Prism

[guilded]

how would i go about making a glass triangular prism that refracts a light that is pointed at it?

[markeh]

This site deals with radiosity as well but it also gives surface values for refracted glass I believe. You may want to make IOR or Index of Refraction somewhere between 1.5 and 2.

[robcat2075]

I suspect that A:M will not actually break the light into different colors like a real prism would. Rainbow spectrums would probably need to be faked somehow.

 

But you can make objects that bend light somewhat like a prism would.

[Stuart Rogers]

I suspect that A:M will not actually break the light into different colors like a real prism would. Rainbow spectrums would probably need to be faked somehow.

That's true. Marcel Bricman outlined a number of methods of faking it - see his web page and scan down the page to the "second method". It uses multipass while changing the "prism's" refractive index and colour within the same frame. The method works for animation - I've tried it. The settings he provides leaves the dispersed colours looking a bit muddy for my taste, but the principle is there.

 

Don't expect the results to look like Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album art - that'll need different techniques.