creating a volumetric light source?

Olli.

im not sure if the title makes any sense, but i want to create a light source that has actual surface area, rather than just having the light magically appear from a single point in the scene.

Im using mental ray and 3ds max 2013. So far i've tried creating a light card using a plane with self-illumination set to output in the material, but that doesnt seem to emit any photons, and i'm trying to set up caustics with this system so thats no good.
I've also tried mr Area Omni, but unfortunately the reflection on the water the light creates is still just a conventional light source, rather than an object like i want.

heres a picture of what i want to achieve, with caustics of course


any ideas on how to do this?

DeadlyFreeze

I don't really know what your going for but it's almost always easier to fake it, use conventional lights and just throw some geo in with the self-illumination at 100 behind them to get the effect.

SpeCter

Doesn´t the Radiosity Plugin take care of it?

Eric Chadwick

Arch & Design material should do this, as long as Final Gather is on.
http://download.autodesk.com/us/3dsmax/2012help/index.html?url=files/GUID-70B5937B-23A0-42F1-966A-EC10A3A3F07-1961.htm,topicNumber=d28e380411

cw

seems to work fine here

wat's your setup currently look like?