that looks excellent!

regarding the smoothing, did you try to do a 'Weld' before setting the smoothing?

Very interesting Wax, i love your tests, i have been experimenting a little with medium but i never get results as cool as this, very nice!

You're right. I really don't know why the hell each time I export something from blender I have to weld it ... (it's a pain, or I miss something somewhere).

Now I made another experiment. I don't use any emitting object but normal object with "spot" light.

Ok the skull is a little bit "sad" but I was loving the renders :





Here's I've used a tranluent "paper" inside the cylindre in order to make it like a "screen" opposed to the solution choosed before. Now it seems more like a real homemade camera for kids

impressive...great experiment!
btw: did the welding tool solve the facetted issue on the lens?

Love your tests wax ... In real life non imaging optics could be "quite" easy but imaging optics requires much more effort. It's cool to see your experiment and look how funny imaging optics can be

Thanks for playing and for sharing!

Thanks my friends.

Yes the welding seems to solve the problem but I still not understand why I have to weld everything each time I export something from blender that's a pain. (or a big misunderstanding by myself).

Now I gave you the experimentation file for Thea attached, have fun.

Looks Awesome Wax

i like very much your experiments too.
each time, it's a pleasure to see the new original pictures you submit