I'm assuming visible light should be visible, right? I click on the buttons for surface and volume light in the light control and the display window changes. I look at the scene and I see no will-o-the-wisp type globe of light. There's just the same sort of reflections I get off surfaces from an invisible light. I've tried a muzzle flash in a gun and most recently a flash in the cannon barrel on my latest render. Upping the haze makes it look sort of right but affects the rest of the scene. Applying a cloud to an object never seems to pick up illumination from the light. I'd like to be able to create muzzle flashes, laser rays, sun beams through cloudbreaks, etc. Anyone know the secret or a good tutorial? Thanks,

www.brycetech.com I believe has a good one.

I long since gave up on making volumetric light visible. It simply doesn't work. In the preview it shows a beam of light, in the scene - nothing. I've tried a thousand setting combinations and still nothing. I use post, now, so I can at least get an effect.

Yes, www.brycetech.com does have a very good tutorial on this. It will work, but it does take a lot of tinkerings to get it to look right. Plus, there are other easier ways to achieve basically the same effects with less effort. Good luck.

Attached Link: http://www.diardsoftware.com

Why not try Universe Image Creator for the flashes? (see URL) When it comes to sun beams, ill have to second Tuttle. They are better achieved with postwork. Just do a triangle shaped object, strech it and play around with the opacity.

Thanks for the streaming lights tutorial at brycetech. The best way to fake light from the cannon seens to be to make a solid with the ambience and diffusion kicked up and let the light actually come from the scene. I'll give it a try. Rochr, I just tried the nebula tool. It's exactly what I wanted. I was posting each one by hand and it would have taken hours. I'm going to rerender and repost using universe. Thanks!

I have used volume visible light in several of my images with a fair degree of success (or at least I hope so). An important note is that it works best in a less brightly lighted environment though!

This is a WIP, but it contains a single Volumetric spotlight. Atmosphere settings seem to make the largest difference in how the volumetric lights work. This scene has no atmosphere at all and the sun is disabled. If you are having problems with your V lights, try making a volumetric slab with a light sensitive material applied. It may have the same effect as you're looking for. In the scene above, mostly for renderability, I've turned the quality of the Gel down to one.

The problem is that the beams from visible light are influenced by any other lights in your scene that intersect that light beam. You can see this for yourself by making a plain volume visible infinite light with no fallouff in an otherwise empty scene. Now, change the sun color, and watch the light beam change color, too. Make the sun color dark, and watch the beam disappear. Create a spherical light, take it into the Light Lab, and set the preview to "Render in Scene" so you can see what's going on without leaving the lab. Change the color of the light, and watch your visible light change, as well. Turn up the intensity, and watch your light beam get brighter. Turn it down, and watch the beam fade. It's annoying as all get out, but there it is. In order to make the Visible lights work properly, the other lights in the scene must be at least as bright as you want that light beam, or they must not intersect that beam. For a lot of the things that you mention, it's just easier to use an object instead. Cylinders with 100% transparency, and ambient color and ambience to taste make great laser beams, for instance. Cones with a good texture and blend transparency to give them ragged edges work well for muzzle flashes, etc. If you want more specifics, let me know.

Hmm.... I'm not sure what you folks mean by volumetric lighting, but it works every time I try it? Usually I turn the sun off, and I rarely use Volumetric World unless the scene calls for it... Is this what you speak of?

Or more like this?

Those are great images shadowdragonlord but what were your settings? Mine never look that great!

You MUST disable the sun (the "disable sunlight" option in the sky lab)for the light to be visible. A great tut on this is at http://www.petersharpe.com/Tutorial12.htm. It's for Bryce4.

Vile, the settings are simple, and Doug is right, no sky-lab sun... Just create a spotlight, and position it, then create a basic sphere, set it to "Hidden", and put it where you want the spotlight to point to. Then "Track" the light to the sphere, and in the light settings set it to "VOlume Visible" and "Infinite Light", turn the falloff to like 20, and the light however high you need it. The other thing, is if you're not experiencing this effect, is it is sometimes necessary to put in another light, say a radial, to illuminate your volume better. This extra light can go anywhere, but I like them best right behind my spotlights. WIth the acacia plant, it had a radial light right in FRONT of the spotlight... THe radial light is set pretty low, maybe around 10. Just some ideas!