I have come up with an algorithm that, although it is still O(n^2), can
place 16,000 spheres in, if I remember correctly, 13 minutes in the POV SDL.
It gets faster, of course, when the spheres are less densely placed. In this
example, about one out of every ten spheres needed more than one placement
to find a place that didn't intersect with other spheres.

I'm rendering now, I can post the source or the steps to the algorithm when
it's done, if you like. Might be a while... with focal blur and media, it's
going at 2 pps along the horizon line; so expect at least another day.

- Slime
[ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]
[ http://www.slimeland.com/images/ ]

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