In article <3e14aaa2@news.povray.org>,
 "Andrew Coppin" <orp### [at] btinternetcom> wrote:

> Anyway, I've been wondering about something... I love lights on Christmas
> trees. And my dad has more sets of lights than you can shake a VERY big
> stick at!! I've been thinking about trying to simulate some with POVRay, but
> I already know it's not going to be easy. The question is... Why do bright
> lights have an "aura" around them? I mean, you can see a fairy lights from
> quite a distance, considering how tiny they are. If I try and draw them with
> POVRay they'll be smaller than a single pixel... but in the real world they
> have a kind of "glare" around them which takes up more space and makes it
> easier to see them from a distance (when they're lit!) Is there some
> physical explaination for this?

No physical explanation at all, it's magic.

Ok, this is mainly caused by scattering in the air and in the eye. Put a 
little scattering media (types 2, 3, or 4) in the scene, and light 
sources will become visible. Or use the glow patch.

-- 
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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