How the heck do I get light to refract properly through a Sphere? Bryce does this automatically, does carrara require some kind of special settings? I am playing with refraction on the Shader and on the sphere itself. Neeither seems to give me anything but a slight bit of light through the sphere... No glare.... Anyone have any ideas? Aeryk

Aerky - Its playing with the Refraction, Shinniness and highlight settings. If its glass you are after it normally has a refraction level around. Try this for Glass: Color - anything you want..(Light Blue, Grey etc..) Shininess - 100% Highlight - 100% Reflection - 73% Refraction - 13% Transparency - 90% Now that should get you "Basic" Glass. You can throw a color in the Trans channel to give the light travaling through the glass color. Play with the above and see if that helps. If not - Post back.. ;) Clint

Also, Digital Carvers Guild shader extension has referaction index for a bunch-a substances programmed into it. You just have to select which one. Mark

Ok, I can get the image to refract within the sphere, but the light coming through the sphere onto the floor behind it is just a slightly darker sphere shape... Does Carrara not make (Not sure if I am using the right words here) the light um... Magnify like Bryce can? (I guess what I am trying to ask is can I make a sphere and have it act similar to a real world magnifying glass? Or is that not an option? Aeryk

That feature is called a 'caustic' (the focusing of light rays as through glass or water) and is not supported by Carrara. Bummer. Mark

Crap... OK... Maybe someone will make a plugin??? :-) Aeryk