This is something i expected to be very simple and easy but it turns out i havent got a clue how to do it. I want a buf-shadow spotlight halo but in a 360° sphere. I cannot do it and make it look like a singe halo lamp, all i can do is make lots of halo spot lamps face in different directions to make a sphere. But it looks crap. Is there a simple solution or a method i dont know about? Any help would be welcome.
i am gonna bump this until someone replies
Try arranging six spot lights with the “Square” option enabled and with “SpotSi” set to 90. Arrange the lights so that they point to the inside faces of an imaginary cube. This might not be what you originally intended, and I haven’t tried it my self, but it still might give a good effect.
I hope this helps.
I had a similar problem, which i could solve with the multiple-spots:
https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=64293
The the two solutions i know of that ‘might’ work:
A) Use alot of spots (e.g. via dupliverts on a icoshpere) as you described above.
B) Use two 180° spots 180° opposed to each other, but that might leave you with a light-ring in the middle … you have to try it to be sure. Using halo-spots with more than 100-110° isn’t implemented very good.
Werner
thankyou for the replies
tecmeology - yes i have tried the 6 square halo lamps option but the square option only affects what is being illuminated as apposed to the halo itself
hoehrer - thankyou but i have tried these methods and i have worked all this out and found the problems through trial and error
what i am looking for is somethign like a partical halo with a bufshadow effect, i wonder whether it is possible to make a plugin
i have got a project where an alien weapon made from stone fire partical projectiles, the gun has hole in the side so you can see the partical travel through te gun before it leaves it, and this i can achieve relativly well but i cannot achieve the right look for when the partical leaves the weapon because i cant get the halo 360° around in a sphere. I want there to be a point of light, like a photon something but made up of halo and nothing else.
Can anyone help me with this?
seemed to of solved my little problem
136 halo spot lamps (each at 30° angle with 0.4 brightness and 0.5 halo intensity and 0.7 smoothness) aranged in a sphere
(i will provide proof pictures shortly)
now i just have to find a way to alter all of the lamp settings at the same time instead of selecting through all individually, any help their would be welcome but ive got what i want for the time being
Try using dupliverts:
- create your spot
- Create an icosphere (~2-4 subdivisions … roughly as much as you need)
- Parent the spot to the icosphere (EDIT: Select the spot and add the sphere to the selection … order is very important here … then hit ctrl-p)
- Select the icosphere + press F7
- Activate “DupliVert” + “Rot”
Now when you change your spot every single copy will use this changes as well.
Werner
Just a weird thought:
Have you tried parenting a single vertex with a halo material to a normal point light with a limited radius?
You’d have more control over the halo appearence and you’d cut rendering time down considerabley!
Ammusionist - rendertime is only 30 seconds but thanks anyway
Hoehrer - thankyou for all the advice it was a life saver
Lamps have “materials” as well. 
So you could just set all the lamps to have the same “material”.
I hope this helps.
as techmeology said - select all your lamps, with one of them active (brighter magenta color) and hit CTRL-L to link Lamp Data (all selected lamps linked to the active lamp) - then changing any one will change the rest.