CompuServe Messages

David, you miss the point. Of course light does not bend. But we're not talking about light. We're talking about angles of view. Ever see string art? You know, made of straight pieces of string tied between pegs, but the result looks like it has lots of hyperbolic curves even though it's all formed from straight lines? This is a similar effect. The line of sight from our eyes to any point in our FOV is, of course, straight. Likewise for a camera. But the combination of those straight lines cause hyperbolic curved intersections resulting in curved perspective. I don't have to show you a picture. Just go stand in a long, narrow hallway and look at where the walls meet the floor and ceiling and see for yourself. Yes, it's an optical illusion — ALL perspective is an optical illusion (no, those trees on the horizon aren't REALLY the size of ants!). But it's an optical illusion that needs to be duplicated by 3D animation programs to make for more realism. As for people not noticing WHY an image seems unreal, see my reply to Phil on the subject. Most people don't know the technical terms, or could put into words why something doesn't look right. The name of this thread is "Radiosity." No one here would deny that radiosity, real or simulated, greatly enhances the realism of an image. Yet would the average person know that the lack of radiosity in an otherwise very realistic ray-traced image is why it doesn't look quite "real" to them? Either by the term "radiosity" or even being able to say, "Uh, shouldn't that yellow pencil be reflecting a bit of yellow glow onto that wood desk?" Of course not. They just know that something doesn't look quite right, but they don't know what. So it is with curved perspective.