Ah okay, thats the origin of the problem then :)

Blurry refractions are in the premium render options.

Refraction is what happens when light travels from one medium into another medium with a different refractive index. For instance, from air, into glass. The light changes direction once it crosses over into the glass object. This is how lenses work etc.

In real life, surfaces are rarely perfectly smooth, the rougher the surface, the less clear the surfaces reflections are. This is why brushed metal is shiny, but doesnt look like a mirror.

Imperfections on transparent surfaces can do the same thing to refractions (like matte glass). In bryce this gets implemented by randomly changing the angle at which the surface changes the direction of a light ray. This change is made relative to the refraction index of the material so the refraction index still plays a roll in the final look of the refraction.

This link, while a tutorial for blender, illustrates the effect quite clearly => http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-246/glossy-reflectionrefraction/

In the situation of fake sub-surface scattering I use blurred refractions. That way i still keep the translucency, while obscuring the stuff thats seen on the other side of my transparent object by blurring it beyond recognition.

(_/)
(='.'=)
(")(")This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.