Flare lighting

How would I create a flare-like lighting effect? I want a dark background with a light that can be manipulated to light objects in the seen from different positions

TIA

You need to read up on OpenGL lighting, you can do this with a point light source, provided you have the vertices for illumination. It sounds like you have a bit of learning to do.

Almost certainly! I have been reading the OpenGL SuperBible and have got through section on colour and lighting, so that I now know how to illuminate my objects from a fixed light source.

Maybe I’m being a little dense, but is the process much the same thing??

p.s. what is a point light source? And should I ignore the superbible and get the Red Book as well?