The more I study lighting the more I find so many creative ideas awaiting experimentation, beyond the standard quest to just have everything well lit. I'm still somewhat confused about one interesting aspect--patterns to simulate trees, windows, etc. Does one always need an ellipsoidal type light, or can it be created in conjunction with, say, fresnels? I find this enhanced , theatrical lighting very interesting, but haven't found too much info so far beyond the mention of elipsodals.

And for that matter, how many of you utilize fog-type devices to create evocative back light atmosphere?

For some lights you can get an optical spot to help focus the light of the fresnel and also hold the pattern or gobo.. LTM makes one for the peppers. Dedo make a great one. YOu can also get a window pattern kit from Chimera and use your fresnel to create the patterns. Bill Holshevnikoff developed them and they work great. They are on the Chimera website.
I hope this helps you in your quest..
OH you can also use a cookooloris to break up the light like the leaves of a tree and there is something called a cello cookooloris. matthews, avenger and American make those. The pattern kit works well but so does the optical spot. The optical spot is kind of like a slide projector lens for your fresnel. matter of fact with a heat sheild you can project slides. AKA.. Dedo lights.

wow, that's interesting--thanks. It just shows how much there is out there if one starts to ask.

You can buy decent ellipsoidals like ETC Source 4 for under $300.
They are an inexpensive way to use patterns/gobos.

Selecon Pacifica line is a radical zoom design that lets you use
gobos made from photoshop and a transparency printer. Under $500.

I find that slide and overhead projectors are also a good source of light for backgrounds if you have the room. Easy to make the pattern. I've even used an opaque projector for this.

All are very inexpensive used.

I saw some wild remotely controlled lights used during live shows on a cruise ship. They had full swivel control and appeared to have something like a LCD to generate patterns. Could have been LCD projectors in a lamp case I guess.