Rendering a decent laser....

[Steve Reeves]

Hi all,

I have the need to render a nice looking mining laser for the following image. I would like something that looks bright and sharp with an outer halo of 'energy'. As you can see my attempts so far have been crude to say the least and I was wondering if anybody would give me a few ideas as to how I might improve it. At the moment it is simply 2 objects with varying transparencies. I have not as of yet added any lights to light up the surroundings - just a cheesy glow.

Grateful for any hints - many thanks

[richpr]

Start here (http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7956&highlight=laser)

[Integrity]

1. You could use volumetric lighting, but might take longer to render.

2. You could make a cylinder with a gradient surface on it set using the incidence angle to create the fade out on the edges. With this idea you could also bend and manipulate the cylinder in a variety of different ways to create interesting effects.

3. You can make two polygons parallel to each other on the Z axis but one rotated 90 degrees so they form an X in front. Then add a surface on the Z axis to create a laser effect on them.

And using Corona or Bloom will add a halo effect, if that's what you are talking about.

[meshmaster]

was in a magazine cd cover about a month ago... it'd do the job nicely for post production