Just something I thought I’d try out. I’ve uploaded the .xml for any of you who may want to try it on 0.7 beta. .xml 2 MB. The reflection in the middle of the tube is a light emitting plane I set up for some ambient light, render time is 10 hours.
cool, now make a bundle of fiber optic cables 
Nice test 
I’m a big fan of indigo
Hmm, a bunch would be interesting, see if you can show a picture through them…
Well, indigo handles simulating a camera modelled in blender, and simulating a rainbow with loads of droplets, so it should work.
Hmm, I’d have to figure out how to model a bundle of hundreds of little strands… That would be one heck of a lot of polys! It could make an interesting piece though, I may try it.
LotRJ, one word: array
I think a fiber optic lamp would look cool
for bundles, curvepaths?
Nice! I’m inspired to play around with indigo again.
I’ve started on a fiber optic lamp, using tubes parented to curves. The curves are softbodies, so they form the fan shape. My problem is: I’ve got around 500 softbody tubes, and I can’t figure out how to apply all the softbodies at once so I can export it. I really don’t want to have to select all 500 of them individually and click “apply”. Does anyone know of a good way to do this?
Edit #2: I found the script called “apply modifiers” under scripts->object->apply modifiers (smacks forhead for not looking in the scripts directory first). Why is it that whatever you’re looking for is in the last place you look?
10 h !!! R U mad !!!
this sucks, this efect shuold be rendered in max 2 min
i hope that’s pure sarcasm. let’s see you render ANYTHING in under 2 minutes in indigo.
Just in case its not, indigo really does have amazing powers of slowness. If left alone for astoundingly long periods of time, it can produce great renders. If left for 2 minutes, they come out grainy, like this:
Attachments
Do you even understand how Indigo works? Yes, it is slow. That’s the price you pay for photorealism. It is a totally un-biased renderer, meaning instead of using tricks and cutting corners, it calculates every single little light reflection, almost like individual photons.
10 h !!! R U mad !!!
this sucks, this efect shuold be rendered in max 2 min
Damn you, Poe’s law. I just can’t decide.
Frodo, I think that is quite quick for what you get. 2 mins for showing total internal reflection and reflected light.
@frodo2975: Working on a similar one too, although no where near as complex as yours, can’t wait to see your results.
Alrighty then, mines done, its in the finished project section. Heres the link:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=89471