POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.general : Perfect mirror : Re: Perfect mirror Server Time
6 Dec 2025 12:25:24 EST (-0500)
  Re: Perfect mirror  
From: Kenneth
Date: 6 Dec 2025 01:00:00
Message: <web.6933c4aee7e17defe83955656e066e29@news.povray.org>
In your global_settings block, try these photon values instead:

photons {count 200000 media 600, 2}

That seems to eliminate the 'banding' and fuzziness in the reflected laser
light.

Also, just as a safety measure, I added 'collect off' to the photon blocks in
your media box and the mirror box. According to the docs, it is 'on' by default.
But those object don't actually need photon effects to show up *on* them-- if I
correctly understand what 'collect' means. Although, I didn't notice any
render-time difference by turning it off.

In your two light sources, I added 'refraction off' to the photon blocks there.
Since your mirror is only 'reflecting' light, refraction is not needed. As far
as I can tell, the docs do not mention what the default behavior is-- on or off.

The most important change I made was in your media box:

media {
    scattering { 1, 1 extinction 0 }
    samples 6 // originally 100
      }

With this lower samples value, I don't see much (if any) difference in the
appearance of the media/light interaction...and the scene renders at least 10X
faster!

> Also, it is possible that the mirror reflect only the light directly from the
> source and not the scattered one (so we do not see the scattered beam on the
> mirror)?

If I understand your question, the only way to get a reflected light beam to
show up in POV-ray is to use photons (as well as media, to interact with the
'photons'.) Or do you mean the reflected appearance of the two light beams *in*
the mirror? That's just typical behavior of the mirror itself.


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