> In theory this works in some cases, but in reality too many problems
arise.
> Either the two landscapes will have coincident surfaces, or else one will
> cast shadows on the other, unless you give them no_shadow, but then you
> loose the shadows.

Good point, I forgot about shadows.

> Some complex light_group system might work in some cases,
> but I doubt it...

So then how *did* you do it? You had to model the environment in a way in
which it could be reflected, otherwise the portal wouldn't have looked like
it was reflecting it. (So that seems to rule out using an intersection with
a complicated shape to only show the environment behind the portal and not
next to it.) Did you do it in one rendering pass?

> 2) Variable ior is not possible in POV-Ray.

Remembering that, I threw in

> > Or maybe you used an object with a constant ior but a changing
> > shape to control which camera rays bent and how much.

and was thinking of exactly the type of object you described. =)

Unfortunately, that wouldn't work if viewed through a reflective object, but
that wasn't a problem in your scene.

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

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