make sure vray can produce caustics like this with the water glass with small lamp and not have to use sun 

make sure vray can produce caustics like this with the water glass with small lamp and not have to use sun

They seem to work ok, though need to tweak the multiplier if using an hdri for example, for the reflections.
This is using a vray spherical light as the main source.

yes but have you tested a IES light?

Yeah actually that was the first light I tested, so this is the result with that on instead…just a random ies enclosed spot iirc.