It will be soon christmas, I'm considering to buy Vue4.1 version, but I was studying before the characteristics of this version. On e-on site, it is said, among lot of other features : - "Two new types of lights: quadratic point light and quadratic spot light (for more local lighting effects)." What does it mean exactly ? It seems not to be a kind of volumetric light - "Luminous and glowing materials. " Does it mean you can use object to illuminate a scene (so you can do HDRI experiments ?) As it seems there is no real volumetric light, I examine carefully all the possibilities I could use with this version. And I'm particularly interested by the light new features. Thanks for help, ;=) Yves

I will post some samples Yves, just a moment:-)

First sample: A completely black atmosphere, no sun, no light at all. Left a normal object, right the same with glow on. This is just a sample, you can do lots of things with it ( see my tutorial "glow" to use it for high effects on the water).

But glowing objects doesn't emit light (in the way to light some other object). You can fake this effect with a spotlight.

Second example: ALL lights can be made volumetric in Vue 4: spots, directional, sun, point, ALL! These are just a few samples, yu can do much more:-)

It seems that "Luminous and glowing materials. " is just a feature which create a halo around an object. Interesting. If I understand, quadratic lights give more controls ont the emitted light. May be very powerful ;=) What you call "volumetric lights" are not "lights which have a volume" and which could create natural soft shadows (imagine a square panel of light, a sphere,....). It could be nice to use it (I think it's in the Vue5 wishlist) So I think Vue4 has lot of little improvements compared to previous versions, which make easier the user life, and improve the realism of pics (if they are used). Maybe I will reinstall the demo to see the differences (I never really used it in fact). It seems you are mastering all these new features ;=) Thanks to have spent your time showing me these examples ;=) Yves

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=267262&Start=13&Artist=Alekssander&ByArtist=Yes

Didn't know about streaks and gels??? Yves, you can have a lot of fun (see the link below). In the animation scared, I used volumetric lights, but it was hell to render. And that's the big problem with it.

Sorry (se the link above)...

Thanks Alekssander, e-on call this type of light "volumetric light" and in fact it's most a type of light which can interact with atmosphere in the volume of the cone. That's interesting, to play with light in such a way, and as Guitta showed, to have more control on light (compared to previous versions). For example, I always have the problem of a light which is near a surface and produce strong spot effect, and this can be avoided with quadratic light ;=) Yves