Light/god rays in cycles?

It’s achievable with the spotlight in BI and I know it’s not yet possible with cycles but I understand that there’s some work arounds. Can somebody help me out?

You can use the classic game style cheat of a cone that has a ray like transparent texture applied. Place the cones where you want the rays in your scene (like through a window or tree canopy).

You could also maybe try a plane or something in the shape you want, rendering it out on a new render layer, and then blurring and adding it in the compositing engine.

I would certainly “do it in post.” That is to say, with the compositor. And, therefore, who really cares if it’s Cycles or BI or even a third-party renderer that produces that layer of information?

Please forget the notion of “push the magic button, wait many hours, and :eek: there it is. :eek:” Quite literally, no one has time for such a “hit-or-miss plus all-or-nothing” approach. As Ansel Adams correctly observed, “a picture may be captured in the camera, but it is made in the darkroom.” True. True.