Caustics without geometry???

[snoofis]

Does anyone know of a way to generate caustics from, for example a teapot...BUT not have the teapot visible when you render so you only can see the caustics???

I tried the 'visible to camera' option but the caustics won't render when it's on

[losbellos]

what if u render the caustics first, save the caus.photon map,set it load from file (there must be some option like this) and then hide the object/uncheck visible the camera, render.

[DaForce]

Hmmm try this.
Setup up your scene with caustics and everything, then render with everything shown. but make sure you save the caustics solution (and maybe even the IR or photon Maps) and then hide the caustic casting objects and hit render again. The caustics will still show but the objects wont be there

Enjoy.

<EDIT>
ddaahh beaten by losbellos
I had to test my idea out first...and using my home machine over VNC takes some time...HAHAHAHA

[snoofis]

Good Tip....Works Great!