Volumetric Light isn't working

[Lorenz5]

Hi i'm doing a scene that requires a volumetric light, however the volumetric light effect isn't showing?  I have made the scene to a realistic scale and the box that the material is applied to is not in the way of the camera I have done many adjustments but nothing seems to work. Below are images of the scene and the settings for the material. sorry if this is a noobie question, but I am a student and this is for an assignment.

[TomG]

Is the Absorption pure white? If it's 255,255,255 then no effect will show up - anything other than pure white will show an effect though.

[Lorenz5]

I changed the absorption so that it wasn't pure white, but then the render went black?

[romullus]

That's because you set absorption distance to very small value. Increase it and you should start to see volumetric effect.

[TomG]

That's because you set absorption distance to very small value. Increase it and you should start to see volumetric effect.

As he says :) With 10mm as the distance you are basically saying "You can only see 10mm into the scene" - this is where the use of real world scale in setting up your scene comes in handy :)