In article <39978544.2D5317BF@earthlink.net>, Stan 
<swr### [at] earthlinknet> wrote:

> I just wanted to know the best way to make a laser. I was told to use
> area lights, but it doesn't occur to me how that could work. I need the
> light intensity and the width of the beam to remain almost constant and
> for it to be seen from the side. I saw how to do it in 3D Studio Max,
> but that doesn't help.

Area lights wouldn't be very useful for lasers...try using cylinderical 
lights. Even better would be to use the cylinderical lights of MegaPOV, 
which have been slightly fixed so the light rays are parallel instead of 
originating from a point.
To get the beam to be visible from the side, you will need to add 
scattering media to the scene. Just make a container object which 
encloses your whole scene, it is usually easier to adjust and more 
reliable than global media.
If you want to have your laser beam bouncing off of reflective objects 
or being bent by prisms or lenses, you will need to use MegaPOV's photon 
mapping feature. I think there is a demo of a laser scene 
somewhere...but I may be confusing the demo scenes with something from 
these newsgroups.


> Also, can I make a halfway mirror that reflects on one side but is
> transparent from the other side?

This is easiest to do in MegaPOV, which has an interior_texture feature 
which allows you to give the "inner" surface of a shape a different 
texture from the outer surface. Note that all shapes, even triangles, 
have two sides.

-- 
Christopher James Huff - Personal e-mail: chr### [at] maccom
TAG(Technical Assistance Group) e-mail: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
Personal Web page: http://homepage.mac.com/chrishuff/
TAG Web page: http://tag.povray.org/

Post a reply to this message