Hey gang, After looking through Kixums Lava lamp tutorial I tried having a little fun with it. Its supposed to be one of those novelty lamps with the plastic fishies. Though it also kind of looks like it could be the iBlender. I always have trouble with lighting so any suggestions to make it look nicer are welcome. As it is there are two bulb lights inside of the fish tank (and at bottom and one at top), and I have one bulb on the outside a little above and to the right. Cheers, Max

1.) You could try some soft shadows for the outside lighting. 2.) It looks like you're using a distance light for the main light. Try a bulb light with some falloff. This is a very cool idea and I like it a lot! Nice emblem! -Kix

With the 'ruby', is there a lot of reflection in the shader? If so, then that could explain the top section being black. If you didn't include something to reflect, (i.e. a wall, just a default grey plane would work,) then it reflects the great 'nothingness', as in black. Do you have an ambient setting larger then 0? That would explain the even-ness of the light on the sides of the fish. Do you have the rendering set for "Light through transparency'? I can't tell if it's the angle, or if the fish aren't throwing shadows onto the table, but the tank should allow the light through onto the background. I like the concept, and you've implimented it well. So keep it up and have fun!

Thanks for the suggestions guys, Ill keep fiddling with it when I have a little time. Cheers, Max