Creating a Photon Effect

To achieve a photon effect

1. Prepare the scene — Apply materials and surfaces to objects and ensure their settings enhance the photon effect. For information, see Preparing Object Surfaces.

2. Define an emitter — Create a light in your scene that emits photons for either a caustic or global illumination effect. For information on designating a light as a photon emitter, see Defining a Light as a Photon Emitter.

3. Define the casters — Select an object in your scene that transmits the photons (such as a lamp or the sun). For information on defining a caster, see Setting Photon Casting, Receiving and Visibility.

4. Define the receivers — Select an object in your scene that receives the photons (such as a desk or water surface). For information on designating a receiver, see Setting Photon Casting, Receiving and Visibility.

5. Display the photons — Set up your render region and/or render pass settings to display global illumination and/or caustic effects. For information on setting your render options, see Displaying Photons in the Render Region and Preparing Global Illumination and Caustics for Rendering.

6. Adjust the photons — Set and tweak the number of photons, their intensity, and their accuracy so they are as strong or subtle as you wish. For information, see Preparing Global Illumination and Caustics for Rendering.

   TipBecause calculating photon effects is fairly slow, you may want to turn off the Auto-Refresh option for the render regions. You can do this by choosing Render Regions Auto-Refresh from the Render toolbar.