Whenever I render pool caustics I always get these odd looking areas. I don’t really know how to describe other than it looks like the same effect you’d get on texture on the sides of a box if you applied texture mapping in planar mode rather than box.
I don’t see them in any references photos of swimming pools etc.
The water is simply a flat piece of geometry displaced with Phoenix FD Ocean Tex.
So I’m wondering if its an artifact caused by Corona’s displacement?
Not sure. I guess that’s what I was trying to ask
I can’t help but notice all of the samples you’ve posted are really shallow water with uneven ground below the surface. Maybe that makes a difference
Hi,
@dj_buckley your render doesn’t look odd to me. It looks pretty realistic actually. I mean, if I hadn’t read this post and I saw your render, I wouldn’t say caustics look fake. And given all the examples posted here it looks like there’s nothing wrong with your render, but that’s just my point of view.
I’m happy to accept that. I think I just found them distracting and now it’s a case of, what has been seen can’t be unseen 
Good ole’ fashioned optical distortion
