instead of specular / blinn / phong keywords.
> 
> I managed to balance these 3 things well:
> 
> (1) The "brightness" value in radiosity global settings.
> (2) The strength of ambient values (going much over 1) to emit light.
> (3) The diffuse & reflection keywords on light-receiving objects.
> 
> But the problem: I experimented with the best radiosity-settings I could
> think out, and find.. With recursion_limit set to 1, results look pretty
> good; actually very similar to ordinary light_sources but with some
> plusses: a WHOLE object emit light, specular reflections are realistic,
> ans render times acceptable.
> 
> BUT the light doesn't bounce off, more than once. It goes from the light
> sources (the ambient objects) to the first receiving object, and no
> further. So a shadow will still be completely dark, if there is no
> direct light source on the other side.
> 
> The solution is obvious: Raise recursion_limit to 2, but I got stuck
> here, as things immediately look awful, no matter what I do.. Does
> anyone have an idea WHY, and is there a solution??  I would be
> interested.. Unfortunately, render times on the awful picture was very
> high.. I tried to further raise radiosity quality to get rid of the
> artifacts, and had to break a rendering after 12 hours, not finished,
> and the result didn't look any better.
> 
> So help me! Help all of us, to get realistic lighting! And please don't
> say radiosity is great, until these big problems are solved.
> 
> Hugo
> 
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  [Image]  [Image]

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