One way to get reflection in eyes......
This approach was told to me by face_off
and I found it to work great!

See related thread about this image/concept here:

Note: the eye model is BlackEyes by Blackhearted
but this concept works for other eye models.

Final image (reduced size):

1. Put something to reflect in front of the eyes!
   I created three primitive boxes, then altered their
   shape by spinning up the scale on one or more axis.
   I also rotated them to create interest.

2. Put them near the camera.
   This makes it easier on the angle between the
   eyes and the camera. Once you've got them in
   the render, you can move them around for interest.
   You can also move the farther/closer and
   make them bigger/smaller to change the size of
   the relection. Remember, this is a subtle effect,
   that the viewer notices subliminally;
   you probably don't want a huge splinter
   reflected in the eye.

3. Make the object(s) bright
   For each box created, I went into its material
   room settings and turned the
   ambient_color root to white, and the ambient_value to 1.
   This gives you bright white boxes.
   You can use other colors, but try bright white
   first until you have this concept down.

Setup:

1. Create a reflect shader.
   For each eye:
   Connect a reflect shader to the diffuse root.
   The path is NewNode:Lighting:Raytrace:reflect
   Note that this is a raytrace shader! Don't
   forget that. Raytrace must be on in render settings.
   Material room settings:
   

Now, when you render with firefly, you will see the
reflection of the white boxes in the eye.

IMPORTANT:
RAYTRACE MUST BE TURNED ON in render settings in order for the reflect
node to trigger. HOWEVER: Raytrace DOES NOT NEED TO BE TURNED ON
for any light; there does NOT need to be a light with raytrace shadows turned on.
This render was executed with four lights, all with depth map shadows.
Last warning: If you turn raytrace on for this technique, be sure any strand hair
has the box "visible in raytracing" turned OFF!

Turning raytrace on with all other items invisible to raytrace did NOT significantly
jack up the render time! Raytrace only executed the reflect node.

:::: Opera :::::

Great tips! Thanks :) I find my renders look "dead" because their eyes look really fake.

ya thats what i thought x_x but it wouldn't render the boxes

It's a good technique, but why is there a white halo around the iris in your example render? Is this a side-effect of the raytracing? If so, I'm not sure I'd want that to occur, because it makes it appear as if the character is wearing contacts or something over their eyes.

Most interesting...thank-you.

Toolz, i think the 'Halo' you refer to is related to the way BlackHearted modeled his 'BlackEyes'. It's almost as if the transition between the Iris & the White area is too steep... But, i could be wrong. Opera, that's the same technique i & many others use for highly reflective surfaces such as cars... :-) Never thought of using it for Eyes. Good one! Marcus

Yes, I am having trouble with that halo/circle. Will pursue and report back to this thread. ::::: Opera :::::

Cool! That reflection looks convincing.

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Attached Link: http://www.physicalc-software.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62

Message edited on: 02/05/2006 16:52

Quote - Toolz, i think the 'Halo' you refer to is related to the way BlackHearted modeled his 'BlackEyes'. It's almost as if the transition between the Iris & the White area is too steep...

the blackeyes mesh has 2 components. the inner eye contains the eyewhite and the iris/pupil. the outer eye is the reflective outer layer, meant for the highlights/reflections/etc as well as the domed corneal shape over the concave iris.
the iris is like a concave disc. rather than having a sharp angle between the iris and the eyewhite, there is a soft filleted edge instead resulting in a nice even fade. coupled with a proper, deep iris you end up with a much more realistic eye than the default V3 eyes. the iris shadows properly (there will be a shadow on the concave side nearer to the main light source), and will render much more realistically when viewed at an angle.

the problem i see with many of the renders with blackeyes is that people try and make the inner eye a reflective surface. the inner eye should be completely matte to render properly. there should be no specularity settings, reflection maps, etc applied to the inner eye - only to the outer eye surface. the inner eye surface exists only to host the iris/eyewhite detail and give proper shading to the iris.

hopefully this clears things up. btw - there will be a free blackeyes update rolling out very soon (i am currently updating irina, its next on my plate when that is done). it will include completely new textures (since my 'lite' blackeyes textures have far surpassed the ones in the standalone blackeyes pack), as well as new FITs for characters such as SP3, Miki, etc.

heres a quickie render with blackeyes to show you that unless you apply a reflective material to the inner eye, no such 'ring' exists. its on the new irina 2.0 face morph/texture, which will be a free update to all irina purchasers.

cheers,
-gabriel