In article <4084c0a7$1@news.povray.org>,
 "Hughes, B." <omn### [at] charternet> wrote:

> Well, um, hey... isn't sky_sphere considered infinitely remote? And yet that
> still affects everything else when it comes to radiosity. Okay, wait, bad
> example there; considering it usually affects things globally anyhow without
> having a finish property, that might not have any true distance.

Whether it has a distance or not does not matter...but it does not have 
a finite distance. The sky_sphere is just a background effect, not an 
object. In a given direction, you see a given color, no matter what 
point you are viewing from. Features on it only have angular area.


> I've used looks_like (sphere) for making the Sun before, on the assumption
> radiosity of a very diffuse object will add to the other objects no matter
> how far away. Likewise, false window panes meant to be oversaturated with
> outdoor lighting, or light panels in the ceiling, even though closer in to
> the scene subjects. Thing is, without skylight the blackness of space can
> overwhelm the scene due to darkness also being factored into the radiosity.
> Or at least I always thought of it in that way.

It's not that the dark is factored in, it's that there isn't any light 
to be included. A white wall is much better at reflecting light than 
empty space.


> I just never considered there to be a distance limitation for radiosity,
> other than proximity having weight in the calculation, perhaps because it
> isn't really a light source and is more of a color effect which could be
> seen from any distance based on it's size and diffuseness and/or ambience.
> Much more related to object presence rather than illumination.

No...radiosity simply calculates diffusely scattered light. There is 
nothing special about this light. Brightness and the visible size are 
the important quantities.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: <chr### [at] tagpovrayorg>
http://tag.povray.org/

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